Album: Copper Blue
Year: 1992
. . .
After the four near-perfect pop-punk songs that opened it, Copper Blue took a bit of a turn by finishing what was clearly the first side — in 1992, I was still mentally dividing my CDs into “side one” and “side two” — the the grand Beatles pastiche “Hoover Dam,” followed by the harrowing “The Slim,” all about losing a lover to AIDS.
These were followed by the more straightforward “If I Can’t Change You Mind,” which showed that Mould and co could still rock out without resorting to electric guitar noise, as it features a very prominent acoustic guitar and lyrics that were also about losing a lover.
Tears fill up my eyes
I’m washed away with sorrow
And somewhere in my mind
I know there’s no tomorrow
I see you’re leaving soon
I guess you’ve had your fill
But if I can’t change your mind
Then no one will
There really isn’t a chorus in “If I Can’t Change Your Mind,” but rather a litany of shit going wrong punctuated with “If I can’t change your mind / Then no one will”, with the biggest hook being Mould’s overdubbed “willllllllllllllllllll” which is the followed up with a hopeful “if I can’t change your miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind”
After a long bridge, there’s a short, lovely guitar solo, before one last verse.
How can I explain away
Something that I haven’t done
And if you can’t trust me now
You’ll never trust in anyone
With all the crazy doubts you’ve got
I love you even still
But if I can’t change your mind
Then no one willllllllllllllll
It goes without saying that this is all as hooky as hell, and it was also a good trick to have the acoustic-guitar song be the fastest song on the album, and bassist David Barbe and drummer Malcolm Travis play just as hard as they would underneath a screaming electric guitar, so “If I Can’t Change Your Mind” gets away with being yet another curveball while also being pure pop, and Mould’s tricky lead during the stop-time part at the end is just icing on the cake.
And while “If I Can’t Change Your Mind” didn’t crack any U.S. charts — though it was their biggest single in the U.K. at #30 — Spotify tells me it’s now their most popular song, which isn’t all that surprising.
“If I Can’t Change Your Mind”
“If I Can’t Change Your Mind” Official Music Video
Bob Mould Band plays “If I Can’t Change Your Mind” live on WFUV, 2012
“If I Can’t Change Your Mind” solo live on KEXP, 2016
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