Levi Stubbs tribute by Dave Marsh
really real
writing about The Four Tops lead singer, mentioning Dylan twice:
SOMETHING ABOUT YOU…When I was 15, I met the Four Tops on a downtown
Detroit street, where they were doing a photo shoot with the Supremes.
The group—especially Duke Fakir—were extraordinarily kind to a trio of
white kids totally out of their element. I love the Four Tops for that,
but I would have loved them anyway. They are the voice of adolescent
angst and adult heartbreak, the pure, the absolute joy that humans can
take in one another. Call them love songs –I’d say it was more like
lifelines—but call them silly and you’ve branded yourself as a fool.
Phil Spector once said that “Bernadette” was a black man singing
Bob Dylan. The name of that black man was Levi Stubbs. And for those of
you who are Bruce Springsteen fans, go find the Tops greatest album, The
Four Tops Second Album, and listen to “Love Feels Like Fire” and
“Helpless,” two of my alltime Motown tracks (and they weren’t even
singles). You’ll feel the same thing. Those crazed sax breaks are as
close to free jazz as Motown ever let itself come, and they got away
with it there solely because the Tops were such a perfect machine with
the most powerful voice of its time at the fore. I could never figure
out whether Levi was the toughest or the tenderest singer at Motown, so
I finally accepted that he was both.
Yeah, a lot of the Tops is formula Holland Dozier Holland.
Sometimes even I think it’s the Supremes when the intro to “It’s the
Same Old Song” or “Something About You” comes on. So what? To begin
with, HDH created the greatest formula in the history of rock and soul.
Now: Go listen again to “Reach Out” and see if you can think of a
Supremes record that could grab you in the gut that way. It’s the “Like
a Rolling Stone” of soul—with a flute and hand percussion leading the
way! The group always got Eddie Holland’s greatest lyrics (and he the
most under-rated lyricist of the ‘60s) and that’s one.
They got those songs because Levi could sing the most impossible
stuff. Any other soul singer I know would have insisted on editing. The
great, long, image rich lines in “Bermandette” and “Ask the Lonely” were
too long, that they needed more space to really sing. Not Levi. He
charged into those words and wrestled everything out of them, and
somehow, he sounded graceful as he did. “Loving you has made my life
sweeter than ever” is so multisyllabic that they had to shorten it for
the title: “Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever” fit the label better, I guess.
The Tops got away with that as a group because they knew how to
work with such vocal intricacy. By the time they had their first Motown
hit they’d already been together for ten years. Duke told me recently
that their earlier sojourn at Columbia Records in the late ‘50s came
after a brief appearance at the Apollo. The talent scout who signed them
was John Hammond—the same guy who found Bob, Bruce, and Aretha. That’s
the company the Four Tops, and Levi Stubbs, in particular belong in. Who
else could turn “Walk Away Renee” into soul music? Who else could get
away with “7 Rooms of Gloom” as a love song without a hint of irony, let
alone comedy?
I will testify. Levi and the Tops were among the graces of my own
soul. When I get nervous before an interview, I always remember how kind
those guys were to that 15 year old kid, and I feel beyond harm. When I
listen to “The Same Old Song,” I remember once again the sweetness of
sour. “Bernadette” calls to my mind the futility of believing you’re in
control, and how easy it is to confuse passion with obsession. “Reach
Out” is simply as colossal an extravaganza as rock and soul music have
ever produced, as monumental in its way as “Like a Rolling Stone.” The
focal point of all that musical gingerbread and the mighty Funk Brothers
is not the group—it’s one man, Levi Stubbs, pushed not to his limit but
way past it. But there’s not a hint—not a second—where Levi Stubbs
sounds like anything but a guy from down the street, across the way or
in your mirror. Imagine a Pavarotti on the corner. There he is. All of
it helped, somehow, make my own life possible.
This is no case of “Shake Me, Wake Me (When It’s Over).” Levi
Stubbs was 72 years old. He hadn’t been in good health for several
years. This isn’t Marvin Gaye or David Ruffin or Tammi Terrell. This is
a man who made his full contribution to our culture, our lives. That
doesn’t make it all that much easier to hear the word.
At the Tops’ golden anniversary show in Detroit several years ago,
he sang from a wheelchair. “There wasn’t a dry eye in the house,” his
friend and attorney, Judy Tint, told me this afternoon.
Ain’t any in this house today, either.--Dave Marsh
Ron Fowler
regarding Levi and the Tops. Very nice.
President_dudley
> Here's an article by one of my favorite rock writers enthusiastically
> writing about The Four Tops lead singer, mentioning Dylan twice:
>
Thanks for this timely post.
As an aside,
> Those crazed sax breaks are as
> close to free jazz as Motown ever let itself come, and they got away
> with it there solely because the Tops were such a perfect machine with
> the most powerful voice of its time at the fore.
