~Wikipedia
Happy Poetry Friday! I heard recently that the Library of Congress added the latest "Sound Recordings of the Year" to their National Recording Registry, including songwriter and singer Bill Withers' Ain't No Sunshine.
Mr. Withers was inspired to write Ain't No Sunshine by a movie! (Days of Wine and Roses, I think)
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone
And this house just ain't no home
Anytime she goes away
Bill Withers sounded amazing live. Take a listen:
He didn't write very many songs. I can't remember exactly how he put it, but he said he wrote just enough that he had one when he needed it.
Bill Withers also said, upon being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: "What few songs I wrote during my brief career, there ain't a genre that somebody didn't record them in. I'm not a virtuoso, but I was able to write songs that people could identify with. I don't think I've done bad for a guy from Slab Fork, West Virginia." He thought being from West Virginia encouraged him to write Lean on Me because rural people were more likely to help each other.
About writing Lovely Day:
"The way [co-writer] Skip was, every day was just a lovely day. He was an optimist. If I had sat down with the same music and my collaborator had been somebody else with a different personality, it probably would have caused something else to cross my mind lyrically."
From Just the Two of Us:
We look for love, no time for tears
Wasted water's all that is
And it don't make no flowers grow
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Reflections on the Teche has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Margaret!
9 comments:
Thank you for this reminiscence on Bill Withers' songs/poetry. Such iconic songs!
Tabatha, thanks for making me think about how place inspires writing, and how the mood of those around us affects our work! I remember hearing "Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone" a LOT when I was a kid. We must've had the album or single or something.
I found myself singing the tunes to every one of the songs you mentioned. So true that his work is iconic. Thank you.
Tabatha, this was special to read about Bill Withers. I didn't realize he had few songs. I know, and love, the ones you share here. I like the background stories, and I too enjoyed the powerful novel Days of Wine and Roses, so how impressive that he wrote "Ain't No Sunshine" in response to that movie. His reason for writing "Lean on Me" reminded me of Demon Copperhead, which there was a similar theme about rural people helping each other. Thanks for this post, Tabatha.
Gosh, these are some of my favorite songs! Fun! I feel like this about my poetry: "he said he wrote just enough that he had one when he needed it." :)
Oh I love this! And what a treasure the LOC is for preserving these for future generations.
I love his voice, and Lean On Me is one I play often and send to others often. We need each other.
Tabatha, I read your post a few days ago but as usual fell asleep when the comment was to be placed. I always was a fan of Ain't No Sunshine so thanks for the news about the song's entry into the Library of Congress' Sound Recording of the Year. Bill Withers deserves recognition also. I enjoyed the short music event at your post.
Music can be such a soothing balm, thanks for sharing some of his iconic songs here Tabatha!
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