A Change Would Do You Good

This song doesn't sound like just another piece of advice, but rather like a wordplay that assembles itself. Sheryl Crow and her collaborators Jeff Trott and Brian MacLeod wrote it in New Orleans during a six-month stay, but not with the intention of giving lessons. The lyrics were born from a curious method: they jotted down ideas on pieces of paper, put them in a hat, and drew the lines at random, then arranged them to make sense. The result is a succession of verses that, although abstract, point to the same thing: necessary changes in life. The first verse, for example, refers to the producer Bill Bottrell, who left the project mid-recording, and the second takes Madonna as a reference —at that time, when she began to tone down her more provocative image—. The last verse, on the other hand, talks about herself, something that Crow had to convince her bandmates to include.

The recording was done in two studios: Kingsway in New Orleans and Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, with a sound that blends rock, blues, and country, yet without losing that laid-back air that made it sound on the radios. In the United States, it reached position 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay and led the Billboard Triple-A for six weeks. In Canada, it climbed to second place, and in the United Kingdom, it reached eighth. Critics highlighted its catchy rhythm: The Times described it as a "mid-tempo chug with her raspy yet seductive voice," while Billboard called it an "infectious toe-tapper" with smart lyrics. Two years later, in 2017, Billboard ranked it fifth on its list of Crow's best songs, and in 2023, The Guardian placed it eighth in its selection.