This great song came out in 1970 I was in Junior High school. I was 14 Yrs old at the time and Hurricane Celia had devastated our Hometown Corpus Christi,Tx. The way I coped with my problems was listening to great music. Music did it for me that's how I got through it. On 4/24/2023, Who's still listening? I'm 67 Yrs old and will still be listening because this is a wonderful song. The time when music was great and was worth listening to. R Dean Taylor may not be around like other musical greatest but this great song still lives on.
"Indiana Wants Me" is one of the best pop songs ever. Under 3 minutes of pure pop perfection gorgeous vocals with a lush production complete with police sirens and police commands. RIP Mr. R. Dean Taylor you are truly one of a kind :)
My cousin was always singing this song and though I had never heard the song I soon was singing along and it would take me many years before I would hear the real thing but I sang it often. One day I found the LP for less than a dollar and I was so happy to hear the real thing;)
Thank you for perfomance of R DEAN TAYLOR. Have listened to all his famous records .Am 66 years old now. First l have seen what he looks like Thank you Mike.
Wow amazing video of this song I was 13 years old when this album came out I bought the 45 at a drugstore across the street from where I live Great Then great now😂😂
Rest In Peace, Mr. Taylor. I was just listening to this song a few months ago on repeat as I drove out of Illinois to Michigan. This song set the tone and the mold for the music of the entire trip. Thank you for the memories. ❤️😢
R.I.P R. Dean Taylor(May 11,1939-January 7,2022) R. Dean Taylor made his debut on American Bandstand on Saturday August 29,1970 singing “Indiana Wants Me”😀👍🏿🎶🎸
The mighty Richard Dean Taylor - killed by Covid. RIP buddy. Like many others on this thread, I'd only ever seen photos of him before this great footage appeared. Sooooooo many thanks for posting it.
I really liked his hit songs but this is the first time I have seen him. Even at 14 when this came out I found it a sad song but nevetheless a well written and sung one.
Trivia, the sirens on the original version of the song confused motorists while they were driving so Motown had to create a second version of the song without the sirens
For those saying R Dean Taylor was the only white artist on Motown, he wasn't. Motown had a quite few white artists on their roster including Rare Earth, Debbie Dean, Chris Clark, The Rustix, The Valadiers, Bruce Willis (yes THAT one), Tommy Good, The Lewis Sisters, Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, just to name few
Nice video ty !! jeffcher10.... Yes it was rare to see him I heard, his beautiful singing voice doesn't match what I pictured him to look like tho, he has a so-called-nerd look !!! jeffcher10
Wrote for a few other acts with Holland Dozier and Holland at Motown. He has disappeared into obscurity in his later years (81 now) from Toronto originally, his last whereabouts was apparently in L.A There were quite a few white Motown artists, him being the only one is a myth, don’t know how and why it started. His other uk hits were Gotta see Jane and my favourite - Ghost in my house. Bit of an enigmatic character is Dean.
Motown was looking to branch out, and created the Rare Earth label for non-black acts. (I say "non-black" rather than "white" because at least one RE act didn't fit snugly into either description, that being the Native American band Xit.) Although RDT had been on staff for a number of years as a writer and producer, he got placed on RE by default. The Messengers, who had been on Soul previously, got shuffled to RE after its creation. Other artists of note on RE included Kiki Dee and Stoney & Meatloaf. (The label was eventually rebranded as Prodigal, which reissued the S&M album with Meat Loaf credited as the primary artist after Meat became a major star with Bat Out of Hell.) And then there's Motown's venture into country with the Melodyland and Hitsville labels, but that's another story...
"Liveish"? How about deadish? There's nothing the slightest bit live-like (or even lifelike) here. The sirens and voice-over, by the way, aren't merely crass; they're moronic--and in the context of a pathetic lip synch, really ought to be considered capitol offenses.
True but with another video it might have had life. Stupid visionless arrangements by people who clearly had no artistic qualities. Boring video. Great song.
