Don't - Commentary

I don't know about you, but I am loving having Sheryl Crow tell us

The stories behind all the songs on her collaborations album

Threads, which is out now, and just getting to find out how she ended

Up working with certain people, why she chose them for particular

Songs. This next one, she sings with a band called Lucius. They're a

Four-piece indie pop band that got their start in Brooklyn, New York

And they joined Sheryl on "Don't." So Sheryl, tell me about this one

"Don't" is a song that is very inspired by Burt Bacharach. It was

Written by me for a project for Broadway, a musical that I was and

Still am working on with Barry Levinson. And we've had several

Incarnations of the musical go up, and we're now working on it again

Hoping it's going to go all the way to Broadway. And it was a great

Joy to work on something that's completely out of my comfort zone

To be able to write for an idiom that I didn't grow— I mean, I grew

Up loving song and dance musicals. I wound up watching movies on TV

As a kid. You know, we didn't have twenty-four-hour TV, and we would

Actually see, like, West Side Story on TV, and Oklahoma!, and My Fair

Lady, and all these great movies that had music in them. And so when

Barry Levinson called me and asked me if I would try to help him

Bring the movie, try to translate it into music, it was just a great

Joy and also a challenge, especially in a movie that has very few

Women roles, to actually bring a female presence into this great

Screenplay. And so the song "Don't" is inspired by a young woman who

Gets pregnant, but she also wants to have a career, and it's very

Timely. And so I decided I'm going to put it on the record

It's my favorite song from the musical, Diner. And I asked

Lucius to be the background singers on it because they're

This young group who are clearly inspired by melodic songs

They write melodic songs. They have great harmonies. They're

Just profusely talented and driven, and I love the blend. So

They came in and sang on it, and it was exactly what it needed