THEN SHE SMILED AT ME

Here’s another THIKK song that’s been 40 years in the making. Inspired by the noir crime fiction of James Hadley Chase as well as the songs of the Beatles.

Collaborative songwriting is at its best when two songwriters can each add a dimension to a song that one could not do on their own. Like “Day In The Life” where John started the song and Paul added the second part… “Woke up got out of bed…”  In this song, Krishna came up with the initial riff and I added the chorus later. Works well together I think.

I kept the noir theme going in the video as well. The storyline is vague... and the conclusion of both the song and video are open ended. What did our hero do to save the girl? Was she scamming him all along? At that point in our lives (at seventeen years of age) we read a lot of James Hadley Chase. He was a British crime novelist whose (often lurid) page-turners were written around the 1940s and 1950s Chicago and New York gangster culture. Most of his protagonists are tricked by beautiful women into committing crimes — or even killing on their behalf — only to realize later that they were manipulated.

I must have read all the JHC crime novels before I moved on from my teens — I still read them if I come across one. If you haven’t read Chase, I would suggest starting with “No Orchids For Miss Blandish.”

— Thomas Itty (January 2021) —

​

(Words & Music by Thomas Itty & Krishna Kumar)

 

She left home

With nothing but her clothes

A box full of cash

And a diamond on her nose

She wanted to go

To old Chicago

And meet up with

Some friends she used to know

O000oooo Chicago

 

Her husband was

A cruel and evil man

He robbed and killed

And ran with the Klan

She soon realized

That she had to get away

Which is how we met

On that fateful day

 

Then she smiled at me

And I knew that I had to set her free

It was love in the first degree

 

I thought I was

As clever as a fox

I learned about life

From the school of hard knocks

I was born in New York City

I called Harlem my home

I drive a car

With has too much chrome

Yeah Harrrrrrrlem is my home

 

 

I was at a rest stop

On the Jersey turnpike

When she stopped me

And asked me for a ride

She told me her story

Full of violence and abuse

I knew right away

That it was no ruse

 

Then she smiled at me

And I knew that I had to set her free

Then she smiled at me

It was love in the first degree

ALL SONGS ARE PRODUCED BY THOMAS ITTY AT HIS HOME STUDIO IN OSSINING, NEW YORK