My Inner Lester Bangs: "I'd Die Without You" by P.M. Dawn

So while the early 1990s are probably best remembered for Grunge and Gangster Rap, in reality one of the largest exports from the US in terms of music was the R&B love song.  There were TONS of groups out there making songs about love, hurt, loss and pain.  If you were a lovelorn teenager during that time period (and I think we've already established that in fact I was) then this area was ripe for you to be sitting in your room listening to sad music pining for the girl that just broke your heart.  (And since that happened to me about once a month, according to some, then I listened to a lot of sad songs about love and loss.)

In the movie and the book, High Fidelity, Nick Hornby wrote the following:

“What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?"

Brilliant, eh?  Hornby is one of my favorite writers, and not just because his stories remind me a lot of my friends.  He also wrote an entire book where he donated the proceeds for the school where his child on the spectrum goes.  So... lots of overlap.

Anyways, back to the music.  In the early 1990s there were a slew of R&B groups that came out and made very sad songs.  Boyz II Men of course were the kings with, "On Bended Knee", "End of the Road" and basically any other song off either the Boomerang Soundtrack or their second album.  All 4 One came in with "I Swear" which they ripped off of a country singer.  Jodeci had, "Forever My Lady" and "Lately."  There was even a group called Shai that had one hit called, "Comforter."  It wasn't about a duvet, people.

Probably the most interesting of these groups was P.M. Dawn.  Two brothers, Prince Be and JC the Eternal, burst onto the scene with "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss," a song buoyed by the sampling of "True" by Spandau Ballet and their looks.  One was very heavy, one very tall and thin, and both wore a lot of paisley and small glasses.  Great look, and one that seemed to work well for them.

Then came "I'd Die Without You" from 1992.  It was on the Boomerang Soundtrack, and it was overshadowed on that soundtrack by Boyz II Men's "End of the Road" which was the longest serving #1 on the charts at that time.  But I think "I'd Die Without You" was a better song.  Heresy, I know.

Go and listen to them again.  "End of the Road" is a bit over drawn out with a larger sound.  Even the spoken part is a bit much.  Meanwhile, "I'd Die Without You" is a piano based song that is based off more the emotion, rather than the feeling.  You can feel "End of the Road."  "I'd Die Without You" is deeper.  It hits you in the gut because of its simplicity, and the never release of the piano in the background.  The walking bass is a nice touch as well.  The finger snaps at the beginning and end also add a simplicity that was missing at the time from R&B.  And at the end when one of the snaps isn't in synch it makes you pay more attention than you would normally to it.

The lyrics are also just brilliant.  I always saw it as a guy losing his girl that he's wronged in the past, and trying to keep her around, but not being able to do it.  "Is it my turn to hold you by the hands, tell you I love you and you not hear me?  Is it my turn to totally understand to watch you walk out of my life and not do a damn thing?" Or: "Is it my turn to be the one to cry?  Isn't it amazing how somethings just completely turn around."  These are fantastic lyrics.

Listen to this song and tell me it doesn't give you a reaction in some way.  I mean I heard it fit pretty well within the context of the movie, but man does it hit you even without the movie!  You can picture me probably as a 16 year old in 1992 hurting because the girl I liked didn't like me.  (And before I get a bunch of, "You Wuss" comments, guys do think like that too.  If you don't believe me, go back and listen to some of the songs from the 50s and 60s.  They had that same reaction back then.  It's universal.)

I'm sad that kids these days have no idea probably of P.M. Dawn.  JC the Eternal left the group and Prince Be had  two strokes and lost his leg to diabetes.  Still, I hope they have a revival some day.  This song is WAY better than Justin Bieber trying to be Justin Timerlake in his last video, and it'd be nice to have people appreciate it for what it was: a great song that made itself unique in a time when it could have just blended in.  Give it a listen and let me know what you think.