Calling You

Album: Rush Street (1991)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Marx claims he can never tell when a song is going to be a hit, and that if you're trying to write a hit song, you have the wrong motivation. Many of his favorite songs are his album cuts, and he cites this one as an example. He told us: "I had just experienced the first real loss of someone in my life, which was my grandmother. I didn't have a relationship with my grandma like people do where you go visit your grandparents or you see them twice a year at the holidays or whatever. I was raised by two working parents and so when I was little and I would come home from school, it was my grandmother that was in my house and took care of me and made me lunch and dinner a lot of times. And then my mom and dad would end up at home either right around dinner time or in the evening. So my grandmother was almost like a third parent. We were really close. And we were really good friends. As I got older, we became really good friends. We had a lot of common interests. I just adored my grandmother.

    So she died about two years into my recording career, after I'd had some success. And so I wrote that song about her, about missing her. My life had been so blessed in those terms up to that point, because I was 26, 27, and both my parents were still around, I hadn't lost anybody. And I took that loss really hard. So that's a song that means a lot to me that I'm really proud of that resonates with me to this day that was never a single."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

James Bond Theme Songs

James Bond Theme SongsMusic Quiz

How well do you know the 007 theme songs?

Dexys (Kevin Rowland and Jim Paterson)

Dexys (Kevin Rowland and Jim Paterson)Songwriter Interviews

"Come On Eileen" was a colossal '80s hit, but the band - far more appreciated in their native UK than stateside - released just three albums before their split. Now, Dexys is back.

Director Wes Edwards ("Drunk on a Plane")

Director Wes Edwards ("Drunk on a Plane")Song Writing

Wes Edwards takes us behind the scenes of videos he shot for Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley and Chase Bryant. The train was real - the airplane was not.

Metallica

MetallicaFact or Fiction

Beef with Bon Jovi? An unfortunate Spandex period? See if you can spot the true stories in this Metallica version of Fact or Fiction.

Director Paul Rachman on "Hunger Strike," "Man in the Box," Kiss

Director Paul Rachman on "Hunger Strike," "Man in the Box," KissSong Writing

After cutting his teeth on hardcore punk videos, Paul defined the grunge look with his work on "Hunger Strike" and "Man in the Box."

Spooner Oldham

Spooner OldhamSongwriter Interviews

His keyboard work helped define the Muscle Shoals sound and make him an integral part of many Neil Young recordings. Spooner is also an accomplished songwriter, whose hits include "I'm Your Puppet" and "Cry Like A Baby."