"That Girl Could Sing" is a hit single written and performed by Jackson Browne from his 1980 album Hold Out. The song peaked at #22 on the Billboard Hot 100, charting for 13 weeks after its Sept. 20, 1980 debut. It was also released as a single in Japan. "That Girl Could Sing" was the seventh-biggest hit single of Browne's Top 40 career (beating 1976's "Here Come Those Tears Again" by one position higher on the Billboard Hot 100).[1][2][3]
History
Lyrically the song expresses positive remembrance of a relationship with an ultimately elusive woman:
"She was a friend to me when I needed one —
"Wasn't for her I don't know what I'd have done.
"She gave me back something that was missing in me.
"She could have turned out to be almost anyone ...
"With the possible exception
"Of who I wanted her to be ...
That last sentence of that first verse was praised by Kit Rachlis in his September 1980 review of the album, but he bemoaned "Talk about celestial bodies/And your angels on the wing."[4] The full title of the song is only sung by Browne once in the song, who then ends the song with a variation on it:
"She wasn't much good at saying goodbye — but,
"That girl was sane.
Billboard said that the song starts "with a haunting instrumental before his perceptive lyrics and vocals take charge" and that the melody builds in intensity over the course of the song.[5]Record World called it a "prime example" of how "Browne's ballad-into-rocker arrangements are endearing as they are distinctive."[6]
It had long been speculated to be about singer/songwriter Laura Nyro or pop singer Linda Ronstadt, but more likely was inspired by sometime-Browne backup singer Valerie Carter. Fan website editor Russ Paris stated on his site that he believed that "most fans seem to consider Carter the inspiration for the song" with Browne given a couple hints through the years ".[1] After announcing Carter's death during a concert on March 4, 2017, at Castle Theater at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, Kahului, Maui, Hawaii, Browne played the song in tribute to her. Finally on April 22, 2017 Jackson Browne formally attributed the song to Carter at a concert at the Cummings Theatre in Manitoba, Canada stating "it's a song I wrote about her, there was a time that I was just crazy about her."
Musically, the song is dominated by David Lindley's lap steel and Craig Doerge's keyboards, and Rick Marotta guests on the song to add high-hat and toms, according to the album liner notes. Fans recall Lindley quoted in the April 1982 issue of Guitar Player magazine as saying that, playing a Rickenbackerlap steel, he was using a broken Fairchild limiter amplifier "on its last legs." In addition, producer/recorder Greg Ladanyi has been quoted as noting that "the guitar sound on the track 'That Girl Could Sing' required minimal processing, and the tone of the record is pretty true to what came out of Lindley's amp."[7][8][9]
