Chart Week: February 11, 1984
\nSong: \u201cI Still Can\u2019t Get Over Loving You\u201d – Ray Parker, Jr.
\nChart Position: #16, 14th week on the chart. Peaked at #12 the week of February 4.<\/p>\n
Ray Parker Jr. had a hell of a career. Before he formed his first band, he was in the touring bands for the Spinners, Stevie Wonder, and Barry White. Later he worked with The Carpenters, Rufus and Chaka Khan, The Supremes, Aretha Franklin, Deniece Williams, Bill Withers, The Temptations, Boz Skaggs, Tina Turner, Diana Ross, LaToya Jackson, and New Edition. If he never recorded a song on his own, that right there would have been a great, great career.<\/p>\n
Beginning in 1978 with his band Raydio,[1]<\/a> he had a total of 13 Top 40 hits. Five of them hit the top 10. He will, of course, always be remembered for his biggest hit, the 1984 #1 smash \u201cGhostbusters,\u201d which was both nominated for an Oscar and was the basis of a lawsuit.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n Parker had a unique sound he carried through his career. It was a pleasing mix of R&B, pop, and soul. It was black without being too black, which back then was still a big deal for a black artist looking to get mainstream airplay. No one sounded like Ray Parker Jr. That is unless he was producing your music. Then your songs pretty much sounded like his.<\/p>\n If there\u2019s one thing other than Ghostbusting that Ray liked to sing about, it was getting a little on the side. On his very first hit, Raydio\u2019s #8 song \u201cJack & Jill,\u201d Jack goes out and finds some love when Jill can\u2019t give him what he needs.<\/p>\n Raydio\u2019s final top 10 hit, 1981\u2019s \u201cA Woman Needs Love (Just Like You Do),\u201d was a bit of a sequel in which Parker wrote about Jill also not being faithful when Jack was out doing his thing. Casey Kasem said it could be a song in support of the Equal Rights Amendment, which was still fighting for passage in 1981. I\u2019m not sure if that\u2019s what the ERA was supposed to be about\u2026<\/p>\n Parker\u2019s first solo hit, 1982\u2019s #4 \u201cThe Other Woman,\u201d continued in that vein. So did other singles: \u201cLet Me Go,\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s Our Own Affair,\u201d and \u201cBad Boy.\u201d Wikipedia doesn\u2019t list Parker as having ever been married. Maybe he was onto something: he saw infidelity everywhere so why get locked down when one or both of you is just going to cheat?<\/p>\n Anyways\u2026I heard this song somewhere about a year ago and a lyric near the end jumped out at me:<\/p>\n \nThere’s no way to this thing’s through Holy shit, Ray! I know times were different, but, Jesus, even in the \u201880s I don\u2019t think it was appropriate to threaten to kill your ex if she went off with some other dude. Especially when combined with him knocking the bust of his ex off the pedestal in this video. Kind of runs counter to the smooth, easy going persona Ray cultivated. Ever since I noticed that line last year I\u2019ve had a hard time listening to any of Ray\u2019s songs. And I\u2019m hopeful that was just some dramatic account and he didn\u2019t really threaten his exes when their relationships ended.<\/p>\n
\nNo
\nI still can’t get over – not yet
\nI ain’t through loving you.
\nI’m gettin’ mad, girl
\nDon’t you ever try to leave- no no
\nIt’ll be the last thing you’ll ever do\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n