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Bad Company — Ready for Love
Album: Bad Company
Avg rating:
7.2

Your rating:
Total ratings: 1143









Released: 1974
Length: 4:50
Plays (last 30 days): 0
Walkin' down this rocky road
Wondering where my life is leadin'
Rollin' on to the bitter end
Finding out along the way
What it takes to keep love living
You should know how it feels, my friend

Ooh, I want you to stay
Ooh, I want you today

I'm ready for love
Oh baby, I'm ready for love
Ready for love
Oh baby, I'm ready for love
Yea, oooh for your love

Now I'm on my feet again
Better things are bound to happen
All my dues surely must be paid
Many miles and many tears
Times were hard but now they're changing
You should know that I'm not afraid

Ooh, I want you to stay
Ooh, I want you today

I'm ready for love
Oh baby, I'm ready for love
I'm ready for love
Oh baby, I'm ready for love
Oh, for your love
Comments (103)add comment
 SquiddlyDiddly wrote:

So. How is it that I have not heard this track for, maybe, 40 years, and I can remember most of the words. 

Yet I forgot to pack my fruit for lunch today. 

Instant 9 BTW.




    i echo everything posted here. 
 EffjayUK wrote:

Paul Rodgers must be one of the most under-rated singers in all of rock. That strong and soulful voice. The man is durable too!



ditto
Paul Rodgers must be one of the most under-rated singers in all of rock. That strong and soulful voice. The man is durable too!
One of the all-time great rock vocalists, in my estimation.
This is kind of a basic radio-philic rock standard, but that voice and those musicians elevate it to a higher level.
I am compelled to share a memory that this song evokes every time I hear it. 
Back in the 80s, I was a house painter in San Francisco. I was working on an upscale home owned by a Persian father who was a senior doctor at UCSF and an Italian mother. One afternoon, I was blessed with the sight of their really smoking hot brunette daughter who'd just graduated high-school. She was in the kitchen, dancing quite seductively to this song, while wearing only a long, loosely buttoned man's white dress shirt. One of the hottest things I've ever seen, in no small part due to this lyric informing her moves. An indelible vision.
What do you say, is he ready for love?
Wow! I haven't heard this in years!

A local pub band used to play this when I lived in Rockhampton in the '70s
It was a highlight of their set.
I still have fond memories of the early seventies!
 oldfart48 wrote:
{#Sunny}{#Dancingbanana}nice to hear this Paul Rodgers nugget, the boy CAN carry a tune....them other guys ain't hard on the ears either
 
Agree, very nice voice and great melody. I also love the drums on this track. 
Maybe not their finest moment.
Surprised I haven't yet commented on this slow burner.  The not-yet-wife and I saw Paul Rodgers at a local casino way back in 2007, and boy he was fantastic!  Over 2 hour set and since he was near home (he lives in Surrey BC, we were in Tacoma WA) he really enjoyed his local musician friends (can only remember Alan White (resides in Newcastle WA) at the show, sure there was another big name there too) and yeah....this was right around when he got married so he was really ON IT with his love songs....great show, great artist....9 rating stands...Long Live RP!!
 SquiddlyDiddly wrote:
So. How is it that I have not heard this track for, maybe, 40 years, and I can remember most of the words. 

Yet I forgot to pack my fruit for lunch today. 

Instant 9 BTW.
 
Cuz it's good. And you're probably ready for love.
So. How is it that I have not heard this track for, maybe, 40 years, and I can remember most of the words. 

Yet I forgot to pack my fruit for lunch today. 

Instant 9 BTW.
 matadorsuns wrote:
I saw Free play many years ago, what a band they were!
 
