Monday, February 27, 2023

“If You Really Love Me” by Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder dropped this exquisite soul gem in July of 1971. The song was co-written by Stevie and his first wife singer-songwriter Syreeta Wright. Stevie also produced the track, and he and David Van De Pitte arranged it. The song is about a guy who’s deeply in love with a capricious romantic partner who constantly runs hot and cold on him. He doesn’t really know where he stands in the relationship and is questioning whether his partner truly loves him or just toying with his emotions and stringing him along. 


Stevie played piano, drums and Moog bass synthesizer on this amazing track, and legendary Motown house band the Funk Brothers provided the rest of the instrumentation. It’s superbly arranged–boasting majestic horns, bustling bass and terrific piano parts. The song opens with the exuberant chorus, and then the mood and style abruptly shift on the jazzy, sensual verse section. The music is stripped down to just the piano, bass and Stevie’s vocals in this section, which gives it a really intimate feel. Here, he unleashes an impassioned vocal performance that completely catches you off-guard with its emotional power. It feels as though you're eavesdropping on someone’s most personal and intimate thoughts. This unique and unexpected section showed that Stevie was starting to take more risks in the studio and becoming a much more daring and innovative artist. Syreeta also shines on this track. Her sweet, soothing background vocals nicely complement Stevie’s and significantly help elevate the gorgeous chorus.


“If You Really Love Me” performed well on the charts, peaking at #4 on Billboard’s R&B singles chart, #8 on Billboard’s Hot 100, #4 on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart and #10 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary singles chart. And it climbed to #20 on the UK singles chart. It was a single from Stevie’s self-produced thirteenth studio album Where I’m Coming From, which was released on April 12, 1971. All of the tracks on this collection were co-written by Stevie and Syreeta. It was his first album to contain all original songs that he had a hand in writing. The album is considered a transitional work as it’s much more experimental than Stevie’s previous efforts and was a significant departure from Motown’s typical sound. And he even took on important social issues on the album, such as “Do Yourself a Favor” and “I Wanna Talk To You.” This ambitious but somewhat uneven collection signaled what was to come in Stevie’s celebrated “classic period,” which would kick off with his next album Music of My Mind.




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Thursday, February 16, 2023

“Hurry Sundown” by Little Richard

Little Richard brings his formidable vocal talents to the powerful ballad “Hurry Sundown.” He delivers a soul-stirring, gospel-drenched vocal performance that will make the hairs on your arms stand at attention. The song touches on the many hardships and struggles of Black Americans and their endless quest for freedom and true equality: “I can feel the change a' coming/Freedom drums/ In the distance/Lord, they are drumming.” “Hurry Sundown” is one of Little Richard’s most underappreciated songs.

It was written by Buddy Kaye and Hugo Montenegro and was the B-side to Little Richard’s 1967 single “I Don't’ Want to Discuss It.” Both songs were included on Get Down With It: The OKeh Sessions, which is a sterling collection of tracks that the Rock & Roll pioneer recorded for OKeh Records in 1966 and 1967.

“Hurry Sundown” was used effectively in a scene from the Emmy-nominated crime drama TV series Better Call Saul. It was featured in the season 3 episode “Sunk Costs” in 2017. Many people discovered the song through its appearance on the popular series.

Two choral versions of “Hurry Sundown” are featured on the soundtrack of filmmaker Otto Preminger’s drama Hurry Sundown (1967). Both were performed by Hugo Montenegro and His Orchestra. Little Richard’s version is not featured on the soundtrack, unfortunately. The film focuses on racism and greed in a small Georgia farm town right after World War II in 1946. The film was based on the Southern Gothic novel of the same title, which was written by K.B. Gilden, a pseudonym for married couple  Katya and Bert Gilden. It was adapted for the big screen by Horton Foote and Thomas C. Ryan. The cast included Jane Fonda, Michael Caine, Diahann Carroll, Faye Dunaway, Robert Hooks, Beah Richards and George Kennedy.

In 1967, Harry Belafonte released his own version of “Hurry Sundown,” which was shortly after Little Richard’s release. Belafonte’s rendition is also pretty amazing.