Today Aimee and her band would be superstars...they didn't become one because there was a lot of good music being made back then...if you didn't have a good promoter...you went under...that's exactly what happened with "TIL Tuesday" happened...unfortunately...
Once or twice a year I'll slowly walk down Newbury St toward the public garden late at night and listen to this album. Takes me back to a place and time and to people long gone and feelings lost forever and things left unsaid. It's hard to articulate that warm empty sadness that makes me smile through the tears.
Totally agree. 60 in the house. I knew Aimee back in Boston. My band Capture the Flag playing lots of shows with Til Tuesday. These days I still play music. Signing a deal. Never give up.
I was so in love with Amee Mann back in that day I could barely stand it. So beautiful, smart, talented and hip. She was my dream girl. I'm 63 now and still dream of her. They don't make 'em like her anymore.
I was young, then one day I wasn't. This song reminds me of how it used to be and how it tried to warn me of what was coming but the gift of ignorance protected me. When this song came out, everyone I loved was still alive and we all had time to burn. I'll miss Record Stores, Video Stores, Music Stores and all the like minded people that I'd meet that I took for granted.
I was going to try and make a comment but I do not comment much and you pretty much wrote what I was thinking. I actually miss them days and I also do not regret the gift of ignorance because it was enjoying life.
That was beautifully said. It reminds me of what a classmate (thanks Stephanie W.) said, when regretfully saying she couldn't come to an 8th grade 30-year reunion (yes, 8th grade): "It is nice to remember when we were pure potential and we didn’t know we were pure potential."
I cranked this song up at the beach this past summer. People young and old were standing around me listening to the song. They all loved it. I had to play it three times. Great music!!!
1983 - I had a small crush on this cute punk girl with spiky bleached hair a purple braid who worked at Newbury Comics. Saw her weekly when I went in to pick up comics or look for new XTC imports. Imagine my surprise to see her step out on stage at the Metro at the BCN R&R Rumble. The power of her voice was just stunning. I'd gone to see my friend's band (The Phantoms, from Allston) but wasn't the least bit surprised when 'Til Tuesday won that night. I've always had a fondness for Aimee...
I used to hang out at the Rat in Kenmore Square while I was in law school, around that same time. I was sitting by myself at the bar upstairs one quiet weeknight, having a Bud. I'm sure Mitch was at the door. She came and sat next to me, we talked for a few minutes. Soon a group of others came by, and she was off...
This song is timeless and terribly underrated. The song is beautiful. I bet if it was in a movie soundtrack and rereleased, it would fly up the charts!
The mid-late 80s is regarded by many as a bad time for music, but this is the side of it that most people don’t remember. Most people remember the hair bands and fluffy dance pop. I choose to remember the intelligent artists, especially the women because they were the most exceptional. People like Aimee, Suzanne Vega, Tracy Chapman, Chrissie Hynde, Liz Fraser/Cocteau Twins, Johnette Napolitano/Concrete Blonde, Harriet Wheeler/The Sundays, Natalie Merchant/10,000 Maniacs, etc. So much talent and they all had something unique to offer. Truly an amazing period for music.
How was the song NOT a hit in the 80's??? If I was stranded on an island and could bring 5 songs with me, 4 of them would be THIS song... Beautiful tune.
It was at least a minor hit in like 1985 or 86. It wasn't as big a hit as "Voices Carry" but I do remember loving it at the time and also now of course, 2023.
I hear this song, and I am literally teleported across time and space to my youth, the late 1980s … my heart aches for that time, for lost innocence and innocence lost. I close my eyes, and for a moment, I can feel the breeze blowing gently as I stand outside my old alma mater high school, looking out across an area that was once an open field and has since been given over to an apartment complex... I can hear this on the radio, I can smell the bbq production plant down the road, I can see my old friends and I living in the moment as the end of the school year came and gave way to summer and a time we would look back on dearly even though, in the moment, we had no idea of just what a treasure we had ...
You just spoke for many of us.... This song definitely transports listeners to that place where we were smack dab in the middle of that love conflict. Who hasn' t had at least one of those relationships where you work so hard but it just never comes together. The frustration and the feeling of being close but just missing the mark. And god does it suck when it isn't mutual and one is left nursing a broken heart.
I am 47 year old man.I have listened to more songs in one year,than most people do in a lifetime.I have helped produce high quality music in the industry,and have been a link to many,many performances.And i must say,this song is as special as they get.
I saw Til Tuesday live in the summer of 1986 opening for The Moody Blues in upper Detroit...Aimee Mann blew me away then as I'd already heard "Voices Carry" and liked it. When she introduced her "new" song "Coming Up Close," I had to quiet down the people around me so that I could listen intently. Needless to say, I immediately went out the next day and bought their album "Welcome Home" and listened to "Coming Up Close" for weeks afterward. This is just one of those songs that touches you deeply and still resonates in me today at 63 years old...ahh, what a great memory and great concert!!
Aimee Mann was by far the most talented female vocalist in the 80s. Very naturally talented. Blows Madonna, Paula Abdul, and all the others out of the water...masterful range.
