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Can a voice say more than just words alone? Yes, and evidently this album is proof of that.
Far from the showmanship of James Brown, close to the intimate vocal style of some Ray Charles songs, but with an even more soulful voice, Otis Redding made soul a universal language. A voice that sings of love and loneliness, fears and fleeting joys: the poetry is all in the voice, in modulating it according to the spirit of each song, and Otis Redding's voice shines when a sort of counterpoint is played by a solitary trumpet, now piercing, now dancing, in an irresistible game of exchanges and returns.
There are eleven songs: his own are Ole Man Trouble, Respect (made immortal by Aretha Franklin), and I've Been Loving You Too Long. The others are interpretations of other artists' hits, with a tribute to his master Sam Cooke. The first masterpiece is the interpretation of Cooke's A Change is Gonna Come: after an intro by the usual trumpet, the voice bursts with sweetness on the first verse, and then drags almost indolently and resignedly to the end, accompanied by bass, elemental drums, and the brass's jolts. The second is I've Been Loving You Too Long: here Otis Redding's voice reaches the apex of its poetry, following more or less the same scheme as A Change is Gonna Come, with the trumpet as a faithful companion. The lyrics are simple, ended loves, youth regrets; it is the voice that amplifies their power and density to the maximum.
Shake (another tribute to Cooke) is a pleasant, rhythmic, and frenetic interlude that precedes the third masterpiece: My Girl. It is the most relaxed track, a breath of fresh air, which gently brings us closer to the liveliest part of the LP: Wonderful World, Rock Me Baby, and Satisfaction. The former is Cooke's famous and fun ode to love, in spite of everything else, interpreted by Otis Redding with priceless irony. Rock Me Baby is by B.B. King (and it shows) while the surprise is the version of the Rolling Stones' Satisfaction: as wild as the original, brass in great form and voice hysterical just enough. The album closes beautifully with a true soul piece: You Don't Miss Your Water by William Bell. The way of interpreting it is well-known, but one never tires of listening to it.
Otis Redding died on the same day (December 10, 67) his master Sam Cooke was killed three years earlier. A plane crash. He was only 26 years old.
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
02 Respect (02:09)
What you want, honey you got it
And what you need, baby you got it
All I'm askin' is for a little respect when I come home
Hey now, hey hey hey, yeah now
Do me wrong honey, if you wanna
You can do me wrong, honey while I'm gone
But all I'm askin' is for a little respect when I come home
Hey now, hey hey hey, yeah now
Hey little girl, you're so sweeter than honey
And I'm about to give you all my money
But all I'm askin', hey
Is a little respect when I get home
Hey little girl, you're so sweeter than honey
And I'm about to give you all my money
But all I'm askin', hey
Is a little respect when I get home
Respect is what I want
Respect is what I need
03 A Change Is Gonna Come (04:20)
I was born by a river in this little old tent
Oh just like this river I've been running ever since
It's been a long, long time coming
But I know, but I know a change is gotta come
Oh yes it is
On my!
It's been too hard living, oh my
And I'm afraid to die
I don't know what's up there
Beyond the clouds
It's been a long long time coming
But I know, but I know a change is gotta come
Oh yes it is
On my!
There was a time I would go to my brother
I asked my brother, "Will you help me please?"
He turned me down and then I ask my dear mother, oh
I said "Mother!"
I said "Mother! I'm down on my knees"
It's been a time that I thought
Lord this couldn't last for very long
But somehow I thought I was still able to try to carry on
It's been a long, long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come
Oh, yes it is
Just like I said, I went to my little bitty brother, my littele brother
I asked my brother "Brother help me please?"
He turned me down and then I go to my little mother, my dear mother
I said "Mother!"
I said "Mother! I'm down on my knees"
But there was a time that I thought
Lord this couldn't last for very long
But somehow I thought I was still able to try to carry on
It's been a long, long time coming
But I know, but I know a change is gotta come
Oh yes it will
So tired of standing by myself
You know that I know that a change is gotta come
04 Down in the Valley (02:59)
Down in the valley, ha
In the valley so low, wowow
Hang your hair over your shoulder
And you can hear the four winds blow, now, oh my
Now can't you hear the wind blow my love, ha
Can't you hear the wind blow, wowowowow, ha, ha
We're down in the valley, ha
In the valley so low, now, ha
Now have you ever been lonely, lonely, ha
Now have you ever been sad
Did you ever really need someone, oh my
Who really needed bad fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa
Ha Gotta, gotta, gotta, ha, too much, ooh yeah
Help me baby, gotta get in the groove
So too much, ooh yeah
It was down in the valley
In the valley so low
It was when I held-a you so tight
How can I ever let you go, go, go, go, ooh now
Now it was down, down, down, down, down, down, down
In the valley so low, ooh my
When I held-a baby you so tight, now
How can I ever let you go, now
Ah, good God
Too much, too much, too much groovin' now
Too much, gotta
Down in the valley
We're down in the valley
So low, so low, we can't go no further
We're down, we're down too much
Gotta groovin', groovin', groovin'
Gotta, we can't, we can't, we can't, we can't, we can't, we can't, we can't
Go no further, now
Gotta, gotta, good god almighty we gotta, gotta
Groovin', groovin', groovin'
Too much grippem
Watch it, watch it, watch it
Gotta, a good time we're havin'
We gotta, gotta keep on, keep on groovin'...
