LEFTOVERS: NO, THANKS: HOW SWEET IT IS

 

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SMM has done Leftovers at this season every year since its inception back in 2008. That theme, something Christmassy, followed by our In Memoriam theme are our traditions.

With ony two in the house for "turkey day" this year (in Istanbul, Turkey no less), we had no leftovers besides the pumpkin pie and a dab of cranberry. To compensate, I cooked a second batch of stuffing and turkey the next night. Want some more? Yes, please. Gotta have those leftovers.

But ... the music ... No leftovers here. Does Village Voice critic Robert Christgau like James Taylor? His comment about Taylor's version of this song are a pretty clear: "No, thanks". He labelled it "disgraceful". Further remarks he has made about Taylor indicate that it is not just this song. He writes: "I am no more likely to enjoy a James Taylor concert than an Engelbert Humperdink concert, and [...] this prejudice is not primarily musical."

In almost a rebuttal  to Christgau's "no way, thanks", Taylor's version of the lyrics of Marvin Gaye's original, again and again sing "thank you baby" - to Carly SImon. 

I kind of side with Christgau -but not as vociferously - Sweet Baby James was a good album. I'm mildly prejudiced because I had one foot in Chapel Hill, NC in those days, so Taylor was a home-town hero (and the songs were provocative in their own genre for the time). After that ... we discovered the true baby james.

For contrast, there's narry a thanks in Marvin Gaye's lyrics, The song "vibe" itself is thanks enough. Christgau is right.

Trouble: Trouble Man

Marvin Gaye: Trouble Man

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In 1971, Marvin Gaye was coming off the success of his 1971 groundbreaking album, What's Going On (which Motown president Berry Gordy had tried to deep-six because of its deeply political message). The early seventies saw many soul musicians (including Curtis Mayfield, Isaac Hayes, James Brown, and Barry White) scoring for the new genre of movies catering to a black audience. Gaye moved to Los Angeles to write, produce and record the soundtrack for the 1972 blaxploitation movie, Trouble Man. The movie tanked, but the soundtrack lived on, giving us this soulful tune.

There's only three things that's fa sho': taxes, death, and trouble.

Off-Genre: Calypso Blues

Marvin Gaye: Calypso Blues

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Despite a strong performance by everyone this week, this really is a challenging theme. I had to leave the comfort of my own collection, and go shopping on Amazon to find a song for this post. And how do you do that search? I tried searching for tribute albums, and stopped when I found this one.

Many of the songs this week have been cases of artists trying to broaden their appeal once they were established, or to escape the straightjacket of their fan’s expectations. But sometimes, it takes an artist a while to find their sound, and their off-genre work occurs early in their career. Such was the case with Marvin Gaye. By the early 70s, What’s Going On was out, and Gaye’s success was assured. But, in 1965, he was still finding out who he was. That was when he took time out to pay tribute to one of his inspirations, Nat King Cole. I never knew this until I researched this post. Why would an artist do a tribute album when he hasn’t even established his own career yet? Remember that this was 1965, and artists released three albums a year, not the album every three years that is the norm nowadays. Soon enough, Gaye would be able to return to his own music.

My selection of Calypso Blues is intentionally ironic. This one would have been off genre for Nat King Cole as well. There was a calypso craze in the United states in the 1950s. That was when Harry Belafonte rose to fame. As far as I know, Calypso Blues was the only calypso song Cole ever recorded. And if you really want to go far off genre, try this. Years later, Damien Marley took Cole’s original vocal track and created a brand new instrumental track for it. So Nat King Cole became a reggae singer.

Clothes: Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)

Marvin Gaye: Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)

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In Marvin Gaye's second solo album, he left behind his Jazz inclinations of his first record and brought some hard R&B with That Stubborn Kinda Fellow. The background vocals on Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home) come courtesy of Martha And The Vandellas. Enjoy some swingin' Marvin!