Home | Songs By Year | Songs from 1985
If She Knew What She Wants
Buy If She Knew What She Wants now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the song. And once you've experienced the song, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
{{Infobox song
| name = If She Knew What She Wants
| cover = US If she knew what.jpeg
| alt =
| caption = Artwork for US and Australian vinyl singles
| type = single
| artist = The Bangles
| album = Different Light
| released = April 1986
| B-side =
| recorded = 1985
| studio = Sunset Sound Factory
| venue =
| genre = Pop rock
| length = 3:49
| label = Columbia Records
| writer = Jules Shear
| producer = David Kahne
| prev_title = Manic Monday
| prev_year = 1986
| next_title = Walk Like an Egyptian
| next_year = 1986
| misc =
}}
"'If She Knew What She Wants'" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Jules Shear and introduced on his 1985 album 'The Eternal Return'. The Bangles recorded the song for their 1986 album 'Different Light'. That version, a call-and-response rendition with Susanna Hoffs as the main voice,'Daily News-Journal' (Murfreesboro TN) 2 February 1986 "Bangles' Four-Part Harmony Blends Well" by Tom Spigolin p.23 (Accent) was issued as a single and became a Top 40 hit. A mid-tempo ballad, it is sung from the viewpoint of someone, per songwriter Shear, "who wants to satisfy someone else but doesn't quite know how to do it because the other person is capricious."'Palm Beach Post' 21 September 1985 "Jules Shear Stands Tall: pop craftsman won't give up" by Jim Presnell p.28 (Section TGIF) The song, especially The Bangles' version, is typically described with such adjectives as "bittersweet", "plaintive" and "wistful".'Desert Sun' (Palm Springs) 1 February 1986 "Bangles Avoid Sophomore Slump on Their Second LP" by Eleni P. Auston p.F7'Lafayette Journal & Courier'11 April 1989 "Bangles Taunt, Tease But Slow to Please" by Edith Lee p.C1'Los Angeles Times' 7 May 1992 "Shear Talent: the name may not be familiar but Jules Shear is a sought-after songwriter"by Mike Boehm p.8 (Orange County Live!)'Baltimore Sun' 3 October 1996 "CD Reviews" by J.D. Considine p.14'Chicago Tribune' 10 June 1997 "Hoffs is Appealing, Despite Shortcomings" by Kevin McKeough p.2 (Tempo)'Boston Globe' 6 October 2011 "The Bangles Sparkle, Mixing New With the Old" by Mark Hirsch p.B16
Original version
"If She Knew What She Wants" was introduced in 1985 on Jules Shear's second solo album,'The Eternal Return', to critical acclaim.'Montreal Gazette' 9 May 1985 'Record Roundup' by John Griffin p.D-9'Los Angeles Times' 12 May 1985 "Record Rack" by Chris Willman p.57'Newport News Daily Press' 1 September 1985 "Record Bin" by Jory Farr p.I5'Vancouver Province' 1 September 1985 "Rock Records" by Tom Harrison p.13 (The Magazine) John Piekarski of 'The Atlanta Constitution' lauded the song's "melody [as] dreamy and vivacious yet mellow enough [for] adult contemporary radio [airplay]."'Atlanta Constitution' 25 May 1985 "Record Review... Pop" by John Piekarski p.26 An album review by 'High Fidelity' assessed Shear's love songs as "astute [being] equal parts compassion, affectionate wit, and armchair psychoanalysis", exemplified by the lyric "If she knew what she wants I'd be giving it to her" which "condenses a self-help manual for the mates of neurotics into a single piercing line."'High Fidelity' Vol 35 #9 (September 1985) "Crown Jules" by Joyce Millman p.68 Shear himself would say that he typically imparted his songs with "some little twist that makes [them] rise above" standard pop music fare, and "It doesn't really have to be too complicated to be a little bit different."
Although passed over as lead single on 'The Eternal Return' in favor of the Cyndi Lauper co-written "Steady" (whose Hot 100 peak was no. 57), "If She Knew What She Wants" was tagged as the potential followup with EMI, who sent promo copies to radio stations in June 1985. When no significant airplay resulted, EMI canceled both the single's commercial release and a tour by Shear to support his album.'Chicago Tribune' 9 September 1988 "A Hit For Others - Shear Looks Out For #1" by Chris Heim p.5-1'Hanford Sentinel' 15 June 1985 "Songwriter Shares Wealth of Talent" by Frank Spotnitz p.TV-11
The Bangles version
Background
The Bangles recorded "If She Knew What She Wants" for their 1986 album 'Different Light'. Robert Hilburn of the 'Los Angeles Times' would opine that "on... 'If She Knew What She Wants' the Bangles' voices blend with the kind of seductive charm that you swore disappeared the day the Mamas & the Papas called it quits."'Los Angeles Times' 15 June 1986 "The Pop World on $25 a Month - a Baedeker" by Robert Hilburn p.60The Bangles had spent the autumn of 1984 as the opening act on the Fun Tour by Cyndi Lauper, the singer through whose patronage Jules Shear had first come to the fore, chiefly through Lauper's hit version of Shear's composition "All Through the Night". The Bangles themselves would subsequently assist Shear in the promotion of his 'The Eternal Return' album. When Shear had mimed his singlethe Lauper co-written "Steady"on an 'American Bandstand' episode broadcast on 8 June 1985, The Bangles served as faux-backup band. Shear would also co-write The Bangles' track "I Got Nothing" included on the 1985 'The Goonies' soundtrack. Mark Jenkins of 'The Washington Post' would opine that "The Bangles wisely didn't second-guess Shear's version of 'If She Knew What She Wants'; their arrangement of that song... echoes his faithfullyexcept that they sing better." Vicki Peterson of The Bangles has noted that the group did slightly change Shears' arrangement. Lyrically, some first-person clauses in Shear's recording (ex. "I'm crazy for this girl") are third-person in The Bangles' version (cf. "He's crazy for this girl"). The positioning of the bridge also differsin Shear's recording the bridge (which begins with "Some have a style") follows the verse that starts with "No sense thinking I could rehabilitate her"; in The Bangles' version, the bridge comes before that verse.
Single release and impact
OverviewSimilar in style to the 'Different Light' lead single "Manic Monday",'The News' (North Jersey) 25 January 1986 "Music Beat" by Mike Daly p.S-3'Philadelphia Daily News' 13 February 1986 "Fantastic Plastic" by Jonathan Takiff p.52'Bangles Greatest Hits' liner notes by Mark Rowland "If She Knew What She Wants" was issued as a follow-up single in April 1986 while "Manic Monday" was still cresting (its Hot 100 peak was no. 2). "If She Knew What She Wants" debuted at no. 80 on the Hot 100 dated 10 May 1986, which ranked "Manic Monday" at no. 18. "If She Knew What She Wants" would begin to lose momentum after reaching no. 50 in its third charting week, stalling at no. 29 on the Hot 100 dated 12 July 1986 in the final week of a five-week Top 40 tenure. "If She Knew What She Wants" would spend a total of ten weeks on the Hot 100.
'Cash Box' said of it that it's an "infectious, gorgeous pop song."
"If She Knew What She Wants" peaked at no. 31 on the UK Singles, which had afforded "Manic Monday" a no. 2 peak.'Rock movers & shakers' p.27. Billboard Publications, Inc., 1989 "If She Knew What She Wants" also became a moderate chart success in Australia at no. 31 on the Kent Music Report, and in Canada where it peaked in its 10th week on the 'RPM' 100 Singles chart at no. 29 on 26 July 1986. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between 1983 and 19 June 1988.
A third single release from 'Different Light'the novelty number "Walk Like an Egyptian"would solidify The Bangles' popularity as Top 40 hit artists.
Charts
{|class="wikitable sortable"
! Chart (1987)
! Peak
position
|-
|align="left"|Australia (Kent Music Report) N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between 1983 and June 19, 1988.
|align="center"|31
|-
|-
|-
|Canada Top Singles (RPM)
| style="text-align:center;"|29
|-
|Ireland (IRMA)
| style="text-align:center;"|23
|-
|-
|-
|-
|U.S. Cashbox
| style="text-align:center;"|28
|-
|US 'Billboard' Hot 100
| style="text-align:center;"|29
|-
|US Adult Contemporary
| style="text-align:center;"|24
|-
|}
Video and soundtrack usage
The Bangles shot a promotional video for "If She Knew What She Wants" while on tour in the UK the first week of March 1986, and it was this video that aired in the British Isles and Europe. Upon returning the US, the band shot an alternate video for the song's American promotion, produced by Tamar Simon Hoffs, mother of the track's main vocalist Susanna Hoffs, and directed by Dan Perri.
The Bangles version of "If She Knew What She Wants" is featured in the 2006 Tim Allen and Courteney Cox superhero comedy 'Zoom'.
References
Buy If She Knew What She Wants now from Amazon
<-- Return to songs from 1985