May I suggest that AM’s vocals are pretty great, but the *real* magic is with her genius of songwriter crafting and arrangement? I mean there are lots of good vocalists out there, but what she does is far more than singin’ a good song well. She’s likely the control freak between every harmony, harmonic, accent, dynamic, intro, bridge, verse, chorus, lyric etc-and the crafted songs are all teh better for it. Aimee Mann is a *pro* at what she does, as in “PROfessional” or better yet “PROfessor.” And I mean that in a good way. And then she’s not just a Brian Wilson, she gets out and performs them.
I can totally see it, we should write the screenplay! Have you seen 500 Days of Summer? I probably would have never seen it but I did a tag along thing in support of a friend. Anyways, your comment made me think of it but I'm sure we can outdo it. Mostly kidding but I'm down if you are.
I never get tired of this song. It takes me back to when I worked in a Camelot Music store and a much simpler and fun time. I’m sorry kids but there are no bands or songs like this in 2021. Enjoy it here. Aimee is amazing.
This song is just beyond beautiful. I remember 40 years ago, a friend and I carved our hearts in the wall of an old house. The house has been gone for many years...as well as that friend. Something sorta ironic about that. Kinda wish one...or the other was still around to mark our spot... Everything has a story.
Yeah, reminds me of a time way back when. I just sit here with a stupid grin on my face and tears running down. I so miss her and there's no way to get he back.
I see a couple of great Aimee stories here - pls let me share mine. She used to live around the corner from me in the South End (where I'd see her smtimes getting coffee at Charlie's). It was sophmore year at NU and I'd jst moved off campus w/ 2 roommates. One of em came home with the guitarist one night (who ended up giving us tix to see them at the Orpheum jst weeks later). It was a great concert (her voice resonated in that hall). Saw her backstage and then ran into her few times around the neighborhood. She'd say Hi and was always real kind. This is probably my favorite Til Tuesday song. Maybe it's the infective melody, but more likely it's the heartfelt story that always seems to drive me home. Thx for the great memories Aimee...
How many songs just like this must exist? Songs that if not for luck go unnoticed yet are pure heaven on earth... This song is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever listened to. You can feel every drop of emotion that she put into it...
The same thought haunts me. This song was the better part of 20 years old before I heard it for the first time. Big White Cloud, Barrier Reef, Pale Blue Eyes, No One Said It Would Be Easy, too many others to list. Being a movie fan helps some.
I went to see the Moody Blues at the Tanglewood theater in western Massachusetts in the early/mid 80's. I was totally thrilled to discover that 'Til Tuesday was the opening band! So glad I got to see them live. This is one of my favorite, all-time songs.
This song is like a time machine for me. It brings me back to time when it seemed like life would never end. The beauty of her voice transcends you. It is a very emotional song for me. Life was much less complicated.
I am there with you, but a different perspective. For me it transports me back to when my ex and I tried but just couldn't work it out. Coming up close. But hey, 30 + years later we remain friends, enjoying our adult kids and bunch of Grandkids.
@@davidscottthayer8078 Good for you and your ex, Dave, and I am imagining you are an inspiration for your children and grandchildren, of acceptance, forgiveness, and love. God bless.
Thanks for letting me be a teenager in the 80s, what a EPIC TIME, now here we are in 2024 and I don't recognize the world I grew up in! Oh I forgot the Drako kazarian mafia is trying to talk over,
This song played on the radio one night while I was driving in Hawaii. One of those magical nights. That beautiful voice and melody still stirs my soul 33 years later. Thank you Aimee!
Till Tuesday had minor airplay here in Australia in the 80s. It 'Coming up Close' was on an FM station one night and just blew me away. We had REO Speed wagon, Gary Newman, early Eurythmics and the like but Ammie and the band were musical brilliance personified. 'Lovers Day' was another of her power ballads. The audio range CD dynamics that are not compressed are the best for her voice . The Eighties & Nineties hold a unique place where pure talent came to the fore. I've seen a lot of unique musicians close up, Im sorry I missed her in her prime in the US. Guys & Gal's who did see them on stage I reckon you've drank from the silver cup already "America" with respect. Perfection will always rise from the Ashes, Love to the music . Cheers Johno, Brisbane, Australia.
I was dating a somewhat older woman the year this song came out. I really cared about her, and thought the relationship could go further, but, in the end, she felt I was too young. The song really mirrors our last time together. Instead of us "driving around the field hor hours", we talked as we drove 9 hours (one way) to the Louisiana state line. We just couldn't find common ground in it anymore so we turned around and drove back, neither one of us talked on the way back. This album hit so many buttons in my life during the 80's.
Amiee is so much more than Till Tuesday, She is one of the very best solo women singers there is. She has a beautiful flowing voice, Like honey and peace..
Aimee IS 'Til Tuesday. She's ok as a country music artist but she was absolutely brilliant as the heart of TT. That music is timeless like no other and always will be. ;)
Bill6375 Yup. She seems so unhappy, or pissed or bitter, when I've heard her interviewed. Music industry might have done 'er over. Wish she'd unplug and let the shit flow! She was in town last year with Ted Leo, but I couldn't catch it.
