THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

600-Jim Capaldi-It’s All Up to You.

1974-Number 27 single.

Best Bit-At 0.21. Just man up, and tell what’s she’s missing, for goodness sake.

Jim Capaldi was born Nicola James Capaldi, on August 2nd, 1944, in Evesham, Worcestershire, England, he died on January 28th, 2005, of stomach cancer, at the age of 60. His father whose career was as a music teacher, was of Italian descent, and was also called Nicola, and it was his father who introduced the young Jim Capaldi to music, studying the piano, and voice coaching, and by the age of 14, he was also an accomplished player of the drums.

Jim Capaldi’s first major breakthrough occurred in 1967 when forming the ‘Psychedelic Rock’ band ‘Traffic’ with Steve Winwood, Chris Wood (1944-1983,) and Dave Mason, in Birmingham, England. Capaldi, and Mason had both previously played together in the bands the ‘Hellions,’ and ‘Deep Feeling,’ while Winwood had been the lead singer of ‘The Spencer Davis Group’ from the age of 14.The other founding member Chris Wood had been a member of a Birmingham band called ‘Locomotive. ‘Traffic’ were active on and off between 1969-2004, with alternating group members. Jim Capaldi was the drummer in Traffic, and it was also he who named the band, coming up with the name while the four group members were waiting to cross the street in Dorchester.

With ‘Traffic,’ Jim Capaldi released eight studio Albums between 1967-1994, and 13 singles within the same time period, there are also nine official compilation Albums, and three live Albums available. In the UK, five of their studio Albums have reached the top 40, with their self titled second Album from 1968, peaking the highest at Number 9, while all of their first four singles reached the UK top 40, with ‘Hole in My Shoe,’ from 1967, charting the highest at Number 2. In America on Billboard, seven of their studio Albums have made the top 40, with ‘John Barleycorn Must Die,’ from 1970, peaking the highest at Number 5, while they have had no top 40 entries on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

It was while still a member of ‘Traffic,’ that Jim Capaldi launched his solo career, to run concurrently with being a member of Traffic, who would later spend the years of 1975-2003 on hiatus. Jim Capaldi released 13 solo studio Albums between 1972-2004, and 27 singles between 1972-2001, there are also four official compilation Albums available. In the UK, two of his singles have made the top 40, with ‘It’s All Up to You,’ reaching Number 27 in 1974, and his cover version of ‘Love Hurts,’ which had first been recorded by the ‘Everly Brothers’ in 1960, making Number 4 in 1975. His only chart entry on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart was his 1983 song ‘That’s Love,’ which reached Number 28.

Following Jim Capaldi’s death a tribute concert took place in January 2007, at the ‘Roundhouse,’ in Camden Town, London, England, with the proceeds going to the ‘Jubilee Action Street Children’s Appeal.’ Artists who took part included Pete Townshend, Paul Weller, Steve Winwood, and Gary Moore (1952-2011.) A recording of the concert was released as a double CD set the same year.

‘It’s All Up to You’ was the first of three singles issued from ‘Short Cut Draw Blood,’ the third solo studio Album from Jim Capaldi, from December 1975. The song was written and produced by Jim Capaldi, who also provided the vocals, drums, and percussion on the track. The other artists who performed on ‘It’s All Up to You’ were Jess Roden, (guitar) John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick, (piano, and clavinet) Phil Chen, (1946-2021) (bass) and Harry Robinson, (1932-1996) who did the sting arrangements. ‘It’s All Up to You’ tells the story of someone who is besotted by another, but that other has no idea. The narrator tells us of how much he loves this person, and how he would do anything to make them happy, but he hasn’t told them his feelings, possibly frightened of having his heart broken.

‘Everyday I watched you walkin’, walkin’ by my window pane. From the first time that I saw you, baby, I knew I’d never be the same. I wanna give you my lovin’, could you ever love me too? But you never seem to notice me, or what I’m goin’ through.’