Somebody's Crying
Encyclopedia
"Somebody's Crying" is a song by musician Chris Isaak
from his fifth album, Forever Blue. The song was released as the album's first single
in May 1995. It also appears on his 2006 Best of Chris Isaak
compilation. A live version is included on Isaak's 2008 Live in Australia
album
.
Lyrically, the song describes one's yearning for a former lover, and the fear of communicating again with that person. In a 1995 interview, Isaak compared the lyrics to a way children often speak:
for "Somebody's Crying" was released in 1995 and was directed by Bill Pope
. In contrast to the song's melancholy lyrical content, the video presents a more upbeat story of a summer romance, and features Isaak riding a surfboard, a favorite pastime of his. Isaak said, "I thought it would be more fun to do. More and more I'm trying to keep a little bit of fun in what I'm doing." Actors Jennifer Rubin, Jenna Elfman
, Zen Gesner
, and the late Chris Penn
appear in the video.
The video received a 1995 MTV
Video Music Award
nomination for Best Male Video
, but lost to Tom Petty
's "You Don't Know How It Feels
."
Hot 100
in August 1995, making it Isaak's second-highest charting single after "Wicked Game
", which reached number six in 1991. "Somebody's Crying" also peaked at number 27 on the Hot AC
chart, number 34 on the Alternative Songs chart, and number 36 on the Top 40 Mainstream chart. Elsewhere, the song peaked at number five in Australia
and number 22 in New Zealand
, marking Isaak's highest chart placement in those countries. However, the single was not as commercially successful in the UK
, reaching only number 100 on its chart.
The song received a 1996 Grammy Award
nomination for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance
, but again lost to Tom Petty
's "You Don't Know How It Feels
."
CD Maxi Single (Australia, Germany)
television series Party of Five
in 1995. It was also featured in a 1995 episode of MTV
's Beavis and Butt-head
. An acoustic performance of the song by Isaak is included in the 2000 DVD
compilation, MTV Unplugged: Ballads.
Chris Isaak
Christopher Joseph "Chris" Isaak is an American rock musician and occasional actor.-Early life:Isaak was born in Stockton, California, the son of Dorothy , a potato chip factory worker, and Joe Isaak, a forklift driver. Isaak's mother is Italian American, originating from Genoa...
from his fifth album, Forever Blue. The song was released as the album's first single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
in May 1995. It also appears on his 2006 Best of Chris Isaak
Best of Chris Isaak
Best of Chris Isaak is an album by Chris Isaak released on May 9, 2006 on the Reprise Records Warner Bros. Records record label.-Track listing:#"San Francisco Days" #"Somebody's Crying" #"Wicked Game"...
compilation. A live version is included on Isaak's 2008 Live in Australia
Live in Australia
Live in Australia is a 2008 live album by American rock musician Chris Isaak. The album was recorded in Melbourne, Australia in 2006.-Track listing:#Speak of the Devil - 4:15#Let Me Down Easy - 4:05#Intro - 1:37#I'll Go Crazy - 3:13...
album
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
.
Inspiration and lyrics
Isaak wrote the song shortly after a breakup with his girlfriend. Isaak had attended a friend's party, but soon realized that he did not want to be there. He went inside a walk-in closet, closed the door, grabbed a guitar that was leaning against the back wall, and wrote "Somebody's Crying."Lyrically, the song describes one's yearning for a former lover, and the fear of communicating again with that person. In a 1995 interview, Isaak compared the lyrics to a way children often speak:
Music video
The music videoMusic video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
for "Somebody's Crying" was released in 1995 and was directed by Bill Pope
Bill Pope
William Homer "Bill" Pope, A.S.C. is an award-winning American cinematographer, best known for his work on Sam Raimi's films and the Matrix trilogy.-Filmography:1989 - Pet Sematary1990 - Darkman1991 - Closet Land...
. In contrast to the song's melancholy lyrical content, the video presents a more upbeat story of a summer romance, and features Isaak riding a surfboard, a favorite pastime of his. Isaak said, "I thought it would be more fun to do. More and more I'm trying to keep a little bit of fun in what I'm doing." Actors Jennifer Rubin, Jenna Elfman
Jenna Elfman
Jennifer Mary "Jenna" Elfman is an American television and film actress. She is known for her role as Dharma on the ABC sitcom Dharma & Greg and as Billie on the short-lived CBS sitcom Accidentally on Purpose....
