OH ETTA, BABY! I FORGIVE YOU!

A good soul song should feel like a great big ole sonic hug, given to you by the elderly all-knowing black relative you wished you always had (of course if you do have one of these, than you know what I'm talking about).   

At work we were looking for a song to replace Etta James' Don't Cry Baby.  I had never heard the song, so I had to look up.  I found Don't Cry Baby on itunes and listened to it and my system was thrown into shock.  Her soulful voice cut through the thick lifeless air that was permeating through my office.  I'm usually at level 4 when I'm at work.  What I do isn't brain surgery, so why bother operating at 10, especially when no one is watching. 

Her song comes on, and immediately I'm transported to some weird Blues listening land, where your shoulders start swaying, neck starts bopping, and you immediately feel compelled to put on your best Jazz-face.  Jazz-face, as Robbie Williams would say, is that face you make when you smell one of your own farts, you're both disgusted and secretly enjoying the smell.

I'll admit that I did start to get teary eyed. Hearing Etta James sing, "Don't cry, don't cry baby," well, it made me want to cry.  It felt like she was singing that song directly to me.  She was apologizing for treating me so bad, she didn't mean it, but I wanted to give her smile to let her know, that it was OK, that I still loved her, that I forgive her, and that I think this marriage counseling bullshit is actually working for a change.  Of course the phone rings and smacks you right back into reality.  As usual I have to lower the iTunes and I am forced to eavesdrop on the telephone call in the other room.

Anyway, so yeah, that's what a good soul song should sound like.  Something that gets you "right there" (other people's "right there's" are in different places.  Mine goes right under the rib cage and up the chest cavity to your heart.  When something gets me good, it gets me right there). 

I guess since I've been rambling about Etta James you're thinking I'm going to leave you with some, but that'd be too obvious.  Here are a pair of almost obscure soul songs that have been sampled by two of my favorite DJ's:  DJ Shadow and RJD2.   

• Marion Black  Who Knows
• RJD2  Smoke & Mirrors

Marion Black's song can be found on numerous compilations and soundtracks, but for a good one, I'd click here / Click here to get RJD2's Deadringer, one my most favorite albums in the world.  He's got samples a-plenty on here, but my favorite is the Elliott Smith sample of, I Didn't Understand on the song Ghostwriter. 

• Colonel Bagshot  Six Day War
• DJ Shadow  Six Days (Soulwax Remix)

There's not that much information on Colonel Bagshot, almost nothing at all. Good luck.  The only thing I was able to scrounge up, and this may not be right, is that they are a 1971 Liverpool psychedelic group with their only release, What a Lovely War, put out on Cadet Records. / You can get the original DJ Shadow version of Six Days on his last proper release Private Press. / You can get the Soulwax remix on a reworking of Private Press, called Private Repress. / Is there a relation to 1967 Arab-Israeli War, otherwise known as the Six Days' War?  I dunno.

Comments

[Aaron Swartz]

The Marion Black links seem to be broken. I'm desperate for an MP3 of "Who Knows".

[Shinybeast]

Colonel Bagshot info...

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=107891388