Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DXVI--Marvin Gaye: Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)

On the bright side, at least it's less than a week late....

Not one hundred percent sure when this one first came to me, but I'm pretty sure it was back in the seventies when I was listening to a lot of Top 40 radio.  Not judging (because I have no idea what today's music radio is like), but way back when there was a nice mix of the newest hits and the older hits which taught me an awful lot about the pop music that came before music became a lifelong journey for me.  I distinctly remember loving this week's tune since I was a teenager, though I wouldn't rule out my memory playing tricks on me....

I wrote about Marvin Gaye a thousand years ago (give or take) in Jukebox, Vol. XXXIX, and since back in the day my bio paragraphs were somewhat less inclusive of career highlights, I'd like to add that Gaye won two Grammy Awards, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, and the Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame, and that his nickname was the "Prince of Soul" (that's a ten on the Coolness Quotient Scale).  For his career, Gaye released twenty-five studio albums (with four of them reaching the top ten on the Billboard 200) and eighty-three singles (with sixteen of those hitting the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100).  There have also been twenty-four compilation albums, with fifteen of those coming after his passing.  Gaye's legacy only continues to grow--in its latest installation of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Rolling Stone moved this week's featured album to #1 on the list (originally #6).

"Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" was the second single from his 1971 album, with the rather questioning title of What's Going On (sans question mark, though).  The single peaked at #4 (with a bullet!), while the album reached #6.

Fun Fact:  Gaye had three singles from this week's album reach the top ten--and thus (somewhat surprisingly to me) became the first male solo artist to have three top ten hits from one LP.

"Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)" is one of the most beautiful songs featured here on Friday Night Jukebox, and its theme (man's destruction of our planet) is just as relevant today as it was more than fifty years ago.  Gaye's vocals are exquisite--they could easily represent the natural beauty that fills our planet earth.  I'm also certain that if they'd been able to record 2000 years ago, Jesus' vocals would have sounded remarkably similar to Gaye's.  It's a warning and a prayer, and all of it in just two minutes and thirty seconds.  An absolutely stunning piece of work, by an artist at the height of his talents.  

Lyric Sheet:  "Oh, mercy, mercy me/Oh, things ain't what they used to be/What about this overcrowded land/How much more abuse from man can she stand?"

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. DII--The Temptations: Get Ready

This tardiness will just not do....

While I am certain that I'd heard this week's featured tune numerous times in the past, it was its inclusion in a Motown documentary (Hitsville:  The Making of Motown--well worth the watch) that my youngest son and I watched on Showtime at the height of the pandemic shutdown that made me cock my head and think, "How the hell did I never notice how great this song was?"  As the saying goes, better late than never....

I wrote about The Temptations in Jukebox, Vol. CCCXVIII and as nothing new has happened to the band in the last three and a half years, I'll let that bio stand--other than to note that founding member Otis Williams (the only surviving original member) still takes The Temptations out for a dance move or two on the oldies circuit.

"Get Ready" was the first single released from their 1966 LP, the rather elongated entitled Gettin' Ready.  The single would reach #29 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100 (#1 on the R & B singles chart), while the album would peak at #12 on the Billboard 200.

Fun Fact:  The band Rare Earth recorded a twenty-one-minute cover version of "Get Ready" which was edited down to 2:46 for a single released in 1970.  Their version would climb to #4 on the Billboard singles chart--if I had a guess as to why it charted higher than The Temptations version, my guess would be that at the time, rock and roll was still king....

A man is in love, and he's absolutely, positively going to make the girl of his dreams love him, too. Written and produced by Smokey Robinson, "Get Ready" packs as much into two and a half minutes as a music fan could ask for.  From Eddie Kendricks wondrous falsetto to the rest of the band's empowering backing vocals, from the horn section (listen for a wicked, wailing short trumpet solo) to the playful nature of the lyrics, Robinson and the Temptations make musical magic, Motown style.  Another in a long line of songs that makes me go, "Yup, this is why I devoted so much of my life to music."  Just a compelling and stunning effort.

Lyric Sheet:  "So, fee-fi-fo-fum/Look out, baby, 'cause here I come..."

Enjoy:

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CDXXXIX--Charlene: I've Never Been to Me

 If there's a thread for worst songs ever, this week's tune is guaranteed to get a mention.  A 1991 book by Jimmy Guterman, The Worst Rock and Roll Records of All-Time, ranked it as the third worst song ever.  A 2006 poll by CNN ranked it the fourth worst.  And as I listened to it again this week while doing my half-assed research, I could think of nothing redeeming about the song...and yet I enjoyed every minute of listening to it.  Ah, well--one man's trash is another man's treasure....

