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

Dave Alvin - "4th Of July"

Dave Alvin - "4th Of July"They're Playing My Song

When Dave recorded the first version of the song with his group the Blasters, producer Nick Lowe gave him some life-changing advice.

Incongruent Opening Acts

Incongruent Opening ActsSong Writing

Here's what happens when an opening act is really out of place with the headliner, like when Beastie Boys opened for Madonna.

Tanita Tikaram

Tanita TikaramSongwriter Interviews

When she released her first album in 1988, Tanita became a UK singing sensation at age 19. She talks about her darkly sensual voice and quirky songwriting style.

Don Dokken

Don DokkenSongwriter Interviews

Dokken frontman Don Dokken explains what broke up the band at the height of their success in the late '80s, and talks about the botched surgery that paralyzed his right arm.

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.

Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear: Teddy Bears and Teddy Boys in Songs

Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear: Teddy Bears and Teddy Boys in SongsSong Writing

Elvis, Little Richard and Cheryl Cole have all sung about Teddy Bears, but there is also a terrifying Teddy song from 1932 and a touching trucker Teddy tune from 1976.