"I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near)" (also known as "I Keep Forgettin") is a 1982 song by American musician Michael McDonald, from his debut studio album '' If That's What It Takes'' (1982). It was written by McDonald and Ed Sanford. Released as a single, it peaked at No. 4 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Pop Singles charts, #7 R&B and #8 on the

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

chart. Similarity to Chuck Jackson's 1962 song " I Keep Forgettin", composed by

Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller Leiber and Stoller were an American songwriting and record production duo, consisting of lyricist Jerome Leiber (; April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933). As well as many R&B and pop hits, they wr ...

, resulted in Leiber and Stoller also being given a songwriting credit for the song.

Background

Michael McDonald recorded it with his sister Maureen McDonald providing backing vocals. It was featured on ''If That's What It Takes'', his first solo studio album away from

the Doobie Brothers The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band formed in San Jose, California in 1970. Known for their flexibility in performing across numerous genres and their vocal harmonies, the band has been active for over five decades, with their greate ...

Greg Phillinganes Gregory Arthur Phillinganes (born May 12, 1956) is an American keyboardist, vocalist, and arranger. A session musician, Phillinganes has contributed to numerous albums over a broad array of artists and genres. He has toured with artists includin ...

Steve Lukather Steven Lee "Luke" Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to ...

and

Jeff Porcaro Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer. He is best known for being the co-founder and drummer of the rock band Toto, but is also one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working on hundr ...

played the clavinet, guitar and drums respectively. Bassist Louis Johnson, from

the Brothers Johnson The Brothers Johnson was an American funk and R&B band consisting of the American brothers George ("Lightnin' Licks") and Louis E. Johnson ("Thunder Thumbs"). They achieved their greatest success from the mid-1970s to early 1980s, with three ...

, laid down the song's pronounced bassline.

Influence, covers, and sampling

McDonald's song was heavily

sampled Sample or samples may refer to: * Sample (graphics), an intersection of a color channel and a pixel * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of something * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample ...

Warren G Warren Griffin III (born November 10, 1970) is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and DJ who helped popularize West Coast hip hop during the 1990s.Steve Huey"Warren G: Biography" ''AllMusic.com'', Netaktion LLC, visited May 8, 2020. ...

on his hit 1994 single "

Regulate Regulate may refer to: * Regulation Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly diff ...

", featuring

Nate Dogg Nathaniel Dwayne Hale (August 19, 1969 – March 15, 2011), known professionally as Nate Dogg, was an American rapper and singer. He gained recognition for providing guest vocals on several hit rap songs between 1992 and 2007, earning him the ...

, and by

Jadakiss Jason Terrance Phillips (born May 27, 1975), better known by his stage name Jadakiss (, ), is an American rapper who began his career in the 1990s and formed the hip hop trio the Lox alongside Styles P and Sheek Louch in 1994. The group signed w ...

on "Kiss Is Spittin'", which also features Nate Dogg.

Young MC Marvin Young (born May 10, 1967), better known by his stage name Young M.C., is an American rapper, singer and actor. He is best known for his 1989 hit " Bust a Move". His debut album '' Stone Cold Rhymin found international acclaim. Young h ...

sampled it on his song "Love You Slow" from his third studio album '' What's the Flavor?''. Dave Hollister covered the song on his debut solo studio album Ghetto Hymns, where it's titled "Keep Forgettin'" and is slowed down noticeably but keeps the same lyrics. The song's chorus is interpolated by

Moloko Moloko () were an English-Irish electronic music duo formed in Sheffield, England, consisting of vocalist Róisín Murphy and music producer, producer Mark Brydon. Blending elements of electronica and dance music, they are best known for their ...

in an acoustic mix of their 2003 hit single " Familiar Feeling". The song's bassline also was sampled in the track "Next to You" by the

nu-disco Nu-disco is a 21st-century dance music genre associated with a renewed interest in the late 1970s disco, synthesizer-heavy 1980s European dance music styles, and early 1990s electronic dance music. The genre was popular in the early 2000s, and exp ...

and

chillwave Chillwave (originally considered synonymous with glo-fi and hypnagogic pop) is a music microgenre that emerged in the late 2000s. It is characterized by evoking the popular music of the late 1970s and early 1980s while engaging with notions of ...

duo Poolside. English singer-songwriter Julia Fordham performed the song in duet with McDonald on her eighth studio album ''China Blue'' (2008). In 2011, Bosnian-German DJ Solomun sampled the song on ''Love Recycled''. Laura Jane Grace, lead vocalist, songwriter and guitarist of the

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

band

Against Me! Against Me! is an American punk rock band, formed in 1997 in Naples, Florida, by singer and guitarist Laura Jane Grace. That same year, Grace moved to Gainesville, Florida, which is considered the band's hometown. Since 2001, the band's lineup ...

, performed a live version of the song in April 2015 for '' A.V. Undercover'' web series.

Personnel

* Michael McDonald – lead vocals; electric piano *

– guitar *

–

clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

* Louis Johnson – bass guitar *

– drums * Maureen McDonald – backing vocals

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

In popular culture

The song was also used during the

Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza "Condi" Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist serving since 2020 as the 8th director of Stanford University's Hoover Institution. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served ...

dance segment on '' You're Welcome America: A Final Night with George W. Bush''. The song is the primary plot device of, and gives its name to, an episode of '' Yacht Rock'', which comedically fictionalized the events leading to

sampling it.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near) 1982 debut singles Michael McDonald (musician) songs Male–female vocal duets Songs written by Michael McDonald (musician) Songs written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller Patti LaBelle songs 1982 songs Song recordings produced by Ted Templeman Warner Records singles