Charlene Oliver (professionally just Charlene) was born in Hollywood (yes, that Hollywood) in 1950, and signed her first recording contract with Motown in 1973.  She released her debut album in 1977, released three singles (all three of which peaked in the nineties on the Billboard Hot 100), recorded a second album which was never released, had one more single in 1980 which didn't sell either, and was promptly let go by Motown.  In 1982 a Florida DJ (who at one time had worked for Motown) started playing the single on a tip from his girlfriend, and the song became a hot request.  He notified Motown, which tracked down Charlene in England (where she had moved with her husband) where she was working in a candy shop and re-signed her.  The single went on to be a big hit, but as often happens with one-hit wonders, Charlene was never able to duplicate that success, though she has continued to record through the years.  Eventually she ran a business with her second husband in Los Angeles, and today is an instructor at a music school in Texas.

Fun Fact:  Charlene was the first white solo singer on Motown to have a top ten hit.

"I've Never Been to Me" was originally released as a single from her debut album Charlene in 1977, though the first single release was a remade version without the spoken monologue (if you can stomach the song featured below all the way to the end, you'll know what I mean) from her debut album version and peaked at #97 (with a bullet!).  As noted above, after its success in Florida it was re-released with the spoken monologue and reached #3 (with a bullet, once again!) on the Billboard Hot 100.  It also reached #1 in Australia, Ireland, Canada, and the U.K. (so many cool kids...nope, not going there).  Her debut album did not chart, but its addition on a 1982 album called, amazingly enough, I've Never Been to Me, reached #36 on the Billboard 200.

Fun Fact #2:  "I've Never Been to Me" was originally written from a man's perspective, and for some odd ass reason, I'm really glad I never heard it.

Man, I'm not even going to begin trying to dissect this song's greatness--I know better.  But I would like to add that although there are numerous examples of songs we love to hate, there is generally a degree of talent that allows artists to create--and sell--even bad songs.  If you listen to "I've Never Been to Me" you can tell that Charlene has a talent for singing--her voice isn't comparable to Adele or Streisand, but she sings better than most of us could dream of.  She also writes songs. produces them and performs them live.  That's not a defense of liking a bad song--it's just an acknowledgement that there's a lot of talent, perseverance, and hard work in becoming a professional musician.

Lyric Sheet:  "Oh, I've been to Nice/And the isle of Greece/When I sipped champagne on a yacht/I moved like Harlow in Monte Carlo/And showed 'em what I got..."

Enjoy (or not):

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCXVIII--The Temptations: Papa Was a Rollin' Stone

 Oddly enough, my main recollection of this week's tune isn't the first time I heard it or a TV show or a movie where it suddenly struck me how great it was.  Rather, it's that after my first marriage ended the gentleman who lived above me in the apartment I rented after moving out used to crank the volume to ten on his stereo and blare the song at 5:00 AM every single morning.  Fortunately for me, I wasn't sleeping much during that time in my life, and he moved out within a few months...lest there might have been a good chance the tune didn't make it to a blog post (other than most hated songs).  

The Temptations started in the mid-fifties with various line-ups in various local bands before settling in my current home, Detroit, Michigan.  In 1961 they had a successful audition with one Berry Gordy and joined his Motown label.  They actually had some trouble in their early years having hit songs, and were jokingly called "The Hitless Temptations" by their label mates.  Eventually their silky smooth vocals and harmonies, as well as their finely choreographed movements kick started their hit making abilities and they went on to become one of Motown's most successful groups and earned a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.  They are often credited with being the progenitor of psychedelic soul (their song "Cloud Nine" is considered the first), which near as I can tell was a very short-lived, if incredibly successful, movement.  The Temptations were the first Motown act to win a Grammy, and totaled three for their career.  In all, the Temptations released 43 studio albums (four top tens on the Billboard 200, and a stunning 14 #1's on the R & B chart), and 109 singles, enjoying four number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100.  The Temptations continue to perform sixty years after their start--twenty-five different men have been members of the Temptations at one time or another.  Sadly, twelve of those men have gone to the great Motown Revue in the sky, a number of them at far too young of an age.

