“I Don’t Want to Hear It Anymore” (Dusty Springfield)

The next song on our tour of the Dusty in Memphis album is “I Don’t Want to Hear It Anymore,” the fourth song on side one. This is a heartbreaking tune about a woman finding out that her lover is unfaithful by hearing her neighbors talk behind her back (or, rather, through her apartment’s thin walls). As sung by Dusty Springfield, it is just tears at your heartstrings. People, and life, can be so cruel.

Just listen to the honesty and simplicity in these lyrics:

Ain’t it sad, said the woman down the hall
That when a nice girl falls in love
Ain’t it just too bad that she had to fall
For a boy, who doesn’t care for her at all?
(It’s so sad)

I don’t want to hear it anymore
I just can’t stand to hear it anymore
‘Cause the talk just never ends and the heartache soon begins
The talk is so loud and the walls are much too thin

“I Don’t Want to Hear It Anymore” was written by legendary songwriter Randy Newman back in 1964, before he became legendary or even well-known. Jerry Butler first recorded it that year (under the abridged title, “I Don’t Want to Hear Anymore”); it only got as high as #95 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Dusty picked “I Don’t Want to Hear It Anymore” for her 1969 album, Dusty in Memphis, and intended to release it as a single. It was to be the A side of a single with “The Windmills of Your Mind” as the B side, but when the latter tune won the Academy Award for Best Song (from the movie The Thomas Crown Affair), producer Jerry Wexler switched the emphasis and promoted the 45 as a two-sided single. Unfortunately, only “Windmills” got picked up by radio stations, peaking (by itself) at #31 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the Adult Contemporary Chart. “I Don’t Want to Hear It Anymore” got left behind.

That’s a shame, because this is one of the best tracks on an album filled with great tunes. The string-heavy arrangement doesn’t overpower the vocals, instead reinforcing the emotion behind the story. Background vocalists the Sweet Inspirations act as a kind of Greek chorus to Dusty’s mournful vocals. You can practically hear Dusty’s heart breaking as she realizes what her neighbors are saying. It’s a powerful tune and a powerful performance.