Let's talk about Bill Withers.

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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4j2e2d7U94

^ blessed by the man himself at the start

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

― Pinche Cumbion Bien Loco (stevie), Friday, April 3, 2020 12:05 PM (thirty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yes

on percussion, we got a lady

very happy to learn Still Bill is on youtube

Carmen McRae’s version of “Paint your pretty picture” is the only cover I know of that improves on Bill’s take

https://youtu.be/RknfFt06Uzs

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

i legitimately love that record

r.i.p. to this great artist

xpost There's something else (very tangentially) cool about that Carmen McRae live album: it might be the first recorded appearance of Joey Baron on drums!

Even chilly darkness has the brightest POLL: Bill Withers' STILL BILL

i moved in to a cozy little trailer with someone i'm in love with a few months ago. we're both jobless since covid but we're lucky to have some savings so in between bouts of anxiety about income we've both slowed down a little bit - not much to do but care for each other.

anyway i played menagerie the morning i heard he'd died and we had coffee and listened to it. the second "lovely day" started i was giving j. meaningful glances and trying to keep from outright bawling. i hadn't actually listened to menagerie before so it was quite a treat -- even the two disco tracks are good. we got to "tender things" and i told j. that bill withers had died and i cried and j. told me that the song's spirit matched mine. a compliment i'll always remember.

i wish i could really say what it is about bill withers that's so special. the familiarity with depression is a part of it. the ability to articulate so clearly what it is about sharing your life with another person that's so fulfilling is another part. and also a healthy, earth-bound sense of ones self in relation to another. a humility, a familiarity with limits. and just the crazy perfect songs, like they're natural fixtures in the world, like the world would be an absurd place by definition if they didn't exist.

My brass band finally finished the tribute that we recorded after he passed, it took awhile to figure out recording in our separate homes and putting a video together:
https://www.facebook.com/mamadigdown/videos/3043741569039500/

All proceeds go to the New Orleans Brass Band Musicians Relief Fund:
https://digdown.bandcamp.com/track/just-the-two-of-us-2

this is solid man, thanks!

thanks u!

The second side of Justments is the best of chill withers

Such a fantastic record. Would like to play Railroad Man out somewhere people might dance to it.

i def would.

also 'justments is his best album.