"Papa Was a Rolling Stone" was released in 1972 on their album All Directions.  The album version runs almost twelve minutes, and was listed at #169 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All-Time.  The single version was just shy of seven minutes, and became the last #1 hit and top 40 hit the Temptations would have on the pop charts. 

Fun Fact:  The Temptations did not want to record or release "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" fearing it would be a flop.  Funny how sometimes things work out....

The surprising thing about my choice this week is that a guy who adores a good pop song...didn't choose "My Girl" or "Just My Imagination" from the pantheon of Temptations' songs.  But there's a maturity to this one, a band being pushed (successfully) past its comfort zone and creating an incredible piece of music.  Some of the credit goes to producer Norman Whitfield for the incredible instrumentation and using four different singers (each representing a different child of the father noted in the title), but the Temptations had to execute those vocals to capture the song's nuances, and execute they did.  It's a poignant and deft portrait of a man who didn't live up to his fatherly responsibilities, and of the heartbreak of the children he left behind.  A masterwork from a band at the height of its powers.

Lyric Sheet:  "Folks say Papa was never much on thinking/Spent most of his time chasing women and drinking/Mama I'm depending on you/To tell me the truth..."

Enjoy:

476,000 Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCXLIX--Bananarama: Really Saying Something

While technically their second single, this week's tune was the first of theirs I had heard and one I fell in love with at first listen...and still am in love with to this day.  As is sometimes the case, though, the band never had another song that I even remotely liked.  Doesn't make the magic of the first any less wondrous....

Bananarama formed in 1981 in London by friends Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey, and Karen Woodward.  They were an immediate success--within a year they had a record deal and three top ten hits in their native U.K.  Over the course of the last thirty-eight years, Bananarama has released nine studio LPs (their debut album is the only top ten hit they had in the U.K, and their best showing here in America was #15), and, wait for it...twelve compilation albums, because surprisingly enough, they became one hell of a singles band, especially in the U.K.  They have released forty-five singles, 31 of which charted in the United Kingdom (ten in the top ten, but nary a number one), and 11 here in America (with three top tens and one #1).  Dallin and Woodward have remained with Bananarama since their forming, but Fahey (who married and eventually divorced Dave Stewart of Eurythmics fame) became disillusioned with the band's direction and left to form Shakespears Sister (with which she had some success, including a Brit Award).  They reunited in 2017 for the obligatory Let's Make a Hell of a Lot of Money Reunion Tour, and Fahey once again departed at its end.  Bananarama released their latest album this year, and is touring in support of it.

Fun Fact:  Bananarama is in the Guiness Book of World Records for having the most charted singles by an all female group.

"Really Saying Something" was released in 1982 from Bananarama's debut album, Deep Sea Skiving (Skiving, for the two of you who may be interested, is British slang for skipping school or work without good reason--and yes, I had to look it up).  It would reach #5 on the U.K. charts, though only climbing to #108 (with a kinda/sorta bullet?) on the Billboard Hot 100 (the Hot 100 has an addendum called "Bubbling Under" which charts the ten singles between 101 and 110).  At some point I should also note that the British ska band Fun Boy Three provided backing vocals for the chorus...which probably only matters to the members of Fun Boy Three and their families....

Let's see...female vocalists?  Check.  Incredibly catchy Motown tune (originally released as "He Was
Really Saying Something" by the Velvelettes in 1964)?  Check.  Funky drum and bass beats?  Check.  Nonsensical yet fun phrasing in the chorus ("Bop bop shoo be doo wah")?  Check.  And that's about all you need to know--a really bouncy pop tune about a boy trying (and succeeding!) to win a girl's heart.  Banararama stayed true to the song's Motown roots (especially with the harmonies) while adding a few modern (at the time) touches by infusing the song with reggae/ska inflections.  "Really Saying Something" isn't a song to make anyone forget "Born to Run" but it's still a hell of a pop tune and another nice edition to the pantheon here at Friday Night Jukebox.

Lyric Sheet:  "My heart started thumping'Blood pressure jumping/He was really saying something/Really saying something/Bop bop shoo be doo wah..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCVIII--Stevie Wonder: If You Really Love Me

Choosing a song from Stevie Wonder's vast (and excellent) catalog of songs to be featured here on FNJ is a bit like looking at a counter full of candy bars when you have the munchies--you finally end up choosing one because you know that eventually you'll be hungry again and you can choose another candy bar later.  I'll be amazed if another of his songs isn't featured again somewhere down the road...says the man who wrote posts about 207 songs before finally getting to the inimitable Stevie Wonder.

