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Voices Carry (song)

"Voices Carry"
Voicescarry-single.jpg
The album of the same name uses the same artwork for its front cover.
Single by 'Til Tuesday
from the album Voices Carry
B-side "Are You Serious?"
Released March 28, 1985
Format
Recorded 1985 at R.P.M. Sound Studios (New York City, New York)
Genre Pop, new wave
Length 4:20
Label Epic
Writer(s) Robert Holmes / Aimee Mann / Michael Hausman / Joey Pesce
Producer(s) Mike Thorne
'Til Tuesday singles chronology
"Voices Carry"
(1985)
"Looking Over My Shoulder"
(1985)

"Voices Carry" is a song by the American rock band 'Til Tuesday. It was produced by Mike Thorne for the band's debut studio album, Voices Carry (1985). The song's lyrics, written by the band's frontwoman Aimee Mann, portray a lover in an affair, and were originally written and sung as if to a woman, but changed due to Epic Records' pressure. The song was inspired by Mann's breakup with 'Til Tuesday drummer, Michael Hausman.

The single achieved strong American radio airplay and MTV rotation in the summer of that year.

The accompanying music video, directed by D.J. Webster, received wide exposure on MTV, positive reactions from critics, was nominated for numerous awards, and is thought to be the reason behind the song's success. It was released in North America in March 1985. "Voices Carry" became the band's highest charting single and their only top ten hit in the U.S., peaking at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. Internationally it reached the top twenty in Canada and Australia.

"Voices Carry" was recorded in 1985 at RPM Sound Studios in New York. The song is about past sour relationships, and was originally written and sung by Aimee Mann as to a woman. 'Til Tuesday rehearsed that format in Boston the previous summer, but Epic was unhappy with the lyrics; they thought that it was a "very powerful, commercial song", and wanted to remove the lesbian components to appeal to the mainstream market.

Despite the pressure to replace the lyrics, producer Mike Thorne thought that "it didn't matter any to the impact of the song itself", and the band eventually changed the gender of the love interest. At the beginning, 'Til Tuesday and Thorne were undecided between "Love in a Vacuum" and "Looking over My Shoulder" to be released as the first single, but ultimately Epic's A&R executive Dick Wingate chose "Voices Carry", because it "define[d] precisely the band and its style". According to Thorne, his contract stated that he had the right to be the first to remix the song for the 7" single release. He was then told that it had been remixed by Bob Clearmountain; about this he commented, "not what the rules were [...] but it sounded pretty good, as well it might coming from one of the finest American engineer/producers".


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