Strong Persuader
Strong Persuader is the fifth studio album by American blues singer and guitarist Robert Cray, released on November 17, 1986, by Mercury Records and Hightone Records. It became his breakthrough album to the mainstream. "Strong Persuader" also became a nickname for Cray. The album was ranked #42 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest albums of the 80's. It has sold over two million copies by 1995.
Critical reception
Strong Persuader received rave reviews from contemporary critics. In a review for Rolling Stone, Jon Pareles said Cray delivered intriguing stories about sex and infidelity with disciplined singing, songwriting, and "a version of blues and soul that doesn't come from any one region, building an idiom for songs that tell with conversational directness the stories of ordinary folks".Robert Christgau from The Village Voice praised Cray's sophisticated blues aesthetic and the songwriting of his supporting studio team, hailing Strong Persuader as "the best blues record in many, many years, so fervently crafted that it may even get what it deserves and become the first album to break out of the genre's sales ghetto since B.B. King was a hot item."
Strong Persuader
Something happened this morning when I opened my eyes
and looked around me
Something strange was in the air
But what it was I just could not pin it down
And then I heard the shower running and I knew what it
was
You were still around
How many times must I tell ya'
I'm tired of you and everything you stand for
I thought we'd reached an agreement
I thought everything would be all right
Yeah
But when I woke up this morning
I knew everything was wrong
Everything was wrong
You were still around
Still around
Why can't you show some feeling?
Why can't you understand?
Messed up my whole life
Why wreck my day
Did my best to love you
Now do your best to leave
Can't you see that's what I want
I really need
Why can't you show some feeling?
Why can't you understand
Messed up my whole life
Why wreck my day
I did my best to love you
Now do your best to leave
Can't you see that's what I want
I really need
I really need
How many times must I tell ya'
I'm tired of you and everything you stand for
I thought we'd reached an agreement
I though everything would be all right
But when I woke up this morning
Everything was wrong
Everything was wrong
You were still around