Writing a one paragraph synopsis of Stevie Wonder's career is a tall task...but I'm going to attempt it anyhow.  Starting out in my adopted home of Detroit, Wonder signed his first music contract when he was eleven years old with Motown.  Wonder's musical success started slowly as he didn't have his first hit until he was all of thirteen ("Fingertips"--it also made him the youngest person to top the Billboard Hot 100).  Wonder added more hit singles throughout the sixties, before coming into his own in the seventies.  By the time he was twenty-five, Wonder had won two Grammys for album of the year, and would go on to win three album of the year Grammys in four years.  After the seventies, Wonder settled into a more commercial groove, and while he never again reached the artistic success of his earlier works, he sold a shitload of records.  Overall, Wonder has released 26 LPs, sold over 100 million records, three of which hit #1 on the Billboard charts, and ten of which hit the top five.  He's had ten number one singles and thirty which hit the top 40.  He's won twenty-five Grammy Awards (you read that right, 25--the most for any single artist in Grammy history), won an Academy Award for best song, been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, been inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, and been given an honorary music degree by Yale.  He's also been a political activist, fighting against racism, hunger, AIDs, and war, as well as championing Nelson Mandela when it wasn't popular to champion him, and also performed at Barack Obama's first inauguration.  Wonder is also known for collaborating with too many artist to count (he's a multi-instrumentalist, and his harmonica playing has been featured on numerous songs).  Did I mention that he's been blind since shortly after his birth?  Taken as a whole, that's a legacy to end all legacies.

Fun Fact:  Wonder was instrumental (so to speak) in establishing Martin Luther King's birthday as a national holiday--he wrote the song "Happy Birthday" to popularize the campaign and also staged a rally which helped to bring in a petition with over six million signatures in support of making King's birthday a national holiday.

"If You Really Love Me" was released in 1971 on the album Where I'm Coming From.  It would eventually reach #8 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.  Wonder wrote the song with his first wife Syreeta Wright, and played piano, synthesizer, and drums on the song. 

One of the reasons I chose this week's tune (other than it's one of my favorites of his) is that I like how Wonder opens with the catchy as all hell chorus and then moves into the considerably slower, almost ballad-like stanzas--it's a fine juxtaposition of the two styles.  As I did my half-assed research for this week's tune, I noticed that the album "If You Really Love Me" came from was the last of Wonder's career before Motown turned control of his work over to Wonder himself, and in a lot of ways you can see in this song what was to come in his seventies work over the next few years--Wonder was really stretching out a little bit, seeing just what he could do with his music.  I also chose it because there's a joyousness, a playfulness, to the song that is a hallmark of Wonder's work--he did some great socially conscious songs through the years, but Wonder's genius has always been that he could do it with some of the greatest pop music sensibilities of any artist I can think of.  I would be remiss if I didn't note that the song has some fine horn work from Motown's in house band, the Funk Brothers, and that Wonder's wife at the time also provided some fine backing vocals.  All in all, it's a hell of pop tune from one of the greatest practitioners of pop this country has ever seen--and a man with the heart of a lion.

Lyric Sheet:  "First the feeling's alright/Then it's gone from sight/So I'm taking out this time to say.../Oh, if you really love me won't you tell me..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CXCIII--Smokey Robinson: Being with You

This week's tune was released just a short while after I began managing my first Camelot Music store, and not only did it teach me that the business end of music was often forgettable, but it also taught me that music artists can make some serious magic when they combine the best of pop with the best of soul.  The first lesson probably explains why I never made it to Executive Vice President (there was a lot more to it than that...), while the second led me to many a fine R and B tune over the course of my life.

William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. has been in the music business longer than I've been alive.  Starting out in my adopted hometown of Detroit, Michigan in 1955, Robinson began making music when he was still in high school with The Five Chimes, who eventually became the much better known the Miracles.  In 1957 Robinson met one Berry Gordy, who helped him and the Miracles release their first single ("Got a Job"), and it would lead to one hell of a collaboration.  Between 1960 and 1970, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles would release 26 singles that reached the top 40 (including Motown's first million selling record, "Shop Around").  When Robinson wasn't writing songs for the Miracles he kept plenty busy writing hit songs for other Motown artists--"My Guy" for Mary Wells, "My Girl" for the Temptations, and "I'll Be Doggone" for Marvin Gaye, among many others.  In the early 1970's Robinson departed the Miracles to focus on his duties as VP of Motown, but eventually returned to music and went solo, and while not quite having the success he did with the Miracles, did pretty darn well for himself (including winning his only Grammy Award).  He last released an album in 2014 (the obligatory--these days--duet album) which reached #12 on the Billboard 200.  Robinson was elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 (though, oddly, the Miracles weren't until 2012), and also elected into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 1989.