06 Shake (02:40)
Shake!
[Everybody say it!] Shake!
[Early in the morning] Shake!
[Late in the evening] Shake!
[In the midnight hour] Shake!
[When the time's going bad, now] Shake!
Shake with the FEELING!
Shake with the FEELING!
Listen while I'm talkin' to you now
Tell you what I'm gonna do now
There's a new thing going around now
I'll tell what to put down now
You move your body all around
And just shake
Thats the way you do it Shake, Shake, Shake it baby
Shake it like a bowl of soup
Let your body loop de loop
Put your hands on your hip
Come on and let your backbone slip
Move your body like your hip
And just shake!
Shake early in the morning
Shake early in the evening
A Ring-A-Ling-a-Ling
Honey, Shakin' is the greatest thing
But if you really roll Gotta do the thing with SOUL!
Shake shake with all your might now
If you do it, do it right now
Put your hands on your hip,yeah
Come on and let your backbone slip
Move your body like your hip
And just shake
[God have mercy now!]
Early in the morning
Early in the evening All night long, y'all!
If you really want to roll
Gotta do the thing with SOUL!
Shake shake with all your might
If you do it, do it right
Let your body loop de lite
Shake!
Everybody say it, Shake!
One more time, Shake!
Everybody louder, Shake!
One more time, now, say Shake!
Everybody a bit louder, Shake!
07 My Girl (02:54)
I've got sunshine on a cloudy day
And it's cold outside, I've got the month of May
I guess you'd say
What can make, ooh, me feel this way?
It's my girl
Talkin' 'bout my girl
I've got so much loving, the bees envy me
I've got a sweeter song that I can sing, than the birds in the trees
I guess you will say
Ooh, what can make me feel this way?
It's my girl
Talkin' 'bout my girl, ooh
Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
Ooooh, yeah
I don't need no money, all I need is my fame
I've got all the riches baby one big man can claim
I guess you'd say
Ooh, "What can make you feel this way?"
My girl
Talkin' 'bout my girl
I've got sunshine on a cloudy day with my girl
I've even got the month of May with my, my, my girl
Talkin' 'bout, talkin' 'bout, talkin' 'bout
08 Wonderful World (03:08)
Don't know much about history
Don't know much about biology
Don't know much about a science book
Don't know much about the French I took
What I do know that I love you
And I know that if you love me too
What a wonderful world this would be
Don't know much about geography
Don't know much trigonometry
Don't know much about algebra
Don't know what a slide rule is for
What I do know, one and one is two
And if this one could be with you
What a wonderful world this would be
Now, I don't plan to be an A student
But I'm trying to be
For maybe by being an A student, baby
I can win your love for me
Don't know much about history, now
Don't know much about biology
I don't know much about the science book
Don't know much about the good French I took, oh
What I do know that I love you
And I wonder if you love me too
What a wonderful world this could be
Good God, I don't plan to be an A student
But I'm trying to be
For maybe by being an A student, baby
I can win your love for me
Don't know much about geography
Don't know much trigonometry
Don't know much about algebra
Don't know what a good slide rule is for
But I do know, one and one is two
And if this one could be with you
What a wonderful world this would be
Cha, cha, cha, cha, cha
I've been trying, I've been trying, I've been trying
10 Satisfaction (02:46)
I can't get no satisfashion
I can't get no satisfashion
I have tried, I have tried
I have tried, I have tried
I can't get me no, ha, ha
I can't get no, uh, now
When I'm driving in my car
And the man talks on the radio
Keep tellin' me more and more
About that useless information
He's tryin' to mess up my imagination
And I can't get me no, no, no
And I can't get me no
Hey, hey, hey, what I say
You gotta, gotta, gotta groovy
We gotta have it, we gotta have it
We gotta have it, we gotta have it
Keep on grooving, keep on grooving
We keep on grooving, God, no, my, yeah
I can't get no satisfashion
I can't get no, no satisfashion
I have tried, I have tried
I have tried, I have tried, tried, tried
I can't get me no, no, no
And I can't get me no, no, no, no
We gotta groove it, groove it, oh my now
We keep on knockin', knockin' baby, yeah
Ow, gotta, gotta have it
We gotta, keep, keep, ah
Whatever, why won't you wait for time
This little girl is tryin' to put me down
I keep on runnin' round in my sleep
I keep on messin' up any beat
I keep on rockin', I try to find me
Somebody to love me
And give me some reaction
And I can find nobody, no, no, nobody
Give me no faction, faction
Faction got to have it
Satisfaction, we got to have it
Satisfaction, earlier in the morning
Satisfaction, later in the evening
Satisfaction, and don't make my
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