Caroline

Album: The Long-Awaited Album (2017)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Recorded with his bluegrass backing band the Steep Canyon Rangers, "Caroline" is the first single from Steve Martin's The Long-Awaited Album. A comedy number (his forte), the song is about a rather delusional guy who can't quite get over Caroline despite his hapless attempts to find another just like her. He's already anticipating his next failure:

    If I have a drink with someone
    I will tell her all about you
    That will be the big mistake
    That I will make on my first date
  • Cecily Strong of Saturday Night Live plays Caroline in the video, which was directed by Brian Petchers. The doofus narrator is Bill Hader, who also spent time on SNL. He looks on helplessly as she flirts with their waiter and takes up with a series of other guys.
  • As he would a comedy bit, Martin refined the song over time, working on it in soundchecks and rehearsals.
  • Peter Asher produced the album. Known for his work with James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt, Asher also produced Martin's albums with Edie Brickell. In a Songfacts interview, he said of the Steep Canyon Rangers: "They are terrific musicians and have a more profound knowledge of bluegrass than I do, and it's a fairly constrained tradition. But, at the same time, we wanted to push it slightly out of the bluegrass range. It's a big difference between the albums I did with Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, which are not bluegrass records, where I did use all kinds of different musicians on different tracks for different effects."

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."