It's All I Can Do

For the Anne Murray song, see It's All I Can Do (Anne Murray song).
"It's All I Can Do"
Single by The Cars
from the album Candy-O
B-side "Got a Lot on My Head"
"Candy-O" (UK)
Released September 25, 1979 (1979-09-25)
Format 7"
Genre New wave
Length 3:45
Label Elektra 46546
Writer(s) Ric Ocasek
Producer(s) Roy Thomas Baker
The Cars singles chronology
"Let's Go"
(1979)		 "It's All I Can Do"
(1979)		 "Double Life"
(1979)
Candy-O track listing

"It's All I Can Do" is a song by the American rock band The Cars. It is the third track from their 1979 album Candy-O. It was written by the band's leader and songwriter Ric Ocasek, and features bassist Benjamin Orr on vocals.

Sound and genre

According to Brett Milano, writer of the Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology album notes "'It's All I Can Do' was an affecting, straight-ahead piece of romantic pop, give or take a line like 'When I was crazy, I thought you were great.'"[1] The track was described as "gentle" by AllMusic reviewer Greg Prato, while Hamish Champ, writer of The 100 Best-Selling Albums of the 70s called the song "laidback".[2]

The bass lines and the G major guitar riffs have a major rock feel, but the song is softened down with Benjamin Orr's vocals and Greg Hawkes keyboard and synth lines.

Release

"It's All I Can Do" was released as the follow-up to the "Let's Go" single on September 25, 1979, backed with "Got a Lot on My Head" in the U.S. and Canada, and with "Candy-O" in Britain. Although the song did not reach the Top 20 standard of its predecessor, it reached number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100.[3] A third and final single from Candy-O, "Double Life", failed to chart.

Reception

"It's All I Can Do" has generally received positive reception from critics. Prato said that "'It's All I Can Do' ... deserved to be a hit," while Champ said the track (as well as its predecessor, "Let's Go,") "give ample evidence of the band's range."[2] William Ruhlmann, author of The All-Music Guide to Rock, said "'It's All I Can Do' hit as well [as 'Let's Go']", and in the Billboard review of Candy-O, the song was chosen as one of the "best cuts".[2] In a negative review, Tom Carson of Rolling Stone said, "'It's All I Can Do' calculatedly recycles the 'Just What I Needed' hook but to less-telling effect. It's simply cold."[2]

B-side

The B-side of "It's All I Can Do" is "Got a Lot on My Head", another track from Candy-O. In a review of Candy-O, AllMusic reviewer Greg Prato says the band "rocks out on 'Got a Lot on My Head' and 'Night Spots'".[4]

Other appearances

Personnel

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Chart (1979) Peak
position
Canadian Singles Chart 17
US Billboard Hot 100[7] 41

Year-end charts

Chart (1979) Rank
Canada[8] 131
U.S. (Joel Whitburn's Pop Annual)[9] 239

References

  1. ↑ Milano, Brett (1995). Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology (Media notes). The Cars. Rhino Records.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Candy-O album reviews". Superseventies.com. Retrieved 2016-10-15.
  3. ↑ "The Cars: Charts & Awards: Billboard Singles". allmusic. Retrieved September 25, 2010.
  4. ↑ Prato, Greg. "The Cars: Candy-O". Allmusic. Retrieved May 29, 2011.
  5. ↑ "The Cars: It's All I Can Do". allmusic. Retrieved September 25, 2010.
  6. ↑ "A Tribute to the Cars: Substitution Mass Confusion - Various Artists | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. 2005-02-08. Retrieved 2016-10-15.
  7. ↑ "The Cars - Charts & Awards - Billboard Singles". AllMusic (Rovi Corporation). Retrieved 2009-11-04.
  8. ↑ "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-15.
  9. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (1999). Pop Annual. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. ISBN 0-89820-142-X.

External links


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