Full disclosure: I don't know that I ever would have done a post on Shuggie Otis (b. 1953), all things remaining the same, though indeed I did do a post on his legendary father Johnny Otis. The reason for this post is that Shuggie's best known song has been driving me crazy for days, and I can't get it out of my head. Granted, the song is over 50 years old and I've known it well ever since its most successful version, a cover by The Brothers Johnson, was released in 1977, when it went to #5 on the pop charts. In the '90s, Quentin Tarantino used it in both Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown, reminding many of us of its existence. And then within the past couple of weeks I heard it twice again, once in an old episode of Six Feet Under (which we happened to be binging) and a new episode of Our Flag Means Death. And now I am its prisoner, moving around with the sound of it in my head from dawn to dusk.
Odds are that you don't know the song by it's name. I didn't! It's called "Strawberry Letter 23". The tune is beyond catchy and relentless, but I never listened to the lyrics too closely before (I rarely do. Who does?). It takes the form of love letters, with the song itself being the latest in the chain. Well, sort of. Really it's just full of beautiful, impressionistic psychedelic imagery, all clouds and rainbows and colors. Honey, I think your boyfriend is really high! When Otis penned and recorded his original version in 1971, freaky poetry was the trend in soul music, and it has a lot in common with the writing of Jimi Hendrix, Arthur Lee, Sly Stone, etc. and that Prince later revived.
Anyway, Quincy Jones produced The Brothers Johnson's version of "Strawberry Letter 23" as a follow up to their previous hit single "I'll Be Good to You" (1976). It's much richer and poppier than the original, with layers of lush background vocals adding cognac-like warmth, several different keyboard parts, echoey percussion and a funky base line. It's moody sounding, even a little dark, but still kind of romantic and something people might want to dance to. And its has that hook that embeds itself in your consciousness and which nothing short of a trip to the emergency room will remove. It leaves nothing to be desired.
When I listen to it now I find it so freaking good, I kick myself for the kind of adolescent I became. Which is to say a prototype for what I am now, a kind of snob who thinks that the older things are, the better are. That attitude can often prevent you from appreciating wonderful things right in front of you that happen to be brand new. And in this song is a case in point. It's a flipping amazing track. I hope planting it in your head will free me from the seductive demons and transfer their virulence to YOUR auditory system.
No comments:
Post a Comment