Today’s classic song of the day is “Black Coffee in Bed” by Squeeze. Released in April of 1982, it peaked at #26 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart (but not the Hot 100) and #51 on the UK Singles Chart.
“Black Coffee in Bed,” as with most Squeeze tunes, was written by Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook; Tilbrook also sang lead. It’s kind of a Temptations pastiche, complete with call-and-response vocals. (The backing vocals were provided by Paul Young and Elvis Costello, by the way.) The out chorus is particularly clever, aligning a six-bar background vocal phrase against the eight-bar foreground. (It goes “black coffee in bed/black black coffee in bed/black black black coffee in bed,” which is wonderful.) And, yes, there’s a prominent organ part, so we’re kind of continuing with that theme today.
Here’s what co-writer Difford remembers about the tune:
“The lyric was inspired by my picking up my notebook one day and seeing a coffee stain on it, which inspired the first line. It was a very vivid image for me and inspired this song of loss and regret. Lyrically it was attractive to a country kind of meter. The fact that Glenn put a soul melody to it shows the unique quality of our writing.“
I was and remain a huge Squeeze fan. All their ’70s and early ’80s albums are great, and their Singles—45’s and Under greatest hits compilation is like mainlining all their best stuff. Difford and Tilbrook are superb songwriters, rivaling the best songwriters of that and previous generations.
And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, record producer/singer Bilal and vocalist Nikki Jean covering “Black Coffee in Bed” in 2020. It’s a very modern take on Squeeze’s soulful classic. (Yeah, I like the original better, too.)
