40 Year Itch : Dadgummit-ah!

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Bill Withers followed up the folk soul of his debut Just As I Am by taking over the production reins and enlisting members of the Watts 103rd Rhythm Band to raise the funk. And the funk do cometh especially on raunchy cuts like the #2 pop hit "Use Me" and "Who Is He ( And What Is He To You)?". Makes you wonder if some  Foxy Brown kind of lady entered his life right about the time "Ain't No Sunshine" hit Number One. You know, the kind who is too much woman for one. But not enough for two. Using him until she used him up.





No matter how funky things get, Withers plays it cool . We've all probably heard "Lean On Me" too many times by now. But next time,  listen to the song in the context of all the gospel soul that was hitting the charts in 1972: Aretha Franklin's Young Gifted And Black and Amazing Grace, The Staple Sisters's "I'll Take You There", Jesus Christ Superstar. The Rolling Stones's "Let It Loose" and "Shine A Light"? Could the compassionate singer be JC himself?

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40 Year Itch : Lean On Me

In "The Forty Year Itch" New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik pronounced a rule about American popular culture: "The Golden Forty Year Rule":

The prime site of nostalgia is always whatever happened, or is thought to have happened, in the decade between forty and fifty years past.


 In the 1960's, the New Vaudeville Band's 1920-ish megaphone hit  "Winchester Cathedral" won a Grammy for Best Contemporary Recording while Paul McCartney dabbled in Roaring Twenties song craft with tunes like "Your Mother Should Know" and "Honey Pie". In the 1970's, the 30's were hot. Moviegoers flocked to theaters for "The Sting" and "Paper Moon". And the trend continues today, or so Gopnik would have us believe.

Works for me obviously. So instead of trying to nail down whether an album came out on a particular day, week, or month...I'm just going to title posts with "40 Year Itch". Speaking of which, Bill Withers released his only #1 single "Lean On Me" on April 21, 1972. It's one of those songs you might find yourself accidentally playing on the piano. That's kind of how Withers wrote it:

"I bought a little piano and I was sitting there just running my fingers up and down the piano. In the course of doing the music, that phrase crossed my mind, so then you go back and say, 'OK, I like the way that phrase, Lean On Me, sounds with this song.'"

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Six Degrees of Separation: Booker T and the MG's to Luther Ingram

1. Booker T and The MG's: I Want You ( She's So Heavy)

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In 1969, The Beatles and Booker T & The MG's had mutual fan clubs. John Lennon called the Stax band "Book a Table and the Maitre D's" and, in 1970,  The MG's covered the entire Abbey Road album.

2. Bill Withers: Do It Good

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In 1971,  Booker T Jones produced and played on the Bill Withers debut Just As I Am. On the short track "Do It Good", Withers tells listeners how "Mr Jones" told him to just do what he does, and do it good. The following album Still Bill included the #2 1972 single "Use Me",  a track on the Anchorman soundtrack .

3. Gene Chandler: Groovy Situation

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Another track on the Anchorman soundtrack was the million selling single "Groovy Situation" from 1970. "Groovy Situation" was originally recorded by an R&B duo The "Duke of Earl" discovered, Mel and Tim.

4. Mel and Tim : Starting All Over Again

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Best known for 1969's  "Backfield in Motion"Cousins Mel Hardin and Tim McPherson scored a Top 20 in 1972 with "Starting All Over Again". That was a the year they performed at Wattstax,a concert held to commemorate the seventh anniversary of the Watts riots. Other performers included The Bar-Kays, Issac Hayes and The Staple Singers.

5. The Staple Singers: We The People

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The Staple Singers performed "We The People" at Wattstax as well as "Respect Yourself, a 1971Top 20 pop hit written by Stax Records singer Luther Ingram and songwriter Mack Rice. Frustrated with the world, Ingram told Rice "black folk need to learn to respect themselves."

6. Luther Ingram : If Lovin You Is Wrong (I Don't Want To Be Right)


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In the Summer of  1972,  Luther Ingram topped the Billboard R&B charts  ( and hit #3 on the pop charts) with "If Loving You is Wrong ( I Don't Want To Be Right)". He sold nearly 4 million copies of this song about an adulterous affair. Millie Jackson covered the song in our last Six Degrees.

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