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.
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Friday, 3 April 2020 19:34 (four years ago) link
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.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Friday, 3 April 2020 19:43 (four years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4j2e2d7U94
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Friday, 3 April 2020 19:56 (four years ago) link
^ 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
― mellon collie and the infinite bradness (BradNelson), Friday, 3 April 2020 20:00 (four years ago) link
on percussion, we got a lady
― brechtian social distancing (Simon H.), Friday, 3 April 2020 21:30 (four years ago) link
very happy to learn Still Bill is on youtube
― brechtian social distancing (Simon H.), Friday, 3 April 2020 23:06 (four years ago) link
Carmen McRae’s version of “Paint your pretty picture” is the only cover I know of that improves on Bill’s takehttps://youtu.be/RknfFt06Uzs
― Heez, Saturday, 4 April 2020 00:52 (four years ago) link
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
― dyl, Saturday, 4 April 2020 05:35 (four years ago) link
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!
― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, 4 April 2020 14:04 (four years ago) link
Even chilly darkness has the brightest POLL: Bill Withers' STILL BILL
― Maria Edgelord (cryptosicko), Sunday, 5 April 2020 21:50 (four years ago) link
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 am a horse girl (map), Monday, 6 April 2020 02:37 (four years ago) link
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.
― i am a horse girl (map), Monday, 6 April 2020 02:51 (four years ago) link
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
― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 5 May 2020 16:43 (three years ago) link
this is solid man, thanks!
― Fuck the NRA (ulysses), Tuesday, 5 May 2020 17:24 (three years ago) link
thanks u!
― change display name (Jordan), Tuesday, 5 May 2020 19:09 (three years ago) link
The second side of Justments is the best of chill withers
― Heez, Sunday, 5 November 2023 20:38 (five months ago) link
Such a fantastic record. Would like to play Railroad Man out somewhere people might dance to it.
― Yngwie Azalea (stevie), Sunday, 5 November 2023 21:01 (five months ago) link
i def would.
also 'justments is his best album.
― "another slice of death, please." (Austin), Sunday, 5 November 2023 21:25 (five months ago) link