I saw Free open for Faces way back when, great show. Paul Rodgers has one of the best
voices in rock and roll  IMHO.
Skimming the Wikipedia facts and see mention of Mott the Hoople.  Now there's a blast from the past!  Would love to hear something from them, Bill:)
 hakuindude wrote:
One, if not the best, rock vocalists ever, and he loves Japan :)
 
 
I assume that is why Bill chose to play this after Hunger Strike because the same could be said about Chris Cornell.
What a great song, and the album has to be in the top ten of debut albums. I saw them on their first tour in Glasgow's legendary Apollo Theatre, one of my all time fave gigs.
{#Devil_pimp}zesty ! nice version but I'm still partial to the original with mott the hoople both versions do feature the writer and guitar player mick ralphs
This is at the beginning...
Cheers Scott_Bruce!  : )

(heard this album while a HS sophmore with a major crush on a Girl named Jude and those memories flood my mind now : )
Cheers Scott_Bruce!  : )

(heard this album while a HS sophmore with a major crush on a Girl named Jude and those memories flood my mind now
love it.           super sounds from way back, Bad Co. was like an inspiration to me, a positive incentive to act on my feelings, to try love  : )

I can still smell the dry grass of the summertime coastal foothills of central California as me and my best friend were cruising around in his 1963 MGB, top down, sunglasses on, singing at the top of our lungs to Bad Company playing on his 8-Track. It was the summer just before graduating High School, I was heading off to Annapolis and wanted to go be a Navy Pilot. I recognized that it was the end of a relatively carefree life where all I really had to be responsible for was getting good grades; and I relished the last few free days of my "freedom".

It always amazes me how a single song can evoke such vivid memories...


 oldviolin wrote:
I'm in basic training at Ft. Polk, La. I'm finding my way with the music. Nobody sees me coming. Nobody notices when I leave...

 
Good luck and thanks.
Super Set thank you!!!
I'm in basic training at Ft. Polk, La. I'm finding my way with the music. Nobody sees me coming. Nobody notices when I leave...
Is he ready for love, do ya think?
following whatever that anyway grunge garble was, brilliant shift, billbecca. interesting how each era has its own resonance, the sound in the gap, outlining eternal youthful whining. this voice still FULL.
 hakuindude wrote:
One, if not the best, rock vocalists ever, and he loves Japan :)
 

 
I so agree...what a voice
 I'm with you on this assessment   hakuindude wrote:
One, if not the best, rock vocalists ever, and he loves Japan :)
 

 


6 only because of nostalgia.....where I only remember the self-perceived good times of late sixties and early seventies
One, if not the best, rock vocalists ever, and he loves Japan :)
 
I thought maybe the Stones after that....
Such a low rating on this song????? Why 
 hayduke2 wrote:
but I was just a skinny little snotface, and for some reason this album (with Deep Purple and Led Zep stacked above on the record player) helped me through the dark winter afternoons
see, it wasn't being in with aholes, it was the music that transported me 

 
wow, guess it was 4 years ago when hearing Bad Co here on RP sealed the deal on my total devotion to Paradise, love its psd : )
Snappy lyrics!
back when this came on the radio I switched the receiver over to turntable
 fredriley wrote:
I remember Bad Company well, and I was quite a fan of them in the day, but this was the weakest song on this album, and indeed in their whole oeuvre IMO. They didn't do lovers rock right well. 4 from the nostalgic Nottingham jury.

 
LOL!

I doubt very many fans of Bad Company would deploy the term oeuvre.    'Right well' maybe.   
 1wolfy wrote:
Lots of cruisin' in Mom's '65 Impala with this playing on the 8 track.  

 
An honest to god 8 cylinder chariot.

AM radio favourite back in the day. 
This song worked well enough for me as a teenager in the 70s.  Not so much now.  But Paul Rodgers was one hell of a singer, even with such drek lyrics such as this.
Great album man, shit I want to play it all now and toke a fat doobie 
I saw Free play many years ago, what a band they were!
like paul Rodgers but the original by mott the hoople still better , although mick ralphs appears to be in bad company
 Hannio wrote:
This is one of those songs that kills brain cells every time you hear it.

 
Try sitting farther away from your device.
This is one of those songs that kills brain cells every time you hear it.
Nookin puh nub.
 {#Bananajumprope}Emwolb wrote:
Big time!
I'll take Ian Hunter and Mott the Hoople's original any day over this bland rendition...tops a 6!!
 


Mott The Hoople.
Killing it right now....Paul Rodgers has that classic 70's rock voice...Sexy...BadCo ROCKS!!!!

 run4more wrote:

Kinda sad that we let others color our own personal musical experiences like that... but it happens.  I was blessed to experience Blodwyn Pig when turned onto them by a musician who I knew couldn't possibly be wrong (and he wasn't—he still performs to this day). But I find, so often, that my appreciation for some music has been colored by the experience under which I first heard it. Bad Company?  Well, for the most part I experienced it in solitaire, sipping the head off of a fresh-poured Dr. Pepper, high on some pretty good Mexican commercial. Still sounds pretty decent to me and I don't care about the assholes who liked it... or didn't.

