Time for some music, I think. After mentioning the Talking Heads' fine version of this song in my last post, I couldn't really pass over the Al Green original.
It's true that my band could approximate (but never equal) the early Talking Heads sound, but we could never have got anywhere near this!
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
AL GREEN-Take Me To The River
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4 comments:
You're right. The TH version is very good, and it's how I first learned the song, but it's a piece that really reaches into the roots of African-American experience, echoing those coded spirituals sung during slavery that reminded slaves how to escape recapture on the Underground Railroad.
I hadn't realised how gospelly the original was, and yet I'm sure I listened to Al Green way back. And look at all that Big Hair!
Good to see you in Poetry Scotland Issue 50 by the way Rob. Must jazz the website to celebrate 50 issues.
Those bopping afro hairdos are a riot as well. I wonder what it is about afros that never fails to bring out a smile.
Yes, it does have a real gospel feel, even more in that live version than in the record, I think.
Colin - good to see you in Poetry Scotland too!
Larry - is it just sentimentality on my part, or are the afros and the general flamboyance of the clothes at that time symptomatic of a happier or at least more optimistic generation? Compare that to hoodies, or big trousers with baseball caps.
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