Love this song. Check out his Wikipedia entry – what a guy! 20 children, 90 grandchildren, a mortuary business in LA, and a career revival singing bluegrass. This is fantastic too:
The chapter on him in Peter Guralnick’s Sweet Soul Music has many great stories, including one about how a chapter of the KKK booked him to play a meeting, not realizing he was black. (This was presumably when he was singing country songs.)
The guys in the white suits singing harmonies are The Blind Boys of Alabama, who are heart-rendingly good both live and on their recordings. On ‘Spirit of the Century” they do a version of ‘Amazing Grace’ to the tune of ‘House of the Rising Sun’. Truly gorgeous.
Solomon Burke was interviewed on the CBC show Saturday Night Blues and the podcast is still available for download at http://www.cbc.ca/snb/audio.html.
Interesting interview — he talks about his early days at Atlantic with Jerry Wexler and Ahmet Ertegun, his love for country music, and his more recent collaborations with Van Morrison, The Blind Boys of Alabama, etc.
He was an ordained minister, and apparently if a couple turned up at one of his shows with a marriage license, he would marry them onstage as part of the show.
Judging from the interview he seems like a very likable laidback kind of guy who just happens to be a great singer as well. Except that he probably was too modest to mention all the hard work he put in to get that good.
It also explained a mystery that has been hanging in the back of my mind for years–why Otis Redding recorded “Down in the Valley”. The answer is that Solomon Burke recorded it first. The whole story is in the interview.
I took some time to go back through some of his songs on YouTube, and while he has some great stuff, I think that “None of Us are Free” is absolutely his best song. It’s unusual for a performer to do his best work near the end of his career, but I think that’s what he did.
There’s a very small set of songs that — I don’t know what should happen to them — be shown regularly to every schoolchild? appear on the hour on every television channel? become part of everyone’s consciousness somehow. “None of Us are Free”, “War” by Edwin Starr (the 20th century version of “L’Homme Armé”), Bob Marley’s “Get Up Stand Up”, Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready” and “Respect” by Aretha Franklin make up my current short list.
There are lots of great songs by lots of great artists, but these in particular have something important to say that in my mind sets them apart. Your list may differ, of course.
“We Shall Overcome” is on a different list. Also “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” and others. Not to criticize these songs, they are on a different list.
I have to say that it is a little disappointing how few comments this particular post gets, considering the source material so lovingly and appropriately incorporated, when compared to the normal academic nonsense that lights the comments board up. I know it’s not a music site, but for a song this affecting, with a message this fundamentally radical, this is all the engagement we get? I despair a little for this country that this man’s passing goes unnoticed amongst the professional left, amongst which I count myself. C’mon people.
{ 7 comments }
Greengage 10.10.10 at 6:12 pm
Love this song. Check out his Wikipedia entry – what a guy! 20 children, 90 grandchildren, a mortuary business in LA, and a career revival singing bluegrass. This is fantastic too:
Tom Hurka 10.10.10 at 10:06 pm
Best male soul singer ever, I’d say.
The chapter on him in Peter Guralnick’s Sweet Soul Music has many great stories, including one about how a chapter of the KKK booked him to play a meeting, not realizing he was black. (This was presumably when he was singing country songs.)
TheSophist 10.11.10 at 6:22 pm
The guys in the white suits singing harmonies are The Blind Boys of Alabama, who are heart-rendingly good both live and on their recordings. On ‘Spirit of the Century” they do a version of ‘Amazing Grace’ to the tune of ‘House of the Rising Sun’. Truly gorgeous.
Alec 10.11.10 at 11:07 pm
So is Joan Sutherland.
As the Sydney Morning Herald tells us
Dame Joan Sutherland
End of an era … Oprah great Dame Joan Sutherland has passed away aged 83.
maidhc 10.12.10 at 7:57 am
Solomon Burke was interviewed on the CBC show Saturday Night Blues and the podcast is still available for download at http://www.cbc.ca/snb/audio.html.
Interesting interview — he talks about his early days at Atlantic with Jerry Wexler and Ahmet Ertegun, his love for country music, and his more recent collaborations with Van Morrison, The Blind Boys of Alabama, etc.
He was an ordained minister, and apparently if a couple turned up at one of his shows with a marriage license, he would marry them onstage as part of the show.
Judging from the interview he seems like a very likable laidback kind of guy who just happens to be a great singer as well. Except that he probably was too modest to mention all the hard work he put in to get that good.
It also explained a mystery that has been hanging in the back of my mind for years–why Otis Redding recorded “Down in the Valley”. The answer is that Solomon Burke recorded it first. The whole story is in the interview.
maidhc 10.12.10 at 9:03 am
I took some time to go back through some of his songs on YouTube, and while he has some great stuff, I think that “None of Us are Free” is absolutely his best song. It’s unusual for a performer to do his best work near the end of his career, but I think that’s what he did.
There’s a very small set of songs that — I don’t know what should happen to them — be shown regularly to every schoolchild? appear on the hour on every television channel? become part of everyone’s consciousness somehow. “None of Us are Free”, “War” by Edwin Starr (the 20th century version of “L’Homme Armé”), Bob Marley’s “Get Up Stand Up”, Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready” and “Respect” by Aretha Franklin make up my current short list.
There are lots of great songs by lots of great artists, but these in particular have something important to say that in my mind sets them apart. Your list may differ, of course.
“We Shall Overcome” is on a different list. Also “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” and others. Not to criticize these songs, they are on a different list.
robert clark 10.14.10 at 3:46 am
I have to say that it is a little disappointing how few comments this particular post gets, considering the source material so lovingly and appropriately incorporated, when compared to the normal academic nonsense that lights the comments board up. I know it’s not a music site, but for a song this affecting, with a message this fundamentally radical, this is all the engagement we get? I despair a little for this country that this man’s passing goes unnoticed amongst the professional left, amongst which I count myself. C’mon people.
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