« Hook a brother (or sister) up | Main | Irony Alert » Race War Part Two: Jimmy Shoots The Fair One18 Feb 2009 10:00 am
Lots of people pointed out that I kinda dissed Jimmy, by selecting a bad version of "What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted" yesterday. I went back and listened to the original. It is, of course, fraking great. The weird thing is I'd forgotten how much I loved the harmony and back-up singing. Jimmy's bad, no question, but whoever is singing back-up is murdering. And yeah, murdering is good in this case. The thing about the Joan Osborne version, as much as I like it, is that she completely overpowers everything. Jimmy isn't weaker, but he just melds in to the song.
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I'm not convinced these two posts weren't part of some cruel impulse to raise false hopes among credulous white people, only to smack them back down.
The sinister nature of this blog is beginnng to reveal itself.
I have to agree. To quote my relatives that are from around Meridian, MS where the Ruffin boys come from..."Them Ruffin boys could sang". This is not a White/Black thing, the original version was just better. Listening to the original, you can smell catfish frying, and here the clank of horseshoes in the background. Joan can blow, but does not quite stand up to the original.....
So "bad" and "murdering" are "good" in this context? (Normally I don't bother with "what does x mean" because I can google it, but in context this is a bit confusing.)
"I'm not convinced these two posts weren't part of some cruel impulse to raise false hopes among credulous white people, only to smack them back down.
The sinister nature of this blog is beginnng to reveal itself."
Oh yes. There will be blood.
Listening to all 3 again, I come back to the band. The original and Joan Osborne have the Funk Bros. arrangement, which had the feel of a lot of stuff they were doing for the 4 Tops--big, dramatic, patient cadences, that terrific piano. Osborne really is a minor singer, but there are a lot of ok singers in that movie about the Funk Brothers, that front the band. And that band with those arrangements in full orchestra, they had number one hit after number one hit for whomever fronted the band.
Jimmy Ruffin had a wonderful voice, though not as great as David, but the problem with the Ruffin video is that it sounds like a b band who are rushed, and Ruffin about 300,000 performances into it. The original--magic, drama, inevitibility.
Murder? I think Bob Marley: "Brutalize me with music."
Look - George Jones is one of the greatest white male singers ever, but Bettye Lavette - a relatively obscure soul singer - covers his classic song "Choices" and his reaction is "I got chills when I listened to Bettye's version...I CAN ONLY HOPE that my version created a similar sensation." He can Hope. Let's at least leave him with that fragile life support.
We collectively give up. Okay. What do you want ? Some Versailles Treaty shit ? Reparations ? Might I suggest that rubbing our face in it is neither gentlemanly nor in the new national spirit needed to get through a very rough economic patch together. Your cultural triumphalism is understandable, but hardly generous. Can't we all just get along ?
i thought that the weakest part of "standing in the shadows of motown" was its thesis that it was the band, not the singers, that made the songs. they attempted to demonstrate this by having other singers do the song, including, joan osborne, who, i thought, proved pretty conclusively that it was the band plus some great singers that made the originals work so well.
no one cuts george jones at what he is best at, those subtle, sad, suggestions that it ain't just this that breaks his heart, but an accumulated lifetime of fighting back small sadnesses while pretending to a stoicism he can't sustain internally. and he does it with often horrible material. now, that doesn't make him the greatest singer ever (i have no idea who that would be---forced to choose i might pick youssou n'dour from the etoile de dakar days), but different great singers give us different things, even with the same song, and we need all of those things.
For me this song has always been a push. I can totally appreciate the vocal talent of both Jimmy and Joan in these performances, and from a musicality standpoint the melody, arrangement, and accompaniement is solid, but I have never enjoyed the story the words picture. I mean, to me, I've always seen this as a BAD example of a "when love goes bad" song. Again, I mean this strictly for its words, but it ony seems to wallow in its own self-loathing and not really give me any connection to the story's lovers (maybe a little at the end when Jimmy repeats " I need you baby") A couple of examples of depressing yet GREAT old skool soul love songs are (1)the whiny and beggin' Harold Melvin and Blue Notes classic "I miss you" and (2) Stevie's "Lately". But that's just me.
Big Bad--I just think band musicians often get short shrift. The (Booker T., The MG's, the horn section that was the Mar Kays) Stax Volt band got some props; the Atco guys (from the Coasters to Aretha) behind King Curtis and the Funk Brothers on the other hand were almost never mentioned. Who could deny the Motown singers; still, people who love those singers should know about the band--they were the best in an era of great ones.
There are so many great singers from Africa (where the singers also get far better recognition than many of the musicians who frame their music); I tend to prefer the Congolese guys from the 60s-90s, but it's nice to see someone mention an African singer, especially citing the work that singer should be better known for, on this post.
George Jones: "an accumulated lifetime of fighting back small sadnesses while pretending to a stoicism he can't sustain"
Yeah, and when black folk start doing kick-ass covers of his songs it really helps matters...
First, I listened to Ruffin about 5 or 6 times. Then I read bruceds and Coates:
"I'm not convinced these two posts weren't part of some cruel impulse to raise false hopes among credulous white people, only to smack them back down.
The sinister nature of this blog is beginnng to reveal itself."
Oh yes. There will be blood.
Intense musical pleasure coupled with laughing: perfect way to beat the February mehs.
Grammatically, I think that 'fraking' should have two Ks to indicate that the 'a' is short: e.g., "frakking great". Otherwise, it would rhyme with 'frayking', which just sounds weird.