"Being with You" was released in 1981 on his appropriately enough entitled LP, Being With You.  It would go on to reach #2 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.  Surprisingly, for all the hits Robinson has had throughout his career, he's only had one #1 single--the classic "Tears of a Clown."

Fun Fact:  Robinson got his nickname from a favorite uncle who used to take him to cowboy movies (which Robinson loved) when he was a child.  The uncle wanted to give him a cowboy name and came up with "Smokey Joe."  Eventually Robinson dropped the Joe and just became Smokey.

Somewhat like last week's (yesterday's?) tune, there's a subtlety to "Being with You" that's easy to miss at first listen.  With Robinson's silky smooth vocals and a dreamy melody, one could easily mistake the song for a walking on the beach, holding hands with the wind in our hair kind of love ballad.  Alas, this one's about a man whose friends are warning him about the woman he's crazy about, but he doesn't care because he likes being with her (thematically, it's somewhat similar to Wilson Pickett's "When a Man Loves a Woman"), and he's willing to give them up rather than lose her.  Robinson shows a maturity as a songwriter, though, as the protagonist does wonder whether he's been made blind by love, and if he's being a fool.  There's some nice saxophone work throughout, Robinson coos wondrously in the background (one could probably write a post just about Robinson's vocals--a gift from the gods of music), and even some twenty-six years into his career, he can still write a tune that you'll be singing and humming for days.  While Robinson has had any number of singles that could be called classics, this one is a nice reminder that although artists get older, they can still make a little magic.

Lyric Sheet:  "Or can it be, that like love I am blind?/Do I want it so much 'til it's all in my mind?"

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CLXXII--The Spinners: Games People Play

For the umpteenth time here in 2018, FNJ will be featuring another tune from the 70's--while I'll never be one of those people who claims they don't make music like they used to (sure they do--you just don't have the time you once did to hunt it all down), there was certainly something special about the music of the 70's (which, not coincidentally, could also have a lot to do with the 70's being the time of my coming of age).

The Spinners formed in 1954 in my adopted home of Detroit, Michigan and began their careers on Gordon Berry's dream, Motown.  They wouldn't have their first hit until 1961, their second until 1965, and shortly after their third ("It's a Shame"--another great cut, penned by one Stevland Morris) they would move on to Atlantic Records and under the guidance of producer Thom Bell would shoot into the stratosphere of seventies soul groups.  Between 1972 and 1980, the Spinners would have 7 top ten singles (including a #1 with Dionne Warwick, "Then Came You"--again, another great cut), and 16 singles total in the Billboard Hot 100.  Unfortunately, after 1980 the Spinners commercial success fizzled out, and they released the last of their 18 albums in 1989, and their last single to chart was in 1995.  Though only one original member is still with us, the Spinners remain a huge draw on the oldies circuit and continue performing to this day.  In one of pop music's greatest travesties, the Spinners, though nominated in 2015, have yet to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame--seriously, Bon Jovi and Kiss are in, but not the Spinners?  WTF?

Released in 1975 on their Pick of the Litter LP, "Games People Play" (also referenced as "They Just Can't Stop It (Games People Play)" though God only knows why since it's considerably longer and not what the song was originally called upon its release) would go on to reach #5 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.

Fun Fact:  "Games People Play" was also a #1 hit on the Billboard R & B chart--and it immediately followed FNJ  #170, Natalie Cole's "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)."  A good couple of weeks for a child of the 70's....

I could tell you that "Games People Play" features some rock solid piano and horn playing, as well as a hint of electric guitar.  I could also tell you it's a song about being a little blue about the nature of your fellow beings, and finding a face in the crowd that gives just a little hope.  And I could tell you about the wonderful interplay of the vocals of Bobby Smith, Pervis Jackson, and backup band singer Evette Benton.  But the piece de la resistance, the part that makes it a classic instead of just a great song, is the interlude that begins with Jackson's magical bass vocals that begins "12:45...."  This is how great it is:  Jackson earned the nickname "Mr. 12:45" for his role in the interlude and he only sings four lines.  My words don't do it justice, but trust me "Games People Play" is a wondrous soul single from a wondrous decade for soul singles.