PS—For VH—Panama?  Foreigner—Dirty White Boy?  Jeez, I was one of those assholes wasn't I?

 
Excellent post, run4more. You're right: I've let my memories of idiots in high school taint this group for me. Not sure I would have liked Bad Company even if I'd heard them in a vacuum—the guy's voice doesn't do it for me and the music isn't terribly interesting. This song labors along and got way overplayed. Dey it is. And hey, a lot of those guys weren't so bad when I saw them at my 10th HS reunion. We all change and should give mulligans to people from our past. 

Sounds like you had a better means of experiencing music then I did back then.

For VH—yeah, "Panama" definitely. I wasn't sold on VH back in the day but they were loud, David Lee could sing, Eddie could seriously play and they had a tongue-in-check slant that still appeals (the video for "Hot For Teacher" is still funny). "Poundcake" in the Sammy Hagar era was fun too. 

Foreigner—I put them in the same basket as Bad Company but the singer was better. Love "Headknocker" which has never gotten much play AFAIK.  
remember this back in high school, meh then, meh now
 Emwolb wrote:
I'll take Ian Hunter and Mott the Hoople's original any day over this bland rendition...tops a 6!!
 
Although a huge Ian Hunter fan, I prefer this version over the Mott version simply because I love Paul Roger's voice.  This entire effort is/was very solid.
I'll take Ian Hunter and Mott the Hoople's original any day over this bland rendition...tops a 6!!
{#Sunny}{#Dancingbanana}nice to hear this Paul Rodgers nugget, the boy CAN carry a tune....them other guys ain't hard on the ears either
love it.           super sounds from way back, Bad Co. was like an inspiration to me, a positive insentive to act on my feelings, to try love. 
love it.           super sounds from way back, Bad Co. was like an inspiration to me, a positive incentive to act on my feelings, to try love. 
Reminds me to my school time of the 70's.......
shagged a lotta wimin to this song.....great music to screw by.

DM 
Listening casually in the background I thought he said: "all my jews surely must be paid"... aint it the truth.
Paul Rodgers & Bad Company are sooooo good for the ears and the chill.
I want a hairball emoticon.
Have a soft spot for this song. One of the very few Bad Co. songs I like.
Bit laid back for Paul on this one, one of *the* greatest vocalists ever; check out his collaboration on Tim Donahue's 'Voices in the Wind.' Paul loved Japan too, he knew.
 Goodnight and sleep well..watch out for the sandman.  megaboogieman wrote:
I'm ready to hit the sack

 



I'm ready to hit the sack
Lots of cruisin' in Mom's '65 Impala with this playing on the 8 track.  
 leafmold wrote:
Lots of "man rock" today.
 
yowza!
Lots of "man rock" today.
Oh, how i love you for playing BC, Bill!!! <3
Had to cry todaaaaaaay
Love the verse way more than the chorus. One of the few tunes I can actually say that about.

{#Drunk}
please don't mention this era of bc in the same breath with foreigner

 


the 70s def were the best
Ready for Lust.  Not to mention any number of STDs and the devaluation of inter-gender affection.  Weren't the 70s just great!
Always ready for BC
 johnjconn wrote:
I'm ready for lunch
 
Speaking of lunch, I find myself ready for a snack...  {#Tongue}
 hayduke2 wrote:
but I was just a skinny little snotface, and for some reason this album (with Deep Purple and Led Zep stacked above on the record player) helped me through the dark winter afternoons
see, it wasn't being in with aholes, it was the music that transported me 
 
Music can be very good for that.
I've always been a Bad Co fan.  Maybe it's partially because of the Jimmy Page connection.....  {#Hearteyes}
but I was just a skinny little snotface, and for some reason this album (with Deep Purple and Led Zep stacked above on the record player) helped me through the dark winter afternoons
see, it wasn't being in with aholes, it was the music that transported me 
  One of the smoothest drummers around..super clean fills...
 kcar wrote:

What an unholy trinity. 

