ERIC CARMEN - ALL BY MYSELF

ALL BY MYSELF

ERIC CARMEN

SONGWRITER: ERIC CARMEN & SERGEI RACHMANINOFF

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: ERIC CARMEN

LABEL: ARISTA RECORDS

GENRE: SOFT ROCK

YEAR: 1975

 

              Eric Howard Carmen (born August 11, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist, and keyboardist. He scored numerous hit songs across the 1970s and 1980s, first as a member of the Raspberries (who had a million-selling single with "Go All the Way"), and then with his solo career, including hits such as "All by Myself", "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again", "She Did It", "Hungry Eyes", and "Make Me Lose Control".

              In 1987, Carmen's contribution to the hit movie Dirty Dancing, "Hungry Eyes", hit number 2 on the Adult Contemporary Chart and also returned him to the Pop Top 10. "Reason To Try", a further contribution to the One Moment in Time compilation album of songs recorded for the Seoul Summer Olympics, kept Carmen's profile high in 1988, during which the nostalgic "Make Me Lose Control" also returned him to the number one position on the Adult Contemporary chart – where it stayed for three straight weeks – as well as number 3 on Billboard's Hot 100. This became his highest charting song since "All By Myself". Both, along with "Hungry Eyes", having in the past two decades become classic pop radio favorites. Carmen had another hit single in 1988 with "Make Me Lose Control".

          The year 2000 saw the stateside release of I Was Born to Love You, which had been released in 1998 only in Japan as Winter Dreams. Carmen eschewed the use of a band on the recording, playing most of the instruments and programming the drum parts himself. The album did not find a large audience, but Carmen has continued to enjoy success placing songs with other artists over the years. In 2000 he also toured for the first time in years with Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band performing "Hungry Eyes", "Go All The Way" and "All By Myself".

             On December 24, 2013, the first new recording in over 15 years by Carmen titled "Brand New Year" was released. The track, written and recorded in November/December 2013 in Ohio and Los Angeles, was issued via a gratis download by Legacy Recordings as a special "Christmas gift", to herald the March 2014 arrival of a 30 track career retrospective entitled The Essential Eric Carmen.

              On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Eric Carmen among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

          "All by Myself" is a song by American artist Eric Carmen released in 1975. The verse is based on the second movement (Adagio sostenuto) of Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Opus 18, famously used to underscore the 1945 British film Brief Encounter. The chorus was taken from the song "Let's Pretend", which Carmen wrote and recorded with the Raspberries in 1972. The slide guitar solo was performed by studio guitarist Hugh McCracken.

(Verse 1)

When I was young

I never needed anyone

And making love was just for fun

Those days are gone

 

(Verse 2)

Livin' alone

I think of all the friends I've known

When I dial the telephone

Nobody's home

 

(Chorus)

All by myself

Don't wanna be

All by myself

Anymore

 

(Verse 3)

Hard to be sure

Sometimes I feel so insecure

And loves so distant and obscure

Remains the cure

 

(REPEAT Chorus x2)

 

(REPEAT Verse 1)

 

(REPEAT Chorus)

 

All by myself

Don't wanna live

Oh

Don't wanna live

By myself, by myself

Anymore

By myself

Anymore

Oh

All by myself

Don't wanna live

I never, never, never

Needed anyone.