Cheat Your Fate

Joe South wrote and recorded ‘Games People Play’ for his 1969 album of the same name.  The single charted #6 in the UK and went to #12 in the US.  The Games People Play album was one of the first to be multitracked.  Joe South performed all the vocal and instrumental parts himself, and some consider it the first ever Country-Soul album.  It was originally released in 1968 as Introspect before being reissued as Games People Play when the title track became a hit.  Joe South won Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Best Contemporary Song for this.  Although multitrack recorders were developed as early as the 1940s, they were not widely adopted across the recording industry for some time after that.  The earliest multitrack recorders were analog magnetic tape machines with two or three tracks.  Elvis Presley was first recorded on multitrack during 1957, as RCA’s engineers were testing their new machines.  Multitracking was developed by the US company Ampex through experiments done by guitarist Les Paul.  By 1954, Ampex had produced the first eight-track tape machine at Paul’s request, but eight-track machines remained rare within the industry until the late 1960s.  Multitrack recording allowed songs to be built up layer by layer and this encouraged a lot of experimentation in the music industry.

Joe started playing guitar when he was 11 and he built a small radio station so he could play his own songs while he was still in his teens.  He had his first minor hit in 1958 with ‘The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor’, which was co-written with the Big Bopper (JP Richardson) to capitalize on current novelty hits.  The following year Gene Vincent recorded two of his songs, ‘I Might Have Known’ and ‘Gone Gone Gone’.  Joe South was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer who originally started out as a session man in Muscle Shoals and Nashville, and among the hits he played the guitar on are Aretha Franklin’s ‘Chain Of Fools’, Tommy Roe’s ‘Sheila’ and Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘The Sound Of Silence’.  He also played on Bob Dylan’s Blonde On Blonde album.  Joe had several number one hits covered by other artists such as Lynn Anderson’s ‘(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden’, Deep Purple’s ‘Hush’, Elvis Presley’s ‘Walk a mile in my shoes’, and Billy Joe Royal’s ‘Down in the boondocks’.

A lot of people are playing games with each other and yes couples that are in a relationship often play these games with each other and this is usually done to acquire something that they desire.  Joe South saw how people go through their lives being preoccupied with negative thoughts, and instead of living lives of service and accomplishment, they deceive others in an effort to get ahead, which ultimately leads to unhappiness.  For thousands of years women have been playing the highly erotic game of being hard to get, as a way of flirting.  This is mostly a harmless game where they will smile, make eye contact or twirl their hair for someone and then they wait to judge the guy’s response, not knowing if they are being ignored, or if the guy seems to be interested in them.  A positive response would feel very liberating for them, and this game is filled with suspense and ambiguities that brings joy when the guy looks back at them.  Women need to know that the guy is determined to chase after them, so if the guy doesn’t put in the effort, they will feel that he is a wimp and they will be moving on.

Guys also play games with girls, as they may walk up to a girl and tell her that they lost their own phone number and wonder if the girl will give him her number.  I don’t know any girls who have fallen for that lame line, but I imagine that if the guy is cute enough and he smiles at the girl, that it could work.  This game never ends, as he may call the girl and then she will pretend that she is busy and not even answer her phone, waiting to see if he will call back.  Most women enjoy being chased and men like to feel that they are hunters, especially when it comes to dating.  If a woman being the prey, gives in too soon on the chase, the guy is less satisfied with the trophy that he captured.  The game is complex, as if the woman doesn’t make herself approachable, then she is destined to be alone, so they have to want to be the prey.  Fortunately, most men have evolved a little bit and they will no longer grab you by the hair and drag you off to their cave.

Love is a give and take situation and men are not able to read women’s minds, but the smarter men who are better at playing games will at least give it a try.  Couples who live together often place unrealistic expectations on the other, this is why communication is so important for a healthy relationship.  Most men want to know if sex is on the agenda, but a lot of women seem to enjoy keeping their man guessing.  When a relationship turns sour the fun love games often turn into cruel head games, which combine annoying tactics so they can gain control over their partner.  Mind games are played because some people get a kick out of making others feel bad about themselves so they try to manipulate this person into believing that there is something wrong with them for not tolerating your bad behavior.

Na na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na
Talkin’ ‘bout you and me

Yeah and the games people play
Na na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na
Talkin’ ‘bout you and me

Yeah and the games people play
Oh the games people play now
Every night and every day now
Never meaning what they say, yeah
Never saying what they mean
And they while away the hours
In their concrete towers
Till they are covered up with flowers
In the back of a black limousine
People walking up to you,
Singing glory Hallelujah
Then thy try to sock it to you
Oh in the name of the Lord

Na na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na
Talkin’ ‘bout you and me
Yeah and the games people play
Na na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na
Talkin’ ‘bout you and me
Yeah and the games people play
Woah-woah
Woah-woah
Woah, wo-oah-ah

Oh we make one another cry
Break a heart then we say goodbye
Cross our hearts and we hope to die
That the other was to blame whoa

Neither one will give in
So we gaze at our eight by ten
Thinking ‘bout the things that might have been
And it’s a dirty rotten shame whoa

Oh the games people play now
Every night and every day now
Never meaning what they say
Yeah never saying what they mean
Their gonna teach you how to meditate
Read up your horoscope and cheat your fate
And further more to hell with hate
Come on and get on board

Na na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na
Talkin’ ‘bout you and me

Yeah and the games people play
Na na na, na na na, na na
Na na na, na na na, na na
Talkin’ ‘bout you and me

Yeah and the games people play
First you’re giving up your sanity

Turn your back on humanity, yeah
And you don’t give a damn, a damn, a damn

Woah-woah
Woah-woah
Woah

Na na na na na na na na
Na na na na na na na na
Talkin’ ‘bout you and me

Yeah and the games people play
Talkin’ ‘bout you and me

I’m talkin’ ‘bout you and me
Talkin’ ‘bout you and me

Yeah and the games people play
Talkin’ ‘bout you and me
Yeah and the games people play
Oh, talkin’ ‘bout you and me
Yeah and the games people play

Written for Song Lyric Sunday where the theme is Fate, Fortune, Luck.