What I Can Do for You

Album: Tuesday Night Music Club (1993)
Charted: 43
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • In this song, Crow sings from the perspective of a predatory man offering sleazy come-ons to a woman and offering to help her career if she takes him up on it. "Listening to it you should feel slimy and creepy," Crow explained.
  • The lyrics are based on real things unscrupulous guys have said to Crow. When she moved from Missouri to Los Angeles and worked as a backup singer, she became a target for some unsavory types in the industry. Crow says she faced sexual harassment every day at this time.
  • This wasn't released as a single in the US, but was issued as her second single in the UK, following "Run, Baby, Run." It made little impact at the time, but her subsequent singles (especially "All I Wanna Do") did well on the UK charts, so "What I Can Do for You" was re-released in 1995, well over a year after the album came out. This time, the single made #43 UK.
  • Crow has mentioned Frank DiLeo as one of the sexist industry types she worked with. On the Tuesday Night Music Club track "The Na-Na Song," she sings:

    Clarence Thomas organ grinder Frank Dileo's dong
    Maybe if I'd let him, I'd have had a hit song


    DiLeo, who played the character Tuddy Cicero in the movie Goodfellas, managed Michael Jackson's Bad tour, on which Crow sang backup.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"They're Playing My Song

A song he wrote and recorded from "sheer spiritual inspiration," Allen's didn't think "Southern Nights" had hit potential until Glen Campbell took it to #1 two years later.

Richard Marx

Richard MarxSongwriter Interviews

Richard explains how Joe Walsh kickstarted his career, and why he chose Hazard, Nebraska for a hit.

Commercials

CommercialsFact or Fiction

Was "Ring Of Fire" really used to sell hemorrhoid cream?

John Doe of X

John Doe of XSongwriter Interviews

With his X-wife Exene, John fronts the band X and writes their songs.

Yoko Ono

Yoko OnoSongwriter Interviews

At 80 years old, Yoko has 10 #1 Dance hits. She discusses some of her songs and explains what inspired John Lennon's return to music in 1980.

Loreena McKennitt

Loreena McKennittSongwriter Interviews

The Celtic music maker Loreena McKennitt on finding musical inspiration, the "New Age" label, and working on the movie Tinker Bell.