Other artists have recorded songs with this title, but ‘Just Like Me’, by Paul Revere & The Raiders is still the best! My opinion.
In the world of show biz, stage names are not uncommon. Marion Morrison changed his name to John Wayne. Judy Garland was born Frances Gumm. Rock Hudson’s real name was Leroy Harold Scherer, Jr., while Mary Isobel Catherine O’Brien became Dusty Springfield. But Paul Revere? Come on, who was he REALLY?
Paul Revere, of PR and The Raiders, was born as Paul Revere Dick in Harvard, NE, a tiny town in the southeast quadrant of Nebraska. Harvard was named after the college in Massachusetts, and came about as the temporary terminus of the Union Pacific as it crawled inexorably across the American West. (see ‘Hell on Wheels Towns’ for an explanation). According to the 2010 US census, Harvard was home to 1,013 people. Paul Revere Dick was not one of them. His parents had moved to the Pacific Northwest when Paul was a boy.
Moving on to bigger things
By his early 20s, Paul was already an entrepreneur, and owned restaurants in the area of Boise, Idaho. Singer Mark Lindsay worked in the bakery that supplied Revere’s hamburger buns, and joined the garage band in 1958. From their original name of The Downbeats, the band became Paul Revere & the Raiders in 1960, just before the release of their first record.
From there, the band and its popularity grew steadily. Even the Viet Nam conflict didn’t interrupt much. Revere was drafted but opted to be a conscientious objector and worked his hitch in a mental hospital. After his discharge, the band’s signature Revolutionary War costumes and stage antics caught the eye of Dick Clark, the ageless mogul of American Bandstand. That led to their own TV shows (Where the Action Is, Happening ’68, It’s Happening).
‘Just Like Me’ was one of their early hits, mixing sounds from The Dave Clark Five and The Animals with an American R&B feel. Their first major national hit, reaching #11 in 1965, it was also one of the first rock records to feature a double-tracked guitar solo, performed by guitarist Drake Levin.
And the band plays on
There’s lots more to tell about Paul Revere & the Raiders, way too much to include here. For now, we’ll let you know that Paul Revere passed on in October 2014. Rest in peace, Paul. But the band lives on as Paul Revere’s Raiders and includes his son Jamie on guitar. You can catch their nostalgia tours all over the place!
Just Like Me
(Paul Revere & The Raiders, 1960)
It’s just like me
To say to you
Love me do
And I’ll be true
And what I’d like
For you to say
Is you’ll come home
To me each day
Now you’ll be my girl
That’s what I want
Just you sweet girl
And not a front
It’s just like me
To feel so blue
And fall so much
In love with you
It’s just like me
It’s just like me
I’m just your fool
That’s all I’ll be
But it’s just like you
To say goodbye
And leave me all
Alone to cry, waaa
It’s just like me
To say to you
Love me do
And I’ll be true
And what I’d like
For you to say
Is that you’ll love me
Here each day
It’s just like me
It’s just like me
I’m your fool
That’s how I’ll be
But it’s just like you
To say goodbye
And leave me alone
Alone to cry
It’s just like me
It’s just like me…