So, Buster is sitting at the piano, pounding away and singing. I can’t hear what he’s crooning, because he’s on the other side of the house, but it sounds pretty good.
A few minutes later he comes in and says, “I’m gonna make ‘Sexual Healing’ more soulful.”
I did a spit-take (tea all over the screen) and peered at him over my glasses: “Umm…You’re going to be more soulful than Marvin Gaye?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Why not?”
“Buster,” I sighed. “No one can have more soul than Marvin Gaye. Not even Barry White has more soul than Marvin Gaye. And besides, his father shot him. That automatically means no one can remake his songs.”
“Is that how he died?” Buster asked, wide-eyed and wondering briefly if his own father still had his hunting rifle. “That doesn’t make him have more soul than me!” He said.
I hate to destroy a kid’s dreams, but this time I really had to put my foot down and make him face reality. Buster has a good voice. He’s a multi-culti mongrel who can claim Irish, Italian, Scots, German and yes, a bit of African ancestry and yeah, he’s got a little bit of soul…but I couldn’t allow him to continue deluding himself that he could improve on Marvin Gaye.
“There’s lots of blue-eyed soul singers,” he smiled that killer grin.
“You have brown eyes.”
“Hey, all the best soul singers have brown eyes!”
He’s been listening to a lot of Ray Charles, a lot of Bill Withers, Lou Rawls and Stevie Wonder – but only Marvin has stirred his soul to this extent.
Meanwhile, I’m going to haul out some of my old Joe Williams albums and let him listen to that astounding artist. He was a jazz singer, but I’m gonna make him listen, anyway.
It’s going to be an interesting year.
So funny that you mention Joe Williams. Rose was playing her favorite jazz playlist yesterday (the one with all the old scratchy original recordings from the Smithsonian collection). I asked who was singing a certain song. She said, “Joe Williams. Isn’t he great?”
And she’s right. He is.
I just saw the footage recently of Marvin Gaye doing his rendition of the Star Spangled Banner for the NBA All Star game. The lined up players were shaking their heads in wonder. I don’t think I’ve seen anything more soulful then that.
Great post!
You put into words what it is I feel at times.
NO ONE OTHER THAN PERCY SLEDGE OUGHT TO BE ALLOWED TO SING WHEN A MAN LOVE’S A WOMAN. NO ONE.
THE SAME APPLIES TO ‘STAND BY ME.’ NO ONE BUT BEN E KING. NO ONE.
THOSE SONGS MAY ONLY BE SUNG ON THE SHOWER. ANYONE CAUGHT SINGING THOSE SONGS OUTSIDE THE SHOWER OUGHT TO BE SUBJECT TO ARREST.
To reiterate, I do have strong feelings on the subject.
In the interest of fairness, I don’t care who sings anything by Madonna or Prince.
Hand him some Sinatra and some Harry Nilsson.
Me, I remain eclectically positioned with Ferd Grofe`, Enescu, Sinatra, U2, Beatles, and others like Johnny Cash. Music that gets the imagination humming!
Actually, Benning, Buster loves Sinatra and Nilsson. Last year he had a local radio show in the morning and he played a very eclectic mix – he’s completely music mad and listens to everything. Yes, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings, the Cheiftains, Ricky Scaggs, Allison Krause, Opera, Big Bands, Swing, Metallica…he listens to and appreciates everything.
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And he has a good for what succeeds. We were driving once – a long time ago – and the old song, “Brandy” came on and within two or three measures he was asking me what it was, who performed it – then the playing of it over and over while he pointed out all the little details I’d never noticed before that made it great. Another time in the car “Backstabber” came on…again, almost immediately he was asking “what’s THIS?” And Sly and the Family Stone…he knows the whole catalogue. He’s a little bit of an oddball.
Heck, hand him some Robert Johnson. He should understand where R&B came from if he’s serious about Soul. Most of the influential “guitar masters” of the 60s, 70s, and 80s learned their chops from Johnson’s short-lived career.
R&B and Soul are very tightly integrated. You can’t claim to know one without an understanding of the other.
I know he’s sung some real clunkers back in the disco era, but I have a big soft spot in my heart for Rod Stewart’s early stuff. Great blue-eyed soul. Also tell Buster to listen to some Howlin’ Wolf. That man was a force of nature!