Writers lazily compare Squeeze’s Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook to John Lennon and Paul McCartney, but they worked more like a musical theater team — Difford wrote the lyrics, Tilbrook the music, like Bernie Taupin and Elton John. Tilbrook’s inventive melodies and genre-spanning compositions get most of the critical attention, but Difford could amaze in his own right.
For instance, he wrote the lyrics to this blue-eyed soul classic, released 40 years ago on “East Side Story,” in a cab on the way to the airport as the band was embarking on an American tour. The familiar passing scenery jolted memories of the band’s last American tour and what his indiscretion did to his relationship. Details pile up to a story Updike would envy. There’s a reason it’s so good: producer Elvis Costello. “It was a great challenge,” Difford said, “to come in every day with a lyric that would be better than the one he might come up with. … I could tell which were the weak ones just by looking at his face.”
The listening public didn’t recognize a classic when it heard one. As a single, “Tempted” stalled outside the Top 40 in both the US and the UK, but it quickly became a standard. Paul Carrack, who had just replaced Jools Holland on keyboards, sings lead on this at Costello’s suggestion. Tilbrook admitted his ego was bruised, though he and Costello got the consolation of a few lines in the second verse. Costello, who had just released his own Motown-soaked “Get Happy!!” LP, also influenced the arrangement. Before they decided to model the song on a Temptations single, Tilbrook said, it sounded like ELO. Both Difford and Tilbrook consider “Tempted” one of their best tunes, and its popularity is reflected by its frequent inclusion on soundtracks.
“Tempted” became a fan favorite and live highlight, and Tilbrook got to sing it for years because Carrack left for a solo career soon after “East Side Story” came out. Carrack kept it in his set as well, and in 1983 he played a TV gig in Germany backed by Nick Lowe on bass and John Hiatt on guitar.
Lots of singers have covered the song — Rita Coolidge, Joe Cocker, Mickey Thomas, to name a few — but none even approaches the original, not because of the singers but because nobody has found an arrangement to equal Costello’s. But I did find one really interesting treatment of the song. Somebody took a recording of the tune by the a cappella group Rockapella and slowed it down, turning it into a slow-burning soul number. It makes me wish some modern R&B singer would take this arrangement and run with it.
