Just Between You And Me I Like To Rock Sign Of The Gypsy Queen April Wine

Just Between You And Me Album: The Nature of the Beast (1981)
I Like To Rock Album: Harder... Faster (1979)
Sign Of The Gypsy Queen Album: The Nature of the Beast (1981)
by April Wine

"Just Between You and Me" was written by April Wine vocalist Myles Goodwyn. It's a very intimate and heartfelt song, with Goodwyn acknowledging that even the most red-hot love affairs often burn out, but telling his girl that theirs is built to last "Our love will be just between you and me," he tells her.

Released as a single with "Big City Girls" on the B-side, "Just Between You and Me" was the biggest American hit for April Wine and one of their most enduring songs, played at almost all of their concerts. It's US success has a lot to to with MTV: the video was the 14th the network played when they launched on August 1, 1981, making April Wine the first Canadian artist played. They repeated the video at number 57, making it also the first video MTV ever repeated.

April Wine launched in 1969 and went through several lineup changes. The Nature Of The Beast album was their commercial peak, selling over one million copies in the US. "Just Between You and Me" was also their best-selling single in the US, becoming the band's defining power ballad. In their native Canada, the song is one of 32 chart hits, 21 of those in the top 40.

Although they've been nominated 11 times for a Juno, April Wine never won the award. They have, however, been inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame, the East Coast Music Hall of Fame, and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and were presented with a CMW Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.

Written by lead singer Myles Goodwyn, "I Like To Rock" was the Canadian band April Wine's first song to make an impact in the UK, and it sparked their popularity in Europe.
The album title, Harder... Faster, came from an adult film called Behind The Green Door, where it is a bit of dialogue (so we've been told ;). The band watched the film in the studio during down time.

I Like To Rock's closing guitar riff is a mixture of the main riffs from "Day Tripper" and "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."

"Sign of the Gypsy Queen" is a song written and first recorded by Canadian singer Lorence Hud. The song became a hit in Canada when released as a single in 1973. Hud's version appeared on his eponymous debut album, released by A&M Records. The song reached the top 5 on the West Coast, #3 on CJRW-FM in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, and peaked at #16 nationally on the RPM 100 chart.

April Wine recorded a cover version, releasing it as the second single from their album The Nature of the Beast (1981). The song reached #40 on the Canadian RPM Hot 100, #57 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #19 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. It remains one of the band's most popular songs, appearing on many of their compilation album and becoming a staple of both their live set lists and Canadian classic rock radio.

The song was first recorded by Lorence Hud at RCA's Toronto Studios in 1971, with Bill Misener of The Paupers producing. Bill wanted to sign Lorence but RCA did not move quickly enough, so A&M signed him instead. On Hud's recording he played all the instruments himself.

April Wine's 1981 cover version helped the song grow in popularity, charting on the pop and rock charts in both Canada and the United States. It remains a staple of classic rock radio in Canada and one of April Wine's signature songs.

"Sign of the Gypsy Queen" appeared in the background of a scene in the American television series Breaking Bad episode "Granite State", in 2013. It also appeared, along with April Wine's song "Just Between You and Me", in the 1981 Canadian comedy film Gas.