"You Could Have Been with Me" by Sheena Easton

Song#:  0836
Date:  11/28/1981
Debut:  78
Peak:  15
Weeks:  18
Genre:  Pop, Adult Contemporary



Pop Bits:  After scoring a #1 debut single ("Morning Train") and another Top 10 hit ("For Your Eyes Only", #4), the time came for her sophomore album. "You Could Have Been with Me" was similar in it's pop/AC sound as Easton's debut and this title-track ballad hit the Top 20 while reaching #6 at AC. While it wasn't a huge smash, it did well enough to get the album to gold status.

ReduxReview:  This is a good-sized ballad for Easton. It's large enough for her vocals, but not too big that she gets swallowed by the song. Easton has a really good voice, but she doesn't have a huge diva voice. So songs like this were perfect for her. I've always liked it and thought it was a Top 10 contender.

ReduxRating:  7/10

Trivia:  This song was written by New Zealand musician Lea Maalfrid. Her sights were set on being a performer and she worked both solo and with a prog-rock band called Ragnarok. After leaving the group, she had demos that made it all the way to some of Elton John's folks. An album was planned for John's Rocket Records, but while that was still in the air, a couple of her songs made it to Easton's producer (who had intended to produced Maalfrid's album as well). A couple of Maalfrid's songs got recorded by Easton including this one. At the time Maalfrid wasn't quite aware of who Easton was and told the publisher's receptionist that she didn't care that much about Easton recording her songs. The receptionist said - you will when you get the check. When Maalfird did get a check, she turned to full-time songwriting.

_________________________________________________________________________________