The 1986 song that Huey Lewis and the News rescued from being scrapped by its writer
Without wishing to fully take sides with fictional serial killer Patrick Bateman, Fore really was the moment when Huey Lewis and the News came into their element as a group, fully settling into a sound they had been expertly trying to develop over the course of their first three studio albums.
Armed with “a new sheen of consummate professionalism”, as Bret Easton Ellis put it through the mouth of his deranged American Psycho protagonist, the band had already hit new heights through the success of their 1985 single, ‘The Power of Love’, which featured as part of the soundtrack to the blockbuster sci-fi flick, Back to the Future. However, they knew they needed to capitalise on this remarkable feat instantly in order to maintain this level of popularity.
Fore produced five top 10 hits in the US alone, with two additional chart-toppers being added on top of ‘The Power of Love’, but perhaps the most fascinating single to be released from the record is ‘Doing It All For My Baby’. While it didn’t reach the peak of the charts, hitting a high of number six in the US, it almost didn’t get released or recorded, and had to be rescued by the band from being scrapped entirely.
Written by external songwriters in Michael Duke and Philip Cody, the former of whom had previously worked alongside the band on ‘Hope You Live Me Like You Say You Do’, they hadn’t initially thought of giving it to Lewis, but after shopping around for an artist to take the song while working for Lawrence Welk’s publishing company in 1983, they realised that they weren’t getting any interest.
Having all but given up hope on finding any takers for the demo, Duke went out on the road and began playing at clubs in Mississippi, including ‘Doing It All For My Baby’ in his setlist. This was where he would fortuitously encounter some of the members of the News who came to see him perform, and they noted to him that there was potential in the unreleased track and that they wanted to present it to Lewis for consideration.
In the words of Cody, he claimed in an interview with Songfacts that he and Duke were “musical soul brothers” who were looking for “the same kind of musical epiphanies” as one another, adding that the song had originally come about in an afternoon, and three years on was being included on Huey Lewis and the News’ biggest-selling album.
However, while Lewis was grateful to Duke and Cody for allowing him and the band to record their song, their recently acquired horn section, the Tower of Power, were also in awe of the track. The first song they’d ever performed with Huey Lewis and the News on was the other track that Duke had given to the group, and in the four years that had passed between the two recordings, the horns had taken the band to another level.
“We recorded a lot of great songs with Huey, but the one that really stands out to me, horn-wise, is ‘Doing It All For My Baby,’” saxophonist Emilio Castillo also revealed to Songfacts, adding, “Mike’s songs are super soulful and Huey and the guys were tailor-made to make them hits.”
It’s an incredible song that was clearly elevated by the fact that the band were performing at the top of their game, but had it not been for their fortunate encounter with Duke, the song may have forever been consigned to obscurity, with nobody ever having recorded it.
