Like the Way I Do

"Like the Way I Do" is a Melissa Etheridge song, the second single in the US from her first album Melissa Etheridge (1988). In the UK, "Don't You Need" was released as the second single.

"Like the Way I Do"
Single by Melissa Etheridge
from the album Melissa Etheridge
B-side"Like the Way I Do (live)"
Released1988
StudioCherokee Studio I, LA
GenreRock, Blues Rock
Length5:25
LabelIsland
Songwriter(s)Melissa Etheridge
Producer(s)Craig Krampf
Kevin McCormick
Melissa Etheridge
Niko Bolas
Melissa Etheridge singles chronology
"Don't You Need"
(1988)		 "Like the Way I Do"
(1988)		 "Similar Features"
(1988)

Song information

The song was actually written years before the album was recorded. Melissa Etheridge had already played it during her live concerts, where it was the first of her own compositions that kept being requested by the audience.[1] The intro of the song was created by coincidence when the singer played one of her other songs - "I Want You" - backwards on a cassette recorder.[2]

"Like the Way I Do" is one of Etheridge's most famous songs and in her autobiography, she says,[3] ""Like the Way I Do" is definitely one of my best songs. It is filled with passion and agony and desire and utter gut-wrenching pain. If you've ever seen me in concert, you know that when I perform that song, it becomes a part of me. It's a transforming song for both the audience and me."

Etheridge also says that the studio version is actually a short version of the song since when she performs it live, she improvises a lot which sometimes makes the song last 15 to 20 minutes.[4]

Music video

"Like the Way I Do" was the first Etheridge song for which a video was produced. It was conceived and directed by Tony van den Ende. It shows the singer during a live concert and includes scenes both on stage and backstage. The place at which she is playing is a smaller bar or club with a smoky, rather dark atmosphere.[5] It was produced in 1988 and is also included on the bonus DVD of her album Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled.

Charts

The song did not chart on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 but it was a minor hit on the Album Rock Tracks chart, where it reached No. 28. Seven years later, when Etheridge was at the height of her popularity and radio exposure, "Like the Way I Do" was rereleased as the B-side to Yes I Am's final single, "If I Wanted To"; this allowed the track to chart on the Hot 100 for the first time, peaking at No. 42. This statistic understates the song's popularity, however. While Billboard tracked the songs separately, and "If I Wanted To" was regarded as the A-side and hence charted higher (No. 16, 1995), many Top 40 radio stations treated "Like the Way I Do" as the de facto A-side and played it in heavy rotation — in many markets, more than "Wanted". Under the then Hot 100 rules, all of the combined retail sales points of the single were given to the A-side, and so "Like", the B-side, had to chart on radio airplay points alone.

Having been performed at the Dutch Pinkpop festival, which was broadcast on television in the early 1990s, "Like the Way I Do" became a No. 7 hit in the Netherlands after Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You".[6]

Track listing

All songs written by Melissa Etheridge.

A-side: "Like the Way I Do" – 5:25
B-side: "Like the Way I Do (live)" – 6:03

Credits and personnel

Production
  • Melissa Etheridge, Niko Bolas, Craig Krampf, Kevin McCormick – producers
  • Chris Blackwell, Rob Fraboni – executive producers
  • Allan Blazek, Jim Nipar – engineer
  • David Kane – assistant engineer
  • Duane Seykora, Bob Vogt – mixing assistants
  • Stephen Marcussen – mastering
  • Melissa Etheridge, Craig Krampf – arrangers
  • George DuBose – photography
  • Tony Wright – cover design

Cover versions
  • The German band 2-4 Grooves recorded the song under the title "The Way I Do" in a house version and released it as a usual single with another song as a B-side and on a remix single including the radio version and three additional remixes.[8] The singles were released in October 2006 but did not chart.[9] The band said that, before the release, the single was presented to Etheridge and she approved the version.[10]
  • Elli Erl, the winner of the second season of Deutschland sucht den Superstar (German Idol) performed the song several times during the season: for her original audition, in the first motto show ("My pop idol", finishing fourth out of 13) and in the final as her personal season highlight.[11] In the show's fourth season, candidate Julia Falke performed the song in the second top 20 show making her proceed to the motto shows.[12]

In 1996, Etheridge performed a parody of this song on Sesame Street called "Like the Way U Do" where she serenaded, danced, hugged and was held by a big red letter U.

References
  1. Etheridge/Morton 2002, p. 80
  2. Etheridge/Morton 2002, p. 77.
  3. Etheridge/Morton 2002, p. 76
  4. Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled at 00:11:35
  5. corky73cz (12 July 2007). "Melissa Etheridge - Like The Way I Do". YouTube. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  6. dutchcharts.nl - Dutch charts portal
  7. "Billboard Top 100 - 1995". Archived from the original on 15 August 2009. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
  8. "Releases". 2-4 Grooves. Archived from the original on 2 September 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  9. "Home". Musicload. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  10. "2-4 Grooves - The Way I Do". 2-4 Grooves (in German). Archived from the original on 2 September 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  11. "Mottoshows der 4. Staffel". DSDS (in German). Archived from the original on 28 August 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  12. "Mottoshows der 4. Staffel". DSDS (in German). Archived from the original on 28 August 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2017.

Sources
  • Melissa Etheridge and Laura Morton: The truth is..., Random House 2002
  • Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled bonus DVD
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