The “evergreen” song Suzi Quatro believes will be “popular forever”
By the time Suzi Quatro released If You Knew Suzi.., people already knew her as the pioneering ‘tomboy’ rocker whose music was fast-paced, aggressive, and culturally commanding.
This reputation makes complete sense when you consider that, at the age of six, Quatro’s ultimate hero was Elvis Presley. The quintessential embodiment of rock ‘n’ roll and raw rebellion, Presley was the first of a long list of male idols in music who showed Quatro how to stand out from the crowd and make an individualistic impact.
The push to create her own musical entity came after seeing The Beatles perform on television, after which she and her sister, Patti, formed the garage group, the Pleasure Seekers. A turning point in Quatro’s separate journey came when the team at Elektra Records saw Quatro as a possible stand-in for the late Janis Joplin, seeing her authentic, defiant nature as the perfect replacement.
The following years saw Quatro stake her claim with a handful of definitive hits, including ‘Can the Can’, ‘48 Crash’, and ‘Daytona Demon’. However, her biggest hit, which came a few years later as part of If You Knew Suzi…, the romantic country ballad ‘Stumblin’ In’, proved her diversity beyond her edgy image, and it all seemingly came together on a whim.
In fact, the idea apparently surfaced one night at a party with producers Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn, with Quatro and the members of Smokie also in attendance. According to Chapman, at one point, Quatro was playing bass while singer Chris Norman performed with his arm around her, and Chapman couldn’t help but think how well they’d work as a duo.
The following day, in the studio, Chapman came up with the line, “our love is alive”, and suggested a joint performance with the pair, to which Quatro agreed that it sounded “fantastic” – the song itself was unlike anything anyone expected from Quatro, a departure from her usual abrasive attitude and rock-leaning, high-energy style.
Instead, it is upbeat and uplifting, and rhythmic in a fundamentally country-pop way, and the lyrics are also fairly simple, tackling a love that fills you with joy and excitement. “Our love is alive, and so we begin,” she sings. “Foolishly laying our hearts on the table / Stumblin’ in / Our love is a flame, burning within / Now and then firelight will catch us / Stumblin’ in.”
It’s clear why the song became one of Quatro’s most popular: it’s formulaic while still sounding unique, and panders to many of those familiar pop structures that are still very much alive today. It’s also a guaranteed crowd-pleaser in Quatro’s sets, something she noted once during an interview with Galaxy when asked what her favourite song to perform live was.
She singled out some of her other favourites, including ‘48 Crash’, ‘Devil Gate Drive’, and ‘If You Can’t Give Me Love’, while describing ‘Stumblin’ In’ as an “evergreen” song that’s “forever popular”. She also said that it’s impossible to pick favourites because she loves so many, but made it clear that ‘Stumblin’ In’ still sits atop many of those classics, purely because of its lasting impact.
