Another day, a few more songs. Today’s bunch includes a soul scorcher, a Tropicália classic, some indie rap, jazz flute and a heaping dose of melancholy. Read on…
90. Betty Wright – Shoorah! Shoorah!
In my mind, soul music is the greatest cultural contribution produced by American pop music. Hell, everything uniquely American about pop music is in some way connected to soul. As a genre, soul is not only the stylistic culmination of blues, jazz and early rock and roll; it’s also the nucleus of contemporary R&B and hip-hop. Betty Wright is a great example of the impact of soul in this regard. She’s been sampled by Afrika Bambaataa and RJD2, yet she’s also inspired the likes of Mary J. Blige and Beyoncé. Influence aside, her cover of Allen Toussaint’s “Shoorah! Shoorah!” is an excellent illustration of the boundless emotion and energy of soul, which is the real reason you should give a damn.
United States of America aside, Brazil is recognized as the other great cultural mixing pot of the Western hemisphere. Unsurprisingly, our friends from (mostly) below the equator also provided the world with musical concoctions that are unique representations of their own cultural alchemy. Most notably, we have the samba. Like the blues, the samba is distinctively African in origin. It’s mutated over time thanks to artists like Tom Zé, who have subjected the genre to a continual process of synthesis. This process of combination and recombination with everything and anything makes things like “Jimmy, Renda-se” possible. It doesn’t resemble samba. In fact, Zé has more in common with Betty Wright than Carmen Miranda. And there’s something kind of sublime about that.
88. Cannibal Ox – A B-Boy’s Alpha
As a young dude, I grew up listening to rap. But at some point, I lost touch with the music. Most hip hop – even the stuff I grew up on – just doesn’t hold the same appeal. I think I realized this for the first time as I made up this list. The genre isn’t very well-represented here. If you keep reading, you’ll see there’s a smattering of rap tunes I can still enjoy on all levels, but mostly rap is just background music to me now. Kind of makes me sad, because I believe that rap is the reason I’ve grown to appreciate so many diverse artists. I can’t number how many musicians I got into because of a perfectly-placed sample or name drop. Back when I started losing my love for hip hop, indie rappers like Cannibal Ox helped rekindle my interest in the genre for a while. I don’t think a lot of similar indie rap has aged very well. I still dig this song, though.
87. Yusef Lateef – Love Theme From Spartacus
Jazz flute can be really bad. To me, it’s probably the second hardest instrument to integrate into a small jazz quartet (in my mind, the hardest is the guitar). I’m not a composer, so I can’t speculate why I feel this way in terms of theory or argue that point outside of a gut reaction. I do, however, think it makes the triumph of Yusef Lateef all the more glorious. As a flautist, Lateef sparkles. His album “Eastern Sounds” is among my favorite jazz albums and frankly, this song should be higher on the list. For the sake of transparency, this isn’t an original Lateef composition. The rest of the album is as beautiful as this song, though.
86. Frank Sinatra – I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes)
I was torn by two Frank Sinatra songs here, both from his classic album, “In the Wee Small Hours.” The title track has a lot of appeal, but I went for this tune instead. Frank is a little less brassy on “I Get Along Without You Very Well,” and I feel like the Nelson Riddle arrangement is a little more understated, too. The brooding tone, a prominent undercurrent throughout the entire album, is tapered thanks to the defiant lyrics. And yet, the melancholy is inescapable. A million performers have tried their hand at this tune. Some – Chet Baker and Billie Holiday come to mind – equal Sinatra’s version, but none surpass it.
This post is part of a series counting down my favorite songs of all time. Follow the links below to read related posts.
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