, Zen Gesner
Zen Gesner
Zen Brant Gesner is an American television and movie actor. He is perhaps most recognized for his roles as "Sinbad" in the syndicated television series The Adventures of Sinbad, and was a regular cast member on the ABC daytime drama All My Children as bad boy and rapist Braden Lavery...
, and the late Chris Penn
Chris Penn
Christopher Shannon "Chris" Penn was an American film and television actor known for his roles in such films as The Wild Life, Reservoir Dogs, Footloose, Rush Hour, True Romance, All the Right Moves and Pale Rider.-Early life:Penn was born in Los Angeles, California, the youngest son of Leo Penn,...
appear in the video.
The video received a 1995 MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
Video Music Award
MTV Video Music Awards
An MTV Video Music Award , is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in music videos...
nomination for Best Male Video
MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video
The MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video is one of the four original general awards that have been handed out every year since the very first MTV Video Music Awards in 1984. In 2007, though, the award was briefly renamed Male Artist of the Year, and it awarded the artist's whole body of work...
, but lost to Tom Petty
Tom Petty
Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T...
's "You Don't Know How It Feels
You Don't Know How It Feels
"You Don't Know How It Feels" is a song and the lead single from Tom Petty's 1994 album Wildflowers. It reached number one on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart and number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100....
."
Release and reception
"Somebody's Crying" peaked at number 45 on the BillboardBillboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
in August 1995, making it Isaak's second-highest charting single after "Wicked Game
Wicked Game
"Wicked Game" is a 1989 song by Chris Isaak from his third studio album Heart Shaped World. Despite being released as a single in 1989, it did not become a hit until it was later featured in the David Lynch film Wild at Heart...
", which reached number six in 1991. "Somebody's Crying" also peaked at number 27 on the Hot AC
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...
chart, number 34 on the Alternative Songs chart, and number 36 on the Top 40 Mainstream chart. Elsewhere, the song peaked at number five in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and number 22 in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, marking Isaak's highest chart placement in those countries. However, the single was not as commercially successful in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, reaching only number 100 on its chart.
The song received a 1996 Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
nomination for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance
Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance
The Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to male recording artists for works containing quality vocal performances in the rock music genre...
, but again lost to Tom Petty
Tom Petty
Thomas Earl "Tom" Petty is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is the frontman of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and was a founding member of the late 1980s supergroup Traveling Wilburys and Mudcrutch. He has also performed under the pseudonyms of Charlie T...
's "You Don't Know How It Feels
You Don't Know How It Feels
"You Don't Know How It Feels" is a song and the lead single from Tom Petty's 1994 album Wildflowers. It reached number one on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart and number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100....
."
Track listing
CD and Cassette (US, UK, Australia, Germany)- "Somebody's Crying"
- "Changed Your Mind"
CD Maxi Single (Australia, Germany)
- "Somebody's Crying" (album version) - 2:46
- "Change Your Mind" (album version) - 3:50
- "The Little White Cloud That CriedThe Little White Cloud That Cried"The Little White Cloud that Cried" is a popular song written by Johnnie Ray and published in 1951.The biggest hit version was recorded by Ray and The Four Lads in 1951. The recording was released by Okeh Records as catalog number 6840...
" (written by Johnnie RayJohnnie RayJohnnie Ray was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Popular for most of the 1950s, Ray has been cited by critics as a major precursor of what would become rock and roll, for his jazz and blues-influenced music and his animated stage personality.-Early life:John Alvin Ray was born in...
) - 2:19
In popular culture
The song was played during parts of two episodes of the FoxFox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
television series Party of Five
Party of Five
Party of Five is an American teen drama television series that aired on Fox for six seasons, from September 12, 1994, until May 3, 2000.Critically acclaimed, the show suffered from low ratings and after its first season was slated for cancellation...
in 1995. It was also featured in a 1995 episode of MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
's Beavis and Butt-head
Beavis and Butt-Head
Beavis and Butt-head is an American animated television series created by Mike Judge. The series originated from Frog Baseball, a 1992 short film by Judge. After seeing the short, MTV signed Judge to develop the concept. Beavis and Butt-head originally aired from March 8, 1993 to November 28, 1997...
. An acoustic performance of the song by Isaak is included in the 2000 DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
compilation, MTV Unplugged: Ballads.
Chart performance
| Chart (1995) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 45 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks | 27 |
| U.S. Billboard Alternative Songs | 34 |
| U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream | 36 |
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
5 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
22 |