Starting All Over Again

This song is about building a romance anew after an initial breakup. The singer knows it will be an uphill climb, but with help from above, he thinks they can get there. The keys: take it slow, and don't fuss about who's wrong and who's right.

Mel & Tim are cousins Mel Hardin and Tim McPherson (Tim sings lead on this track). They started writing songs when they were teenagers growing up in Mississippi. Some of their songs got the attention of Gene Chandler, who signed them to his newly formed Bamboo label. Chandler wanted them to sing the songs they wrote, and they quickly scored two hits for the label: "Backfield In Motion" (#10 US, 1969) and "Good Guys Only Win In The Movies" (#45 US, 1970). The label ran into problems, so Mel & Tim waited out their contract and signed with Stax Records in 1972. Stax released "Starting All Over Again" as their first single - an apt title since the duo was rebooting their career. Unfortunately, it would be their last hit.

This song was written by Phillip Mitchell, who was a staff songwriter at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, where Mel & Tim recorded this track. Mitchell also wrote "Oh La De Da" for The Staple Singers and "It Hurts So Good" for Millie Jackson. The studio at this time had songs on hand written by their staff writers in case an artist needed one, which happened quite often.