Ain't no sunshine when it's dark......

August 21, 2017, the beloved Bill Withers was still among us.  What say, Victor, was August 21, 2017?  Well, I'm so very glad you asked. The TMI version is, my girlfriend had just told me to Hit The Road Jack, so it was uh huh, dark.. but the MI version is, it was the solar eclipse.

I was going to TRY to post a funny ha-ha version about a name I could never find (as to whointhehell invented those dollar-a-pair cheapy glasses that you HAD to wear, danger danger Will Robinson, or you'd be blinded for life.)  And I would enter funny ha-ha's name that had made his millions in two months time and retired somewhere just South of San Diego but again, I never found any attribution to an inventor.  Or, that the guy who sold two kajillion COUNTERFEIT glasses, is still being sought by the FBI (Fake Bifocal Item patrol).. just kidding.  There were counterfeit glasses, and it's assured someone made a mint, but none of this, well, kinda sorta, has anything to do with "Ain't no sunshine when it's dark."

Bill Withers, may he rest in peace, was still among us at the time of the eclipse. I thought it would be cool, perfectly timed. if he would re-do his song (Ain't no sunshine when she's gone) to Ain't no sunshine when it's dark. I guess you had to be there. Sorry.

I loved me some Bill Withers.  Googling about him, I've yet to come across a picture where he's not smiling.  To me, that's a life well lived. Sure, moments of no sunshine, but "I'll be damned, I'm gonna smile anyways."  You tell 'em Bill, I'll pat ma' foot.

All humans are, of course, human.  In reading about Mr. Bill (Oh No, not to be confused with...oh, nevermind).. he was a regular ole regular guy before he was famous (and during and after too!)

Go to Wiki and read up on him if you tire of my writing (Wouldn't blame you) or, try to keep one eye open as we continue here.  He was born in Slab Fork, West Virginia in 1938.  To which, one day after 9 Grammy nominations (3 wins), millions and millions of records sold, two Hall of Fames (Songwriters and Rock and Roll) he would say "Not bad for a guy from Slab Fork, West Virginia."

I love stories of 'overcoming' and that he did.  He was born with a stutter, of course children would make fun, and he had a hard time fitting in. (Please scroll to his wonderful "You'll never keep a smile off of my face" life approach.) He was only 13 when his father passed. At 17, he enlisted in the US Navy, and served nine years.  'Twas there he gained an interest in singing and writing songs.  i wonder how many are out there today who can say "Hey, I was on a ship with that guy, and he usedta bring his guitar into my berthing compartment and sing. Man, I could tell then he was pretty good."

He left the Navy in 1965 and headed to LA with music ambition.  But first (Victor, there you go with that starting a sentence with 'But' again, you can't do that!)  But first, he was "you and I" as in, a regular ole regular guy, and worked for Douglas Aircraft, IBM and Ford.

He'd play clubs.. he'd record things, send demo tapes using his own bucks... and finally a record label signed him.  Boom, Booker T. Jones was assigned to produce his first album... Boom 2, Stephen Stills played lead guitar on it... and if you ever peek at the album cover (Just As I Am) he's pictured at this job at Weber Aircraft in Burbank, California, holding his lunchbox.  He was literally, 'you and I'.

The album was, of course, a hit.  Without saying "Take this job and shove it" he took that job and shoved it, went on the road. "Ain't No Sunshine" won a Grammy in 1972.  Yum, I love that song.

In what little I know about the music industry, arguments between artist and the companies that sign them are pretty much the norm.  Such was the case will Bill and Sussex Records. So, for some time, a legal dispute kept him from recording.  So, still smiling, he "ha ha, lookey at what I did" wrote two songs for Gladys Night and The Pips, and performed a concert in Zaire with James Brown, Etta James and BB King a just prior to the infamous Rumble in The Jungle in Zaire between George Foreman and Muhammad Ali. Oh to be a mouse in the pocket on that trip.

He ultimately left Sussex, signed with Columbia... many years later they were on the outs.. he pretty much gave up music for a long time.  "Finding musical success later in life than most, at 32, he said he was socialized as a 'regular guy' who had a life before the music, so he did not feel an inherent need to keep recording once he fell out of love with the industry."  There it goes again, that ringing a bell of 'you and I'. Basically, a guy.  A pretty darn cool guy.

"With "Lovely Day", he set the record for the longest sustained note on a hit on American charts, holding a high E for 18 seconds" surpassing by two seconds my ex girlfriends "Geeetttttttttttt Ouuuuuuuttttt", jk.............................. kinda.

The New York Times wrote "the ultimate homespun hitmaker, he had an innate sense of what might make a song memorable, and little interest in excess attitude or accoutrements. *(<-whateverinthehell that word means.. eh, I never could do their crossword puzzles either.) "Ultimately Withers reminded us that it’s the everyday that is the most meaningful: work, family, love, loss."  There, THERE NY Times, finally something I understand.

Mr. Withers wrote songs we could relate to.  Grandma's Hands, yum, my fav. (If so inclined, youtube the live version, double yum, he's good.)  Bill was 81 when he passed in 2020.

In keeping with the ain't no sunshine theme, 5 buddies and I attended the Negro Leagues Museum yesterday. (If you've ever had an itch to go, do so this month, February, as John Sherman and The Kansas City Royals are buying your ticket, ie, admission free). It's God awful, awfully good, so to speak.  There is a miniature ballfiield with LIFESIZE statues of famous Negro League Players.  Walking out among them, even though they were statues, I had a hard time looking them in the eye.  Shame on us. Before we keel, may life put an eraser on inequality.

Ain't no sunshine when it's dark.

Love, Victurd