Something Cruel Is About to Happen...Real Soon Now." As the song starts, he sings about a woman watching as her lover is being dragged to the execution grounds by a horse. He tells her "you might get a glimpse of his face" before they "drag him off in the night, but not before he's seen a glimpse of you." He also says: "You saw him through the jail cell bars, you saw him hanging in the air." The song continues with additional images of a woman walking through town, thinking about her lover and thinking about the execution, as well as a final, whispered ending: "I know I did it for you but no one ever saw." At times, as well as on his version of the album's cover art, Lichtenstein gave the album a name inspired by the phrase "what I gotta do." On the recording, he also says the phrase three times, and the title is repeated five times throughout the song. Musically, the song makes heavy use of distorted electric guitar, and was recorded with three of his friends: Brian Eichenberger on drums, Steve Vaught on bass guitar, and John Troutman on organ. Troutman, the band's keyboardist, played the song's piano intro and other keyboard parts, which would later reappear on the album's three other songs, "Don't Shoot," "Victim," and "Just Desserts." Release Lichtenstein first played "I Know What I Did" at house parties and clubs, and by April 1976 he had changed the song's title to "You May Be Right". Over the following months he rerecorded "You May Be Right" eight or nine times and released it under two different names in 1976: the first was the self-released 45rpm single that he produced and co-wrote (which was credited to "J Lichtenstein" and became his first single). The single was released as "J Lichtenstein & the Love Thieves" on the Red Fox label, and featured two songs; "You May Be Right" and "I Know What I Did", the latter of which was credited to Lichtenstein, Eichenberger, Vaught and Troutman, as well as a third track called "I Tried to Love You But It's Easier to Hurt You". The single was the band's first release. He played the song in July on the Detroit radio station WGPR-FM. In late November 1976, an alternate version of the song appeared on his first LP, Lichtensteine. The album was initially credited to "J Lichtenstein and the Love Thieves", and in December 1976 it was re-released as "J Lichtenstein's Love Thieves" on the Red Fox label, once again with the two songs from the 45rpm single; "You May Be Right" and "I Know What I Did". The original title of the song had been the album's closing track, but when that name did not appear on any of the subsequent releases of the album, Lichtenstein changed the song's title to "What I Gotta Do". Once again, the album was credited to "J Lichtenstein's Love Thieves", but it had a new cover and the title was changed to simply "What I Gotta Do". He licensed the song for The Cars' debut album, Candy-O, in 1977, and after the group's drummer Scott Campos sang "I Know What I Did" in their second live performance of the song, Lichtenstein changed the song's title to "What I Gotta Do" on the 1977 album compilation. A third and final version of the song was released on Lichtenstein's second LP, What I Gotta Do (1977). The album was not credited to "J Lichtenstein and the Love Thieves", but it was credited to Lichtenstein alone. Once again the title of the song was changed from "What I Gotta Do" to simply "You May Be Right" on the 1977 album. "You May Be Right" was the penultimate track on Lichtenstein's second album, and was included as one of the album's two b-sides. The B-side to "You May Be Right" was the title track of the album, "What I Gotta Do", which was recorded in June 1977. The song has been reissued twice on 7-inch singles (in September 1977 and December 1983), four times on the compilation albums Falling from Outer Space (1979) and Rock 'n' Roll America: The Great Lost Decade (1979), and twice on the compilation album Rock 'n' Roll America, released in 1985. Legacy The original version of "You May Be Right" was included as a track on the compilation album Falling from Outer Space, and then on his third studio album What I Gotta Do. Since then, the song has been included on numerous compilation albums, including What I Gotta Do (1977), You May Be Right: The Best of J Lichtenstein (1982), Runaway Rock (2001) and The First Recordings (2011). A longer version of the song was released on the 7-inch single and on The Best of J Lichtenstein (1977), released the following year. This version is more than twice as long as the original version. The original album versions of "You May Be Right" and "What I Gotta Do" have been covered by WFMU-FM DJ Rob Mitchum's project the WFMU Bear Tracks during their time playing the station. The original versions have also been covered by Garth Hudson of The Band. Lichtenstein rerecorded "You May Be Right" and "What I Gotta Do" as bonus tracks for his first greatest hits album, J Lichtenstein's Greatest Hits (1984). The single was used in the 1991 film True Romance (which was based on the character Clarence Beeks, an alter ego of the novel's author, author Thomas Pynchon) as well as in Michael Mann's 1995 film The Usual Suspects, where a young detective played by Gabriel Byrne and his partner discuss a criminal named "Ray" that may be connected to a crime they have been investigating. The song is also used in the 2004 film adaptation of Don DeLillo's novel, Falling Man. The original version of the song was also featured in the closing credits of the 2009 documentary The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs. The song was used in the trailer for 2013 film Her, directed by Spike Jonze. References External links "You May Be Right" lyrics from "Rock and Roll America, 1977-1983" album liner notes by Robert M. Price Category:1975 songs Category:1976 singles Category:J Lite Records singles Category:Songs about death Category:Songs written by Steve Vai Category:The Cars songs