Do You Know What I'm Saying?

"Do You Know What I'm Saying?"
Single by Wendy James
from the album Now Ain't the Time for Your Tears
B-side	"I Started The Lie" "The Reigning Beauty Queen" "The Whole Damn Thing" "Sugar Takes Her Coffee Black"
Released	7 June 1993
Recorded	United Kingdom
Genre	Soft rock
Length	5:16
Label	MCA Records
Songwriter(s)	Elvis Costello
Producer(s)	Chris Kimsey
Wendy James singles chronology
"London's Brilliant" (1993) "Do You Know What I'm Saying?" (1993)

"Do You Know What I'm Saying?" is the third and final single released from Wendy James' debut solo album Now Ain't the Time for Your Tears . The single was released in 1993 and was written by Elvis Costello.

Of the collection of songs Costello gave to James for her album, she singled out "Do You Know What I'm Saying?" as her personal favorite. ^[1]

Critical reception

Upon its release as a single, Terry Staunton of NME noted that the original version of "Do You Know What I'm Saying?" from Now Ain't the Time for Your Tears is a "spare little Brechtian ballad reminiscent of Broken English -period Marianne Faithfull", whereas the single version "comes across like Elaine Page". He concluded that the release was "decidedly unlikely to make her the star she so desperately wants to be". He added that the James-penned B-side "Sugar Takes Her Coffee Black" is "much better", describing it as a "charming acoustic strummer which may well be about Wendy herself". ^[2]

Track listing

CD single/Maxi single ^[3]

1. "Do You Know What I'm Saying?" – 5:16
2. "I Started the Lie" – 4:49 (Wendy James/Neil Taylor)
3. "The Reigning Beauty Queen" – 4:44 (James/Taylor)

Maxi double

1. "Do You Know What I'm Saying?" – 5:16
2. "The Whole Damn Thing" – 4:45
3. "Sugar Takes Her Coffee Black" – 4:05

Charts

Chart (1993)	Peak Position
Australian Singles Chart [4]	230
UK Singles Chart [5]	78

References

1. Smith, Giles (March 1993). "Transfusion Vamp". Q (78).
2. Staunton, Terry (19 June 1993). "Singles". NME . p. 14.
3. "Wendy James – do You Know What I'm Saying? (1993, Part 1, CD)". Discogs . 2 December 1993.
4. "Response from ARIA re: chart inquiry, received 12 September 2016". Imgur.com. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
5. "The 76-100 pos. UK-Charts-Thread > page 9 > 19 June 1993 (from ukmix.org)". Imgur.com. Retrieved 12 September 2016.