Imperial, through its affiliation with Liberty, likely made out better in terms of the quality of Newman's material issued; certainly their talent roster was more impressive. Of the primarily female artists to cover his songs, the most sympathetic was Metric colleague Jackie DeShannon.
The two cowrote a pair of songs, "She Don't Understand Him Like I Do" and "Hold Your Head High," which were promptly issued as a single (Liberty 55705) that went nowhere. The first song, a kinder "female rivals"-styled ballad, has a delicate arrangement with swooning strings, over which DeShannon's emphatic vocals just manage to remain in control. Brian Hyland, of "Itsy Bitsy...Bikini" fame, also cut an nice gender-switched version of this tune (Phillips 40263).
In "Hold Your Head High", what at first appears to be a strong message of self-reliance to a girl hurt by her fella ("So hold your head high/When he passes you by..") is revealed to be a "Stand By Your Man" retread ("..'cause/You know he's your guy"); the martial rhythm track and stiff arrangement guaranteed next-to-no dance hall play. A similar cover exists by Irene Kral on Mainstream Records.
DeShannon also covered two other Newman-penned numbers in 1964, "Did He Call Today Mama" and "Take Me Away", the former on her You Won't Forget Me album (Imperial 9294) alongside the two collaborations above, the latter on This Is Jackie DeShannon (Imperial 9286) and a 1968 Sunset label album, Lonely Girl (Sunset 5225).
An unusual reggae-like lilt anchors "Did He Call Today Mama", distracting from a mundane girl-waiting-for-her-guy lyric ("If he never calls again/How will I go on?"). The song underwent a totally different pop arrangement for would-be vocalist/Solo Paper Cup fortune heiress Dora Hall on her classic '60's schlock LP, Dora Hall Sings Top Teen Tunes (Premore 9201; also Reinbeau single 6269). Sadly, Dora's cue card-level reading sinks an otherwise perky musical backing.
Jackie's dreamy reading of "Take Me Away" is one of the more listenable numbers on the tinny-sounding Sunset LP; a subtle string/percussion arrangement compliments Randy's wistful, romantic lyric about a lonely girl's daydreams (despite Randy's poor memory regarding his Metric- period work, he has cited this song as one of his favorites). No later covers have been traced.
DeShannon is also believed to have cut an Custom Records acetate of a Newman-penned song from 1962, "Between The Pages Of My Diary (The Orchid And The Diary)." Though quietly attractive, this country-flavored song (in which a female narrator keeps a departed lover's orchid gift pressed in her diary in hope of his return) has never been traced to a commercially released album or single. DeShannon's vocals can also be heard on a early 1960's Newman demo titled "Why Can't You Be Loving Me."
Imperial's other ace performer was New Orleans' soul singer Irma Thomas. Besides a superb treatment of "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)," her covers of Newman's "While The City Sleeps" and "Baby Don't Look Down" are likely definitive.
"While The City Sleeps" appeared on Thomas' wonderful Imperial debut, Wish Someone Would Care (Imperial 9266); like many of her songs, this one unfolds at night, as the narrator tells of meeting a secret lover in the shadows to avoid her other boyfriend. Meanwhile, bouncy piano riffs alternate between major and minor chords to hook the listener in -- an impressive song and cover. For a study in contrasts, compare the 1974 cover recorded by early Newman arranger Nick DeCaro (of Billy Joel's The Stranger fame) on his LP Italian Graffiti (Blue Thumb 6011): Mantovani strings and cloudlike backup make for perfect listening as dentists rev up their drills.
An eight-to-the-bar R & B pounder from Irma's 1966 LP, Take A Look (Imperial 9302), "Baby Don't Look Down" ranks as Newman's most exuberant rock effort to date; Thomas gives the male-directed "watch your back on the way up" lyric a knowingly acid edge in her reading. Billy Storm's even more raucous version of the song (Loma single 2001) switches the gender, but with little damage to its meaning, since his vocals are soon rendered unintelligible by the band's frantic sax and infectious "whoo!" backing vocals. British artist Tiffany also recorded a upbeat cover on the U.K. Parlophone label.
One of the true left-field surprises of Newman's Metric period was an early O'Jays cover of "Friday Night" (Imperial 66197), a tribute to one guy's sitting out the evening alone, watching his buddies go out walking with their girls. The marriage of group to song works even better than one could hope to expect: anchored with a great doo-wop hook ("bom-BOM-Friday Night"), the singers flatten any self-pity in the lyric, achieving instead a perfect balance of longing and ache. Male cover artist Sam Fletcher doesn't fare so well; his cover (Tollie 9012) goes straight for the melodrama and tear ducts, with predictable results. A cover by British artist Red Hawkes was also released on the Alp label. This is another song that Newman has cited as one of his favorites of the Metric period.