Never could get into this group—too many assholes in high school were into BC and Foreigner. Gag. Just too pedestrian. Paint-by-numbers arena rock.  
 
Kinda sad that we let others color our own personal musical experiences like that... but it happens.  I was blessed to experience Blodwyn Pig when turned onto them by a musician who I knew couldn't possibly be wrong (and he wasn't—he still performs to this day). But I find, so often, that my appreciation for some music has been colored by the experience under which I first heard it. Bad Company?  Well, for the most part I experienced it in solitaire, sipping the head off of a fresh-poured Dr. Pepper, high on some pretty good Mexican commercial. Still sounds pretty decent to me and I don't care about the assholes who liked it... or didn't.

PS—For VH—Panama?  Foreigner—Dirty White Boy?  Jeez, I was one of those assholes wasn't I?
Yay!
 Propayne wrote:
Aha! LOTS of high school memories.

Any other instance where you have the name of the band and the name of the album and the name of a song on the album all being the same? 
 
What an unholy trinity. 

Never could get into this group—too many assholes in high school were into BC and Foreigner. Gag. Just too pedestrian. Paint-by-numbers arena rock.  
shivers, cool times back in the 70's
Listened to their cover tune with great big head phones on, high volume, imagining I'm about to shoot my way out of teen dreams,.
rich memories 
 big_gare wrote:

Yes, agreed.  But if Bill absolutely just HAD to play a VH tune - what would it be?
 


If Bill HAD to play VH (hopefully not) my vote would be "Secrets" from Diver Down
I remember Bad Company well, and I was quite a fan of them in the day, but this was the weakest song on this album, and indeed in their whole oeuvre IMO. They didn't do lovers rock right well. 4 from the nostalgic Nottingham jury.
 big_gare wrote:

Yes, agreed.  But if Bill absolutely just HAD to play a VH tune - what would it be?
 
It would be okay to play "Ain't Talkin' About Love" after this BC BS.
 randyblew wrote:
Here's the thing - even a tired old chestnut like this song, by this band who believe me, was buttered my bread in Junior High School, gets new legs when played on Radio Paradise, in the context of so much other good stuff. And yes, it still holds up well. Just no Van Halen please! (I like them actually, just not the right place for them).
 
Yes, agreed.  But if Bill absolutely just HAD to play a VH tune - what would it be?
I actually love the way the piano is mixed in this song. Good song...though I've heard it too many times on radio. I also love the bass guitar part. Very nice.
Here's the thing - even a tired old chestnut like this song, by this band who believe me, was buttered my bread in Junior High School, gets new legs when played on Radio Paradise, in the context of so much other good stuff. And yes, it still holds up well. Just no Van Halen please! (I like them actually, just not the right place for them).
Wow, great nostalgic tune.  Another example of some great music from 30+ years ago that has truly stood the test of time.  Begs the question though: - how much of today's music will we be able to say the same thing about 30+ years from now?...  Not friggin much of it methinks...

I wish I had a dollar for every time I played this album over the years. Definitely a jewel. Thanks for giving it a spin, Bill.
Ready for Love indeed.   Got the '73 Gran Torino all polished up.. Aqua Velva splashed on in all the right places..The wind rushing through the open window aint moving this hair.. An extra blanket, because the point is COLD this time of year.   



Whoo hoo... ripples of high school angst and all the girls I silently sang this too as they passed in the hallway... ...on the beach... ...in cars... ...pathetic in retrospect - a bad ass in my own mind at the time. {#High-five}
 Propayne wrote:
Aha! LOTS of high school memories.

Any other instance where you have the name of the band and the name of the album and the name of a song on the album all being the same? 
 
WILCO


Likealot !
I prefer the version sung by Mick Ralphs when he was in Mott The Hoople. It was a little more plaintive. He wrote it after all.
Aha! LOTS of high school memories.

Any other instance where you have the name of the band and the name of the album and the name of a song on the album all being the same? 
This song is simplistic, but good in a very 70's rock and roll sort of way. Certainly not the best band of the R&R era, but plenty of good memories with this band.
Bad Company. On Radio Paradise. Very nice.
First!! haha
wonder why this has never been part of the rotation? Definitely fits