the four or five Bill Withers songs everybody knows

use me! kind of like the unique perspective of this song. and the GROOVE.

'Lovely Day' was one of luna's favorite songs

lol - The band or the poster?

Idk Surm it's powerful for sure but I find it more hopeful than sad. I like the part where he breaks it down. I seriously love that song.

― \(^o\) (/o^)/ (ENBB), Wednesday, May 25, 2011 9:02 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

ur right. i don't know what i was thinking. it is hopeful.

yeah "Lean On Me" is such a basic piece of fabric of American culture that it's kind of weird to think of it being by somebody any more than, like, "Amazing Grace"

― Señor Smang (some dude), Wednesday, May 25, 2011 4:01 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

it's funny because i grew up thinking some of these songs were kind of lame inspiro-drivel (like lean on me is so elementary school music class) but now that i know that he wrote all kinds of songs dude is a total badass.

(like lean on me is so elementary school music class)

MAYBE BUT IT IS STILL WONDERFUL

sorry i kind of hate "Lean On Me", it's trying to hard to be uplifting or something. voting for "Lovely Day" ahead of "Ain't No Sunshine".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zU97n-HuAJA

it's just quintessential good-dude-trying-to-make-you-feel-better, a prototype of uplifting pop (sorta like "I Will Survive" or "Imagine")

xp

Despite "Lean On Me" being #1 the week I was born, I went with "Use Me." The drumming on that is scary, and I just can't say no to a clavinet.

Sorry - I seriously had a moment the other day when this happened where I was like, "Man, I really LOVE "Lean on Me". I had no idea I felt this way so this is still fresh for me, you know, emotionally. OK I'm exaggerating. A little.

In a wider poll, probably would have voted "I Can't Write Left-Handed."

lol - The band or the poster?

The poster.

I like all these songs but ANSWSG is always lurking in the back of my head.

I can't even think of how "Use Me" goes

obv the other four are indelibly etched into my memory

the fact that the breakdown on the original recording of lean on me is so funky was a huge eye-opener to me tbh

sorry i kind of hate "Lean On Me", it's trying to hard to be uplifting or something

That's just because of how it's been used. In and of itself it succeeds in being really powerful without trying too hard at all imo. I think this was part of my revelation.

It's so funky!

Despite "Lean On Me" being #1 the week I was born, I went with "Use Me." The drumming on that is scary, and I just can't say no to a clavinet.

― shake it, shake it, sugary pee (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, May 25, 2011 4:07 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

the reissue liner notes to still bill devote a LOT of time to the use me drums

oh wait yes I do know "Use Me", I just never knew its name

In a wider poll, probably would have voted "I Can't Write Left-Handed."

classic tune. I probably would have gone for "Grandma's Hands" myself

yeah "Use Me" is the one that gets used mostly for its instrumental intro constantly in TV shows/movies and samples, as opposed to the rest of these where the chorus has been used in a million different things

lovely day lovely day lovely day lovely day

it's trying to(o) hard to be uplifting or something

And yet, it entirely succeed with me

i don't really like lovely day

i feel like it's played too much

Really, where? I'm not sure I ever heard it (apart from the S.O.U.L. S.Y.S.T.E.M. song) until recently.

by me. it is played too much by me.

yeah "Use Me" is the one that gets used mostly for its instrumental intro constantly in TV shows/movies and samples, as opposed to the rest of these where the chorus has been used in a million different things

lol, I clicked on the Youtube video for "Use Me" and, unbidden, the AT&T slogan popped into my head

the reissue liner notes to still bill devote a LOT of time to the use me drums

do tell? who was the drummer on that anyway?

i was doing a recording session for someone yesterday and trying to straight up channel/rip off those drums.

lol HS x-post

I feel like i hear it on the radio a lot? Esp this time of year. I swear that it gets played a lot when the weather starts being nice. I might be making this up.

I also think it was used a lot in commercials in the UK when I lived there.

do tell? who was the drummer on that anyway?

James Gadson

i like the idea that people think "Lovely Day" is overplayed purely because horseshoe is just walking throughout the entire world blasting it on a boombox

You could be right, ENBB. I've never really listened to oldies stations.

whenever lovely day is being played, i am responsible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbwcU2YbBRI

I saw Soul Power and Funny People in the same week, in the same movie theater; kind of blew my mind that Gadson was in both.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiNgz6KDD2k

whenever lovely day is being played, i am responsible

ty horseshoe!

any time!

You could be right, ENBB. I've never really listened to oldies stations.

― jaymc, Wednesday, May 25, 2011 4:18 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark

Oh man I totally do.

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:(

Man this is hard.

"Just the Two of Us" was actually the first thing I ever consciously heard by him.

which i should really investigate at some point

you really should!! its not even that large or daunting, and its fantastic

whenever lovely day is being played, i am responsible

I am hearing this in Henry Fonda/Tom Joad voice

hey everyone should watch the still bill doc if u havent already

be warned tho it could easily make u cry

the reissue liner notes to still bill devote a LOT of time to the use me drums

do tell? who was the drummer on that anyway?

i was doing a recording session for someone yesterday and trying to straight up channel/rip off those drums.