Rap Sheet:  "12:45/Headed for the subway home/I took my time/'Cause I felt so all alone/Not far away/I heard a funny sound took a look around, and I/Could see her face/Smiling as she came, calling out my name..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. XXXIX--Marvin Gaye: Got to Give It Up

Sometimes, it can just be fun.

Marvin Gaye has the political ("What's Going On" or "Mercy, Mercy Me") and the sexual ("Let's Get It On" or "Sexual Healing").  If Sam Cooke invented soul, Marvin Gaye took it to another level.  Sadly, like Cooke, he would die far too early (at age forty-four) from a gunshot after an altercation--in Gaye's case, it was his own father.  But the legacy he left behind...one would be hard pressed to find any best of list over the last fifty years covering best artists or greatest singers or best songs or greatest albums where Gaye wasn't prominently featured.  From his Motown roots to his work with Tammi Terrell, from his groundbreaking seventies albums to his eighties comeback, Gaye set a soul standard that has never been matched.

And the man had balls.

"Got to Give It Up," this week's featured tune, is basically Gaye's fuck you to Berry Gordy and Motown.   Gordy wanted Gaye to record disco music when it was at its height, and Gaye disdained disco music.  Gaye actually wrote "Got to Give It Up" as a parody of a disco scene--if disco had actually been as good as "Got to Give It Up" it wouldn't be sitting the in the moldy basement of mediocre music where it resides today.  And this is the measure of his talent--what started as a joke, became a classic.  Gaye sings in a falsetto of a man at a nightclub, a little too shy to dance, but eventually the music overtakes him and he's able to get on the dance floor and shake it until he meets a lady.  Throughout there's talking in the background, a sense that you're actually at a club where the DJ is playing a song with a driving rhythm that everybody is swinging to, and the night is always just beginning.  And if you aren't smiling while you're listening, you're just not trying.

The song is the only non-live song on Gaye's album Live at the London Palladium, and would spend one week at number one (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.

And when the man sings "Keep on dancin'/Got to give it up" you know he knows what he's talking about.

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. XXXIV--Gladys Knight and the Pips: Midnight Train to Georgia

Kind of goofy factoid:  I've always thought it would be really cool to stand with the Pips behind Gladys Knight (aka, "The Empress of Soul") just once as she sang "Midnight Train to Georgia."  Doing a hand roll, shimmy shimmy shake left, shimmy shimmy shake right, intoning "woo-hoo" as part of the greatest backing vocals ever recorded would be right up there with hitting a home run in the majors.  Alas, I can't sing or dance, and my sense of rhythm is limited at best so the odds of it ever happening are just slightly better than hitting the home run...

Gladys Knight and the Pips (her brother Bubba Knight and their cousins Edward Patten and William Guest were the longest running incarnation of the Pips) formed in 1953 in Atlanta, Georgia  and continued through 1989 when Ms. Knight embarked upon a solo career.  Along the way they enjoyed 21 top twenty singles on the Billboard Hot 100, 12 top forty albums, three Grammys, and an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  And they also recorded one of the most iconic R & B songs ever in "Midnight Train to Georgia."

The song was originally a Country tune called "Midnight Plane to Houston" but a very wise producer decided that a train and the state of Georgia were a better fit..  Released in 1973 on their Imagination album it would hit #1 (most assuredly with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100 and garner the band their very first Grammy Award.  It would eventually end up at #432 (really folks? 432?) on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The story of a young man who went to L.A. to become a superstar. didn't get far, and headed back to his home in Georgia to pick up the pieces, and, more importantly, the woman in his life who's giving up her life, too, and heading to Georgia with him grabs you right from the get go with the rat-a-tat-tat of drums followed by a rat-a-tat-tat of horns.  There's a back and forth between Ms. Knight's lead vocals and the backing vocals of the Pips, from the minute she begins singing until the end of the song that is utter vocal and lyrical magic.  The words are never forced and the vocals complement each other in a way I've never heard in another song.  Ms. Knight's confident contralto does not waver and you can feel the love from both her and the Pips omniscient backing tracks.  And it closes with one of those soulful crescendos that emaycee loves so much--Ms Knight bares the protagonist's soul and I still get chills forty some odd years down the road as she does it.

And when she sings "For love, gonna board the midnight train to Georgia," I know I've got to get me a ticket, too.

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee