Music Review: Sheryl Crow "What I Can Do For You"

Sheryl Crow

What I Can Do For You

Album: Tuesday Night Music Club

Year: 1993

      Sheryl Crow recalls a time she was propositioned by a producer in the  incisive       “What I Can Do For You.”

          A glib guitar opens the single, setting a smarmy tone. She flips over on the bed, looking at the wall. He props his arm up on the bed and tells her good morning. He tells her that she’s different from the other girls. She’s willing to do whatever it takes. Her ambition will get her far. He mentions the other girls act like they are above it and claim to care about what is right and wrong. He fingers the strap of lacy bra, saying he likes the purple leopard pattern. He smiles, running his finger down her arm now, saying it scrambles his thoughts. He says she’s a beautiful young woman. He looks at her and says he thinks of someone glamorous. He adds her industry friends must’ve warned her. She thinks to herself she was naïve to think he was the gentleman she saw on the entertainment shows. (“I'm so glad you're awake, that you're not like the others/ They're so strait-laced, no fun/Gosh that's nice, that lingerie/Makes me feel like, oh I don't know/You're a very pretty thing/You remind me of someone/You must have heard/Some awful nasty things about me, but.”)

         In the  chorus, he says he has power within the industry. She’s a nobody now but as long as she’s stay with him, she’ll be the star she wants to be. No one else is going to see her charisma like him. Her friends will say not to cross him. (“What I can do for you/There's no one else on God's green earth can do/What I can do for you/There's no one else on God's green earth can do/Just ask anybody/They'll tell you that it's true/There's no one else on earth/Can do the things that I can do for you/For you, for you, for you/For you, for you, for you, for you/For you, for you, for you/For you, for you, for you, for you/For you, for you, for you, for you/For you, for you, for you, for you.”)

         He continues to say that she doesn’t know what she’s doing. He’s the only person she’s met who has any influence. As long as she doesn’t talk back or start acting like a princess, he’ll be there for her. He asks her if he can massage her thigh. He says it will be only his hand and he won’t try anything. He just wants to feel her soft skin again. She tells him yes, pulling herself closer to the headboard. He closes his eyes and massages her thigh, telling her he can be the Hollywood boyfriend who will get her attention. (“You're never gonna make it all by yourself/You're gonna need a friend, you're gonna need my help/I have so much to offer if you'd just be nice/If you do what I say and don't make me say it twice/Do you mind if I just rub my hand up thus?/Come on just my hand, come on just my hand/You gotta understand, I'm gonna be your man/I'm gonna be your man, you're gonna need me/I'm gonna make you understand/Yeah I'm gonna be your man/I'm gonna be, gonna be your man.”)

         The chorus is sung again.

          In the final section, part of the second verse and chorus are combined to end the single. (“Come on, just my hand (For you, for you, for you, for you)/You gotta understand, I'm gonna be your man (For you, for you, for you, for you)/Be your man (For you, for you, for you, for you)/For you, for you, for you, for you.”)

          Crow’s  scatching vocals resent the guy who made her feel as though she had no choice. He’s legit, that much she knows. She had heard the rumors here and there but thought it was made-up, too outrageous to be real. It didn’t match the man she had read about in the magazines. She hates him for what he did and speaking up now is the only way she knows how to deal with it.

        Keep in mind, she’s not naming anyone in particular but fictionalizing the experience as a whole. Given the era, the fact she’s talking about sexual harassment  at all is a triumph in and of itself.  In 1991, Anita Hill made it a discussion in the United States after she accused now Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. As for Hollywood, publicists tightly controlled the media then and the salacious stories were left to the National Enquirer. Tabloids weren’t considered legitimate. The national news handled the scandals which were less then. Everything was kept quiet and if the entertainment media wanted their celebrity interviews, their mouths remained shut.

       The  chilling “What I Can Do For You” takes  back whatever power that was lost.