Valerie Day 5/31/23 Valerie Day 5/31/23

Carlos And Should I Say Yes en Español

One of our favorite songs we recorded during our years at Atlantic was 'Should I Say Yes.'

We were so pleased with the result that we decided to record a version in Spanish. Here's the story of that record and the remarkable man who helped us with the translation, Carlos Camus. It's a little snapshot of the vibrant music scene in Portland, Oregon, in the 1980s.

A long-time friend of NU SHOOZ found a video on YouTube and shared it with us. Somebody took our song ‘Should I Say Yes’ and spliced the Spanish version onto the end. (The Spanish version starts at minute 4:00 in the video above.)

The Spanish version.

Diciendo Si
Diciendo No

Long before their worldwide success with ‘Do That Conga,’ Miami Sound Machine was putting out Spanish versions of their songs in Latin America. That made us aware of that huge audience to the South.

’ S.I.S.Y.’ was the perfect song to do. We looked around for someone to write the translation. Right away, we thought of Carlos.

Carlos Camus was a very interesting gentleman, one of the true characters on the Portland music scene of the 1980s. A trim little man in his late 50’s/early 60’s, he came out every night to DANCE. Always impeccably dressed — elegant but never overstated. Valerie remembers his shoes. They were dancing shoes.

He came to hear our band when we played at KEY LARGO, a music club in Portland, OR. He came to hear all the bands, no matter what the style, punk, funk, or reggae, always sitting at his special table, sipping a flute of champagne, I believe. He was always one of the first people to get on the dance floor. Often he’d ask some young girl from the audience to dance with him. His invitation was always accepted. It wasn’t creepy. It was beautiful. He had those Old-World manners from another time and place. Everybody wanted to dance with Carlos.

We didn’t know his country of origin. There was something European in the mix, so maybe Argentina. He would have been right at home in one of those Tango movies from the 1940s. Later, we found out that he was Chilean, but the Tango image still fits.

Carlos would kick things off, then retire to his table and his champagne and watch as the dance floor filled with Hippie Twirlers, Leather Punks, and the Funky People.

For his day job, Carlos had a little shoe repair shop up on West Burnside. (This was before the world was taken over by disposable shoes.) He re-soled my Frye boots more than once.

Carlos was a little timid when I asked him to translate ‘Should I Say Yes.” He said, ‘I’ll get my daughter Jacqueline to help.’ Together, they cobbled together the version that you hear today.

I only wanted to change one thing. Their version of the chorus went:

Debo decir si
Debo decir no

That’s correct, but too many syllables for the song.

‘Can we say diciendo si, deciendo no? It sings a little better.’

‘Well,’ Carlos said, That’s saying yes, saying no, But I suppose you could do that.”

So that’s how the final version came together.

Back to the YouTube remix…

So, where did somebody find this rare piece of SHOOZ history?

We have a cassette version of it somewhere, in some box, from the studio where it was recorded. But, as far as I know, it was never released, not even as a test pressing.

Go figure.

The last time I saw Carlos, he had closed down his shoe repair shop. It had been a while since I saw him last. He had aged a lot. Most of the clubs he went to were gone. He didn’t remember me or the record we had made.

That whole scene is gone now, the bands, the clubs, and that elegant soul who came to dance and spread joy. There was a brass plaque on his table, stage left at the KEY LARGO club.

This Table
Is
Reserved
For
CARLOS

A younger Carlos stands in a 60s era living room with one hand on the fireplace mantle. He's wearing a red jacket, dark high waisted pants and a vest with a white shirt and red tie.

Valerie Day 7/22/22 Valerie Day 7/22/22

CHOONS: FROM PORTLAND TO THE WORLD; The Story of Nu Shooz' "I Can't Wait."

Host Diego Martinez from CHOONS takes us back to the Mid-70s and the incredible series of events that led to “The Bassline Heard’ Round the World.” It’s one of our favorite interviews ever. Enjoy!

CHOONS is a podcast about "The Songs we vibe to," dedicated to the "History and longevity of underrated and much loved tunes."

Host Diego Martinez takes us back to the Mid-70s and the incredible series of events that led to "The Bassline Heard 'Round the World." It’s one of our favorite interviews ever. Enjoy!

Valerie Day 10/25/20 Valerie Day 10/25/20

Song Stories: Should I Say Yes

We’re kicking off a nu series called “Song Stories” about the birth of the Nu Shooz Sound. First up, a story about the creation of Should I Say Yes.

Many moons ago, we asked our audience, 'What would you like to see on our blog posts?' The unanimous response was, 'More stories about the 80's and what it was like in Nu Shooz world.'

So, we've got a good one for you. This is part of an interview we did for "The Old School Rewind" podcast on January 19th, 2018. The host is Randy 'Bubba' Black. It's a great conversation. RBB did deep research on our band, which made it a real pleasure.

Randy 'Bubba' Black: Your next album, (Told U So) you did at Paisley Park.

Valerie: Yeah we did.

John: Yeah, we were there for a couple of months.

VJD: In Minneapolis, not all of the time at Paisley Park, but...you know, some of the time.

JRS: We spent the whole summer in Minneapolis. We finished our work there just as winter was coming on.

Screen Shot 2020-10-25 at 8.34.34 PM.png

Fall in Minneapolis lasts about a week. The leaves all turned, the weather changed, and at the end of the week we no longer had warm enough clothes to stay there.

RBB: Oh my goodness!

JRS: So we left, and ended up finishing that record with Jeff Lorber in L.A.

VJD: Warmer there!

RBB: Tell me about 'Should I Say Yes.'

VJD: It's actually one of my favorite things that we recorded.

JRS: Yeah, me too.

RBB: Me three.

VJD: Thank you.

JRS: And by the way, 'Should I Say Yes' is still huge in Uganda and Zimbabwe!

RBB: To this day...

JRS: They still bang it in the clubs there, yeah.

VJD: Sadly, it only made it to number 41 on the chart.

RBB: But you got played on Rhythm Radio though, and Rhythm Radio wasn't about the charts like that. They were daring enough to jump out past the 50's and put those out at that time, if I remember correctly.

JRS: Yeah, that was also remixed by a guy named MANTRONIX.

RBB: Love MANTRONIX.

JRS: I thought he did a stellar job. He really made it thump harder. Yeah, that was a good song...kind of based on an LL Cool J thing.

RBB: Really?

JRS: Yeah.

RBB: Which one?

JRS: I'm not gonna say.

VJD: [Laughs]

RBB: I love it!

JRS: Oh, and another good story about 'Should I Say Yes,' was...The studio we were in in Minneapolis- not Paisley Park- this place called Metro...they exiled me to the basement for smoking. I was in this place called the Dungeon, which was very dungeon-like...you know, that old 19th Century stone. While I was down in the Dungeon working on 'Should I Say Yes,' there was a tornado! And four people were KILLED!

RBB: Wow!

JRS: I came out of the studio at three in the morning, it was like the calm after the storm.

RBB: Oh my God!

JRS: I had totally missed this tornado that raged through Minneapolis and killed people. When I came outside it was like tweet-tweet-chirp-chirp. It was the calm after the storm because we were in the flatlands, and the weather just blows through there.

So, yeah...that was 'Should I Say Yes.'

If you're interested in the music of the 80's and the artists who made it happen, check out "The Old School Rewind." You can listen to stories of artists like Trenier, The Jets, Animotion, Wang Chung, and many many more.

That's all for now.

Take Care...See you soon!