― adult music person (Jordan), Wednesday, May 25, 2011 4:16 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark

iirc it was all about how he was the only dude who could play those 16th notes on the hi-hats with one hand, and when they came across the beat they just riffed on it for many, many hours and it kinda sorta turned into a song even though it's basically that one riff.

if i can find the record i will dig it out and check that.

Still Bill is essential viewing. The clip of him doing "Just The Two Of Us" on American Bandstand is pretty revealing; the look on his face says "GET ME OUT OF HERE. NOW."

I have nailed "Lovely Day" at karaoke and you cannot touch my skillz

Anyway, the real answer is "Grandma's Hands"

the two i crank the loudest are lovely day and use me. but this dude is A+ all the way around.

Here's where I give a thumbs up to the recent documentary.

Use me is so amazing, and not quite as overplayed as the rest. I have the groove stuck in my head just from thinking about it.

Ain't No Sunshine is inexplicably great. He just rides that "I know, I know, I know" riff and you can't say just how it becomes transcendent, but it does. But I voted Use Me, because, face it, such a great lyric and it's crazy-funky as all get out.

Use Me, the others all in a tie for 2nd place

Bill Withers "Lovely Day" C/D

'Lovely Day', for sure. As in the immortal words of, eh, one of the dudes of 'Air France':

Can liven a funeral, I tried and It worked. Makes you move on.

A Karaoke highlight (for me) was proving to myself that I could actually do that last long note on "Lovely Day"

Anyway, the real answer is "Grandma's Hands"

― skot gigz - moombah pimpin' (The Reverend), Wednesday, 25 May 2011 22:03 (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

everybody doesn't know "Grandma's Hands" like they know these 5 songs -- i'm listening to it right now for the first time ever (not counting the "No Diggity" sample)

Funny thing is that if you watch the Still Bill doc somehow knowing absolutely nothing about Withers, you could plausibly come away from it thinking "Grandma's Hands" was his biggest hit.

I love the lyrics and groove to "Use Me", so that's what I voted for. But all these are great. And "Lean On Me" is just so classic I may actually switch my vote.

I'd vote Lovely Day, but you can't go wrong with any of 'em.

And here's a vastly underrated Colombia-era single:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-1Z1TpQCgw

all of these are great to Godlike. Use Me rocks my world the most. I need Still Bill, right?

one of the sweetest memories I have is of hearing "Use Me" while riding with a good friend down a highway at night, no way I can get objective about the other ones in light of it

'(si si) je suis un rock star'

how did we get this far into a Bill Withers thread without the duck joke?

what are you even talking about ward

lol tomofthenest

trying (and obv failing) for a bill withers-bill wyman 'joke', pl move along etc

Ok, I'll bite.

Duck joke?

That You Got The Stuff track! The loooooong vamp at the end is rocking my world. It sounds like My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts!

http://it.bing.com/search?q=duck+joke+bill+withers&src=IE-SearchBox&Form=IE8SRC

xpost

^^ made my day.

Please tell me there's a music joke thread around here somewhere that I just haven't found yet.

Another fave:

Q: Why did the farmer start a punk rock band?

A: Cause he was tired of haulin' oats.

Artist-specific music jokes

Knock yersel' out.

This is impossible.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

i once had a busker sing "who is he and what is he to you" to me on a subway platform.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

close!

A long time ago I was in a restaurant/bar in Kansas City and my waitress was named "Sunshine", actually she said she was named something else but just used that on her name tag, but anyway I thought she was really cute, so I braved my way to the karaoke stage and sang "Ain't No Sunshine" and dedicated it to her. And she really liked it!

All I can think about whenever I've heard the song ever since.

i'm just sad about how many of his tunes have been covered to the point where everyone knows the version that isn't his.

even some generic Christian r&b group called Out of Even remade Lovely Day as a song sung to God in the mid-90s, among hundreds of other artists.....

Just The Two Of Us 0

otm

Just The 0 Of Us

https://www.allmusic.com/album/lean-on-me-mw0003201997

^ andy kellman review

wish jose james had more clout in the review-industrial complex, i like every record of his i hear but i don't hear about them except by accident. this is his bill withers covers/tribute project.

Ooh thanks for the heads up. I love him and he's got the all-star band on this (Nate Smith and Pino), but yeah I recently realized he'd released multiple albums that I'd missed.

ikr

what's the point of being on blue note if you can't work that promo money

Am I the first one on this thread to mention "Who Is He And What Is He To You?" <3<3<3

The 5 in the poll are all great, but my love for "Use Me" has never dimmed (and I do find it kinda overplayed, but still...)

― The hoppiest hop hopper now with xtra hops (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 25 May 2011 21:26 (seven years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this

tho i did rock lean on me in panto once (huntsman assuring snow white i wasnt gonna kill her, full robin hood look including green tights why thank you ladiez)

Bill Salter who wrote/ co wrote Just the Two of Us for /with Bill plus “Where is the Love” for Roberta Flack & Donnie Hathaway is getting some attention via his granddaughter’s Tik Tok. She is now making a doc about her 84 year old grandfather

https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/human-interest/2020/12/05/harlem-native-who-wrote-just-the-two-of-us-now-a-viral-sensation