Songoftheday 4/14/21 - I am not my house or my car or my songs, they are only just stops along my way...

 

 

"Me" - Paula Cole

from the album This Fire (1996)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: ineligible to chart

Billboard Hot 100 Airplay peak: #35 (one week)

Weeks in the Airplay Top-40: 6

 

Today's song of the day comes from singer/songwriter/producer Paula Cole, whose second album This Fire had already scored two big pop hits with the top ten "Where Have All The Cowboys Gone" and the Dawson's Creek theme "I Don't Want To Wait", the latter coming a notch from the top ten at the beginning of 1998, lasting over a year on the pop chart. At the 1998 Grammy Awards, Cole was nominated for seven categories, and took home the Best New Artist trophy. The third and final single from the record promoted to radio was the midtempo reflective number "Me". Written and produced solely by Cole, the song is a bit of soul searching on her part, trying to work out her identity, especially in such a normally extroverted profession as the pop music business. An especially poignant turn of phrase is this:

But when my wings are folded
The brightly colored moth
Blends into the dirt into the ground 

 

Simply beautiful descriptions of her insecurities are speckled through this work, as she finally professes who she is is all of the things, not one thing. Probably a little too smart for the masses, but so right for the Lilith era. For me, it was one of those songs that I held tightly to my chest, not letting everyone know how much I identified with and adored her lyrics for this classic...

Since "Me" wasn't released as a commercial "single", it was unable to place on Billboard magazine's official Hot 100 chart. However, the track got enough radio love to make it into the top-40 of the airplay component of that tally. Perhaps it was hurt but the unending support for "I Don't Want To Wait", which eclipsed its rise. The song did spent a half a year on Billboard magazine's Adult Top-40 chart, peaking at #17. Internationally, the single climbed to #20 in Canada.

Cole returned in 1999 with her third effort Amen, billed as the "Paula Cole Band" this time. The lead single "I Believe In Love" managed to get to #22 on Billboard's Adult Top-40 chart, but only "bubbled under" the Hot 100 pop list at #112. It was a luscious slice of sophisti-pop that didn't get its due. However, the remixes of the track gave her an unexpected Dance Club Play at #18 in 2000. The Amen album spent a month on the Billboard 200 list, topping at #97. 

Having her label Imago go down the tubes, and concentrating on her family, Cole re-emerged in 2007 with Courage. The record popped on to the albums sales chart at #163, but no singles from it caught on. Since then Paula has released six more studio albums, the most recent being American Quilt, which was just put out this month. 

(10/10)

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Here's the album version of the track...

 

 Here's Paula performing the song on the Rosie O'Donnell show to promote the album...

Next up, in concert at the Berklee College of Music for the Live at West 54th series...

and lastly, an intimate performance of the song from Cole in 2013...

Up tomorrow: Country singer hits the pop bigtime with a smooch.