Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme)

"Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme)" was the last single to be released from Mariah Carey's 9th album, Rainbow.

The Song

The single, released in 2000, was co-written by Mariah and Diane Warren, a rare feat considering Diane Warren is usually opposed to writing with other artists. The song was also co-produced by Mariah and the Flyte Time team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The song's epic motivational theme entails the struggles of dealing with people who put you down, and how to overcome these struggles through faith, courage, and the power of God.

Chart Success

"Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme)" marked a dark time for Mariah's singles as it was the lowest peaking single chartwise of hers to that point. The single had been promoted actually as a double sided single along with her duet with Snoop Dogg, known as "Crybaby". Due to technical aspects of Billboard rules, it was actually "Crybaby" that charted on the Billboard Hot 100. After 26 consecutive singles to hit the Top 20 since her debut single "Vision Of Love", "Crybaby" failed to make the Top 20, peaking at #28.

Mariah Carey had not been happy with the promotion of the single, as evidented by negative audio messages left on her personal website concerning the album's single releases. When Mariah had finally compromised on having the single released as the double sided "Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme)"/"Crybaby", she found herself with problems of a lack of promotion from her record company at the time, Sony, and a lack of healthy airplay for the singles.

Music Videos

The music video also faced problems of its own. The basic concept of the video showed Mariah along with clips of people who had overcome personal problems in their life to become successful. The original video used dark captions which made it hard to see the clips of the people described in the video, and faced other controversy when at the song's climax, Mariah walks onto a balcony in pouring rain and passionately invokes her own depression in a very dramatic fashion in relatively skimpy clothes. The revised video later released lightened the captions and kept the divalike dramatic antics of Mariah, although this time, kept indoors (while it continued to rain outside).

Remixes

Remixes of this song also exist, largely released only in the USA, although a few mixes can be found in other countries. The single was remixed by David Morales, and featuees 2 main mixes, The Morales Club Mix, a mix that uses the original vocals of "Can't That That Away (Mariah's Theme)" with similar chord progressions of the orignal songs, and The Morales Triumphant Mix, a mix that featues resung vocals and new lyrics to transfrom the motiviational song into a cool breezy almost jazzlike mix complete with haromica sections too.

Comprehensive Charts

"Crybaby” Debuted at #28 on The Billboard Hot 100
"Crybaby” Was Not Ranked on The Billboard Hot 100 Year End Charts (2000)
"Crybaby” Remained in The Billboard Hot 100 for 7 weeks

"Crybaby” was Mariah's 9th #1 single on The Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales

Official Remixes/Versions List

Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme) (Album Version)
Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme) (Radio Edit)
Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme) (Morales Revival Triumphant Mix)
Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme) (Morales Club Mix)
Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme) (Morales Club Mix Edit)
Can't Take That Away (Mariah's Theme) (Morales Instrumental)