Any Way You Want It
| "Any Way You Want It" | ||||||||||
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| Single by Journey | ||||||||||
| from the album Departure | ||||||||||
| B-side |
"When You're Alone (It Ain't Easy)" (US, JPN)
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| Released | 1980 | |||||||||
| Format | 12" single | |||||||||
| Recorded | November 1979 | |||||||||
| Genre | Hard rock | |||||||||
| Length | 3:24 | |||||||||
| Label | Columbia | |||||||||
| Writer(s) |
Steve Perry Neal Schon | |||||||||
| Producer(s) |
Geoff Workman Kevin Elson | |||||||||
| Journey singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"Any Way You Want It" is a popular song performed by Journey, released on the album Departure as the opening track and as a single in 1980. The song was written by lead vocalist Steve Perry and guitarist Neal Schon. It peaked at #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The band often plays it to close their concerts. It appears on all four of the band's live albums (Captured, Greatest Hits Live, Live in Houston 1981: The Escape Tour, and Revelation on DVD). Since its release, the song has continued to infiltrate public consciousness through its use in numerous movies, television series, and advertisements.
Composition
According to Perry, the song was heavily influenced by Irish rock band Thin Lizzy and more particularly by bassist Phil Lynott. In July 1979, Journey were touring with Thin Lizzy across the United States when Lynott, Perry and Schon decided to share rhyme scheme exercises during a hanging out in Miami. The "basic" work on "the guitar-vocal-guitar-vocal interchange thing that happened between Phil and his lyrics and the guitarist and his arrangements, inspired the Any Way You Want It sorta give and take thing. It's guitar-voice, guitar-voice, more guitar-guitar-guitar-voice. It be voice-voice and back and forth and that's something that Neal and I think just instinctually picked up by hanging out with him"[1] commented Perry. Schon and Perry would then rework on the song in the band bus, with Schon on acoustic guitar and Perry on vocals.[2] Lynott's contribution later influenced other songs built on the same scheme such as "Stone In Love".
For the studio version, keyboardist Gregg Rolie originally used a mellotron. Since it was defective, co-producer Geoff Workman decided to fix the sound by doubling it with Rolie's regular organ in the final mixing, thus creating the unique sounding background support for the song.[2]
Music video
The video for the song opens with a man standing in front of a jukebox, his face unseen by the camera. He scrolls his finger up a list of songs and stops at "Any Way You Want It". He then reaches into his pocket and pulls out a coin which he inserts into the jukebox. He then selects the song and we see a record being flipped over and beginning to spin. This dissolves into a shot of a studio tape spinning which leads to the group performing the song in the studio. The band's performance comprises most of the video until the song ends. At this point the man at the jukebox is revealed to actually be lead singer Steve Perry who turns and smiles at the camera. Another video exists which is a live performance during the Departure Tour. Both videos were omitted from the band's Greatest Hits 1978–1997 DVD in favor of another live version of the song from the Escape Tour.
Personnel (Departure)
- Steve Perry - lead vocals
- Neal Schon - lead & rhythm guitars, backing vocals
- Ross Valory - bass, backing vocals
- Gregg Rolie - mellotron, organ, backing vocals
- Steve Smith - drums
Personnel (Revelation)
- Jonathan Cain - keyboards, backing vocals
- Arnel Pineda - lead vocals
- Neal Schon - guitars, backing vocals
- Ross Valory - bass, backing vocals
- Deen Castronovo - drums, backing vocals
Chart performance
| Chart (1980-1981) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada Top Singles (RPM) | 50 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 23 |
In popular culture
The song was used and recorded by the cast of Glee for a mash-up with "Lovin' Touchin, Squeezin'" for the first season finale. The song was also used in the rock/jukebox musical Rock of Ages as well as the film adaption of the same name and in the animated movie Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted. It was voted the 80th best hard rock song of all time by VH1 viewers.
The song was rerecorded with Arnel Pineda and Deen Castronovo for their 2008 album Revelation, and has been covered by the punk/rock band Rise Against.
Dr. Sheldon Cooper and Dr. Beverly Hofstadter perform the song in the The Big Bang Theory (season 2, episode 15: The Maternal Capacitance) as a karaoke number.
It appeared in the 1980 movie Caddyshack when Rodney Dangerfield turns on the radio he has built into his golf bag.
It appeared at the end of Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.
It also appeared in The Simpsons episode Burns, Baby Burns during the closing credits.
It also appeared in the State Farm commercial "State of Disconnect".
It also appeared in The Cleveland Show episode "Cleveland Jr.'s Cherry Bomb" towards the end.
It also appeared in House, M.D. season 8 episode 19 - "The C-Word" when James Wilson plays montage of staged photos on his laptop, that House has taken of Wilson and two women while Wilson was unconscious.
The song featured in the episode "Chuck Versus the Intersect" from the NBC Hit television show Chuck.
The song was covered by a number of a cappella groups from around the world during the World Championships in the 2015 movie Pitch Perfect 2.
The song is featured as a playable track in music games Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades and Rock Band 2.
References
- ↑ Off the Record (December 30, 2006): http://www.steveperryfanclub.homestead.com/OTRDecember2006.html
- 1 2 Steve Perry Fanclub, liner notes excerpts on Time3 : http://www.steveperryfanclub.homestead.com/Time3.html
External links
- Any Way You Want It
- Anyway You Want it (United States Access)
- Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
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