Song of the Day 7/14: Huey Lewis and the News, “I Hope You Love Me Like You Say You Do”

Did you ever hear a song you liked by a band you never heard before, only to find that most of their music sounds nothing like the first song you heard? That was my experience with this tune, a minor hit for Huey Lewis and the News from their second LP (and first successful one) “Picture This,” released in 1982.

Unbeknownst to me at the time, the band had an earlier hit, the insipid Mutt Lange-penned “Do You Believe in Love?” which I probably had been exposed to without knowing the artist. So when I heard this this soulful slow-burner pouring out of my car speakers, not knowing those were the Tower of Power horns, I didn’t just love it, I formed the impression that Huey Lewis was some latter-day Van Morrison/Boz Scaggs hybrid. Wow, was that wrong.

Huey Lewis turned out to be the squarest rocker of the ’80s — he wrote a song called “Hip to Be Square,” and he believed it — which I think has unfairly tarnished the legacy of this song. I’d love to hear it sung by somebody with a stronger voice than Lewis, but it’s been criminally neglected by soul singers looking for material. The only cover I could find was by The Embers, a Carolina Beach Music cover band, which makes some sense given the original’s stroll-worthy beat, but they speed it up, which ruins the whole vibe.

The song was written by Mike Duke, a California songwriter who had played with the Southern boogie rockers Wet Willie. This wasn’t the biggest hit he wrote for Lewis — it only reached No. 46, while “Doin’ It All for My Baby” made it to No. 6 in 1987. He had a long career as a session and touring keyboard player, but never put out an album until 2019.

This concert version better showcases the Tower of Power horns. Lewis, who had to retire a few years ago because of Meniere’s disease, might be a square, but the guys in TOP credit him with saving the band’s career in the ’80s. The TOP horns had guested on a couple of studio songs, and Lewis wanted them to tour with him. The band had no recording contract at the time so they agreed, but only if the whole band came along so they could book midnight shows after the Lewis concert — and Lewis would announce that from stage. He agreed, and did as he promised every night, so TOP played to packed houses that often saw Lewis sitting in on vocals and harmonica. They soon had a recording contract.