Let's talk about Bill Withers.

honestly I can't be TOO sad about this cause as Alfred said he pretty much nailed the whole career thing, had hits and got the respect he deserved while he was around to enjoy it, and 81 is a good run.

one of the all-time greatest, rip to the man

No doubt like many legacy artists he saw his revenue streams dry up in the last fifteen years, but he sold millions at the peak of the record industry's reach and his songs kept getting covered. By all accounts he seemed to have invested and saved wisely.

Hard to think of many artists whose most famous songs are likely to resonate more strongly at this precise historical moment.

RIP. One of my absolute heroes and Alfred otm. Live at Carnegie Hall is essential.

Just As I Am is one of 20 or so favourite albums ever, and that's when he was just getting started. A legend. RIP.

he sold millions at the peak of the record industry's reach and his songs kept getting covered

I'm glad he kept getting $$ in but I will never understand why people record studio covers of Bill Withers songs. What are you gonna do, improve on them? (Not even gonna let it slide for Mark Eitzel.)

Yeah, I feel the same way about the Jose James album, with one of the more incredible bands you could dream up. They're killing it, but the originals are perfect.

I can't think of a cover of any of his songs that I honestly like, but I'm open to recommendations (mention Club Nouveau and get FP'D).

Conversely, his is the only version of "Let It Be" I ever need to hear.

'm glad he kept getting $$ in but I will never understand why people record studio covers of Bill Withers songs. What are you gonna do, improve on them?

hehe, yeah that's kind of otm. playing live, sure. and experimental covers (what if "I Know, I know..." on a loop for 15 minutes + foghorn?). but a faithful studio recreation of a bill withers song just makes me want to listen to the real thing, which is untouchable.

I recommended a bunch of concert films to my students and while I was checking them (to make sure the youtubes actually worked) I was totally mesmerized by Bill Withers' performance
it starts at 41:49

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jogVNf1x_Xw&feature=youtu.be

My favorite. Menacing, erotic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vlM1ekJ144

lemme try that again -- it's Zaire '74

https://youtu.be/jogVNf1x_Xw

Actually I take it back, I like the (young) Michael Jackson version of Ain't No Sunshine, it's haunting and has cool Motown production (although I'm using to listened to a screwed version I made years ago):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXQMrhu7eIU

Among all the stuff on my Facebook wall, something I never knew: he had a stutter.

http://www.stutteringhelp.org/famous-people/bill-withers

Also Willie Nelson and Mavis Staples, "Grandma's Hands." Willie even contributes another hook (guitar: "cha-chow" before choruses)

a giant, RIP

Damn. RIP.

Ike and Tina Turner, "Use Me Up," w added context of realness, re brushing off all those do-gooders trying to interfere with her marriage, "all that 'Use Me' stuff."

My favorite. Menacing, erotic:

― TikTok to the (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 3 April 2020 15:07 (twenty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

mine too, that and "use me" should not have been written by the guy who wrote lean on me or lovely day

his banter, spoken word, etc. was truly great. i love it on 'do it good' when he says 'if you read the album cover by now, you know what my name is.'

:-(

A hero, that is all.

RIP. That spoken intro to I Can’t Write Left-Handed shows his humanity and empathy: he writes a highly political anti war song not about politics, politicians, or movements, but about a personal aftermath. “I tried to put myself in his position” indeed.

Thanks, La Lechera!

absolutely the worst. he was one of the best voices, best songwriters, best musicians i ever heard. this totally breaks my heart. RIP.

I can't think of a cover of any of his songs that I honestly like, but I'm open to recommendations (mention Club Nouveau and get FP'D).

a great profile/interview of Bill Withers from Rolling Stone in 2015. This anecdote by Booker T. alone. https://t.co/aws4zT5X0I pic.twitter.com/8pMO3V3x6p

— Bowiesongs (@bowiesongs) April 3, 2020

Question: did "Lovely Day" get a boost in popularity from its use in "Secret Life of Pets"?

I always liked this song but had never heard it on radio or whatever before that.

Holy shit. At least he lived his life his own way and had nothing left to prove to anyone ever.

got nothing interesting to add other than repeating what a fucking class act he was :(

(xpost) Forget what it was for, but it was a commercial that relaunched "Lovely Day."

God, what an absolute fucking giant of a man and artist. RIP big fella.

Horace Andy's version of Ain't No Sunshine is pretty great, fwiw.

my god, his version of "Everybody's Talkin'" is as good as anyone's. I suppose I'll just go through his readily available discog over the next day or two, there's not much wrong in there.

Got Carnegie on and Grandma's Hands just destroyed me.

This one maybe? I know I'd never heard the song (I knew his earlier hits but had stopped listening to the radio by the time of "Lovely Day") till I saw it on a commercial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJ2XBzq387c

Withers got a real royalty juice when S.O.U.L S.Y.S.T.E.M'S pop house cover on The Bodyguard soundtrack got some play:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7TK11aA5Sg

genuinely tearing up right now, thinking about the warmth and observation and life he put on record. hopefully the news does mean more people get turned on to his catalog, discover carnegie hall, etc. he was obviously very famous and successful but he deserves to be one of the dozen musicians every single person knows the name of.

yes

i think he's on a par with hank williams, today especially

lovely moment from the Still Bill doc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYbSnoKexMs

I'm gutted to hear this, RIP

His live album is among the best I've heard. Rarely has a sense of warmth and communion between performer and audience been more palpable.

Read the news, sighed, and fired said album up. And all the comments about it throughout the thread are accurate. Glad he was here, you know?

It's possible my first introduction to Bill Withers as a ... concept? Aesthetic? As something more than just some nice songs I'd heard here and there growing up, might have been in here, hilariously:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUI3_USzHYU

“It’s not my fault you got lovesick during the Quiet Storm."

Live at Carnegie is one of the best live albums ever. I remember discovering him as a teenager and picking up the albums whenever i saw them in dollar bins, which was often. Of all the punk and weirdo music I used to play as a kid, Bill Withers was one of the only things my parents would complain about, having overdosed on hearing "Lean on Me" a billion times on the radio over the years, they would tell me.

One of the things that always made him stand out to me was that he had so many good songs on the topic of platonic friendship, which is a rarer song subject than you'd think it would be. I guess as a result of already being a grownass adult when he started his career, his songs always seem so mature and grounded in actual real adult life & experiences. You could really see him living in those songs, walking around out there in the real world. Very easy for me to get choked up thinking about him, his life, and his body of work. A giant.

we had a live performance of ‘lean on me’ at our wedding ceremony, just such an elegantly crafted expression of something universal

really broken up by this tbh, one of those incredibly rare performers whose songs have become an indelible part of popular culture

I can't think of a cover of any of his songs that I honestly like, but I'm open to recommendations (mention Club Nouveau and get FP'D).

GRACE JONES
― brimstead, Friday, April 3, 2020 11:39 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

I knew as soon as I posted that an obvious one would either come to me or be pointed out. Yes, Grace's "Use Me" is a solid.

there are so many different versions of 'ain't no sunshine' that at least one or two has to be good, right?

Mick Jagger has a decent cover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E_lZPAhrbA

Don't rmde at "ft. Lenny Kravitz." He hadn't started to suck yet in early '93.