Let's talk about 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.

bill withers is a big one for me. coming up on ecstasy and the dj playing lovely day is one of the most transcendent moments I've ever had with music.

just remembering, freddie king's 'ain't no sunshine,' which is solid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTboI4LDt4I

some rippin' live versions out there too

here's a couple of my favourite versions of "ain't no sunshine"

caterina caselli, 1972:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g53QYP5jPpI

junko ohashi, 1976:

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

Soulful is such an overworked word, but he had one of those voices (Arthur Alexander is another) where just the sheer humanity and... soulfulness of it can often bring me to tears. RIP, Bill.

I love this man so much. what a life.

"You Got The Stuff" off 'Bout Love is a great late 70s deep cut. Especially if you find the version with the disco outro

the most pleasant voice of all time. RIP

so many great songs and a really easy discography to get through.

'stories' always hits me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5RSogOduEA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-2n7VLBHi0

RIP Getting hipped to the live album is one of the best things ILX did for me. That complete albums box Legacy did was an A+ package all the way down.

dunno if its been posted upthread but this live TV set is really something. The version of "Let Me In Your Life" is jaw dropping

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

I'd shared thoughts on Live at Carnegie Hall on Twitter and here's a tidbit:

This is his best album. When I told him I loved it, he smiled and told me "that might've been the best show I ever played." https://t.co/6xO56i8xlR

— Scott Collette (@ScottJCollette) April 3, 2020

Was just listening again to some of it, and was reminded that the strings & horns were overdubbed, surely one of the best instances of sweetening on a live album EVAH.

Hope She's Happier With Him off Carnegie Hall is devastating. Such a beautiful, sad, dark lyric, so perfectly delivered.

i dug my grandmother too

I was sort of shocked by him when I "discovered" him, after having heard his songs for years (and not always realizing they were by the same person). The soulfulness of his voice, concision of his songwriting, richness of his melodies, and an overall sense of maturity that always set him apart — I'm sure partly having to do with not getting famous until he was in his 30s, but also seeming to emanate from from something inside him. Music by a grown-up for grown-ups.

It's been heartening to see the outpouring for him, one of those giants kind of hiding in plain sight.

i always held out hope he would release new music or maybe even play again. The latter option gone forever now; hopeful there will be a posthumous release or two of some merit.

It's been a while since I saw the documentary but iirc it seemed like he was still making some music in his home studio.