Bad Blood

Sedaka wrote this song with Philip Cody, who also helped write his hit "Laughter In The Rain." Cody told us it's his least favorite song. Here's the story of how it came together: "I went to visit my family and I spent some time with my grandmother, who is an old Sicilian lady. She was telling stories about the lady up the street who used to be a witch, a Strega. And the whole idea of people being good or evil because of what goes on in their blood was just part of the superstitious nature of my Sicilian upbringing that I tried to stay as far away from as I could. (laughing) I just thought it would be an interesting way to approach a lyric: rather than from a place of enlightenment the idea is that love makes us stupid. And that's where I went. It wasn't (heavy sigh - pause)... I did it, and I didn't think I did a very good job on it, and before I had a chance to do a re-write Neil was in the studio with Elton doing the song, and that was it. So I guess the best things are left undone."

This is a surprisingly bitter break-up song by an artist who was then known mostly for feel-good music. Here, it's the friend of the narrator's who gets dumped by a woman who's referred to as "the bitch" and "an evil child," while he takes a "better you than me" attitude towards the whole situation. Speaking about this song in Rolling Stone, Sedaka said: "The lyric is a little controversial, with words like 'bitch' and such. I like it because it's not such a goody-goody two-shoes thing. That the mistake I made in my first career - the songs were too predictable, there's no message intended."

This song turned out to be Sedaka's biggest hit, reaching #1 on the Billboard Top 100, remaining there for three weeks. He was helped by his friend Elton John, who sang back-up for this song which ensured airplay. In an odd coincidence, this song was knocked out of its #1 position by an Elton John song, "Island Girl."

Elton John revived Sedaka's fortunes in American by releasing "Laughter In The Rain" on his new label, Rocket Records. Sedaka continued to record for Rocket, and Elton continued to help. For The Hungry Years album, Elton asked to sing backup on a track. After showing up to the studio 90 minutes late, he listened to the album and picked "Bad Blood."

This song didn't age well. In 1986, Sedaka said it was the least requested and least played of his hits at his concerts.

In case you're wondering about the doo-wop stuff at the end that sounds like, "Did you run, did you run?," Cody says that was a spur of the moment thing between Elton and Neil in the studio. Says Phil, "I was a literate snob and would never have written anything like doo doo run."