soul serenade
Sax this summer has been unusually good, so I naturally got thinking of King Curtis and “Soul Serenade”.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=mdphU9Z1HBM]
Curtis was murdered 26 years ago this week (differing sources put the date as August 13 or August 14), and at his funeral, his band played an hour long version of “Soul Serenade”. This is a song you’ll hear teased on the Hicks tour from time to time, but one of the sweetest times I heard it was with his old band, on the 2006 shadow tour Denver stop, with Jeff Lopez doing sweet work on sax.
Looking around, I ran across this. I imagine you’ll recognize it, but as you go away in your head, see if something else wanders into it with you:[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=5NwIPi41uw0]
Here’s what happened to me on first listen: by the time I was a few bars in, I realized that my head was singing something other than “A Change is Gonna Come” - something else really familiar and “right” was playing between my ears - the groove, the harmony - everything fit, but it wasn’t “Change”. It took me a minute to tell what my head was singing. Then I realized it was “Somehow” - the Hicks original. I never connected those songs, given the way Hicks sang “Change” the one time I heard it, but “Somehow” fits Curtis’ groove on that song like glove. If you didn’t hear it the first time, listen again and think of “Somehow”. Am I imagining things? (well, yes, of course, that’s just what I was doing, but you know what I mean) Anyway, in case you need a reminder:[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/BK5-hp0nO68]
Performance request, if you’re taking them, Mr. Hicks: Somehow, with a Change is Gonna Come overlay by Gallagher, or twist them together however you think they might fit.
categories: music
posted by what at 01:30 am
I can hear a little bit of “Change is Gonna Come” in “Somehow.” I think the meter (time signature) is different so it’s gonna require a little bending.
That was the first time seeing the “Somehow” video. Was it just me or was there too much showboating from the drummer and the bassist at the song’s climax? Upon second listen/viewing, I can see the flute and hear the piano going nuts also. Hm, peculiar arrangement.
(starting from “look at those people around you”)
some songs were just meant to be sung sittin’ on a stool.
Thanks for the King Curtis.
I’ll have to give the comparison some thought.
I never had a problem with the new-ish up-tempo section of Somehow, but have grown to like it more and more. I LOVED it in Biloxi (I think) when there was a piano solo too. It seemed to give Gallagher more flute time during the uptempo section, which I liked. I can’t remember if the piano solo supplanted or replaced the sax. I’d hate to lose the sax but the piano and then more flute were great.
Being more of an instrumental lover than a vocal lover, I am lovin’ the King Curtis numbers.
Brian Gallagher could do a great job of this by keeping it gentle yet dynamic and Taylor has the chops to carry off the vocals
How cool would that combination be !!!
malisa, pretty sure the piano solo replaced the sax in the Biloxi arrangement of Somehow. My impression was that being cued for the solo was something of a surprise to Loren, although I could have misread.Arrangement-wise, I agree it did make for a nice seque into the up-tempo portion of the song - a smoother flow. Still, given the choice, I’ll take the sax. It just seems to belong in this song.
Can’t view the vids at work, but looking forward to the King Curtis. Am already hearing Somehow with a little tagging of Change in my head.
A little bending, Spoons, but this Change, once he gets out of the intro, has that 12/8 blues swing that Hicks uses on Somehow. I’ve had this playing in my head all day, voice and sax, Somehow and Change, melody and countermelody, thrust and parry. Forget the ostinato on this one, I want a fugue.
Ha-HA! rhythmically, that King Curtis instrumental IS a slight departure from the Sam Cooke original.
(I feel like it switches again to a different time sig with about 40 seconds remaining. but anyhow…)
now the meat of the song, very deliberate and a step dragging in that bluesy swing, just like Somehow.
beautiful.