Or perhaps because, i've been led to believe, the horn players on most
Motown recordings were seasoned jazzbos who were stultified by the
banal metronomic simplicities of pop music changes. But i put words
into my mouth.
Like, perhaps, others 'round hear, i came up when top 40 radio not
only existed but also was not so ghettoised, where the Four Tops,
Temps, Martha & the VDs ("black music") shared frequency w/ Beatles,
Stones, Beachboys, Gerry & the Pacemakers & suchlike.
& even some guy named Bob Dylan. Along with a couple Sinatras, a Louis
Armstrong, a Johnny Cash, a Barry Sadler, & even a Bert Kampfart
(sp?), a Dionne Warwick, a Dusty Springfield, and a Partridge Family.
Well, they came later, a little.
So we'd go to the junior hi sock hop & a "black" kid would want the
guy at the turntable to play the Beatles & a "white" kid wd want to
hear The Temps (actually happened if not verbatim). Generally driven
by the same, multi-racial hormonal activity.
That being that, i wdn't know the difference between Levi Stubbs &
Levon Helms if you put a Revolver to my Rubber Soul.
Of course, ya'll hear are welcome to search U2B 4 "Four Tops", but
here's my favourite of theirs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StwKWpMI9R8
Just give me my Sugar Pie-ly yrs,
dudley
Janice
> . . .
> Like, perhaps, others 'round hear, i came up when top 40 radio not
> only existed but also was not so ghettoised, where the Four Tops,
> Temps, Martha & the VDs ("black music") shared frequency w/ Beatles,
> Stones, Beachboys, Gerry & the Pacemakers & suchlike.
> & even some guy named Bob Dylan. Along with a couple Sinatras, a Louis
> Armstrong, a Johnny Cash, a Barry Sadler, & even a Bert Kampfart
> (sp?), a Dionne Warwick, a Dusty Springfield, and a Partridge Family.
> Well, they came later, a little.
> So we'd go to the junior hi sock hop & a "black" kid would want the
> guy at the turntable to play the Beatles & a "white" kid wd want to
> hear The Temps (actually happened if not verbatim). Generally driven
> by the same, multi-racial hormonal activity.
That's how I remember it. Music was the matrix. I think the cross-
over must have started with the jazz bands of the 30's & 40's, where
blacks and whites were mixing it up melding blues and jazz and
swing . . . and EVERYBODY was dancing.
To prove your point, here's a list of 1963 Top Songs from www.acclaimedmusic.net:
(1st # is 1963 ranking, 2nd # is all-time ranking)
1 10 The Kingsmen
Louie Louie
2 13 The Ronettes
Be My Baby
3 25 The Beatles
I Want to Hold Your Hand
4 98 The Beatles
She Loves You
5 163 The Crystals
Da Doo Ron Ron
6 223 Bob Dylan
Blowin' in the Wind
7 240 Johnny Cash
Ring of Fire
8 468 The Beach Boys
Surfin' U.S.A.
9 497 Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto
The Girl from Ipanema
10 525 The Chiffons
He's So Fine
11 597 Martha and The Vandellas
Heatwave
12 649 Roy Orbison
In Dreams
13 746 The Chiffons
One Fine Day
14 792 The Beach Boys
In My Room
15 824 The Surfaris
Wipeout
16 874 The Crystals
Then He Kissed Me
17 1041 The Drifters
On Broadway
18 1050 Peter, Paul and Mary
Blowin' in the Wind
19 1054 The Four Seasons
Walk Like a Man
20 1057 The Beatles
I Saw Her Standing There
21 1082 The Beatles
Please Please Me
22 1122 The Chantays
Pipeline
23 1311 The Jaynettes
Sally, Go 'Round the Roses
24 1323 Bobby Bare
Detroit City
25 1374 Jan and Dean
Surf City
26 1459 Lesley Gore
It's My Party
27 1527 James Brown
Prisoner of Love
28 1623 Sonny Boy Williamsson (II)
Help Me
29 1720 Patsy Cline
Sweet Dreams (Of You)
30 1767 Dick Dale
Misirlou
31 1781 Stevie Wonder
Fingertips
32 1787 Buck Owens
Act Naturally
33 1874 Mongo Santamaria
Watermelon Man
34 1942 The Angels
My Boyfriend's Back
35 1946 The Beatles
Twist and Shout
36 1996 Sam Cooke
Another Saturday Night
37 2032 The Trashmen
Surfin' Bird
38 2078 Garnet Mimms & The Enchanters
Cry Baby
39 2081 Bob Dylan
A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall
40 2105 The Tymes
So Much in Love
41 2122 Bob Dylan
Don't Think Twice, It's All Over
42 2139 Lesley Gore
You Don't Own Me
43 2182 Darlene Love
A Fine Fine Boy
44 2206 Darlene Love
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
45 2236 Dave Dudley
Six Days on the Road
46 2277 Charles Mingus
Track C - Group Dancers
47 2289 The Ronettes
Baby, I Love You
48 2297 Joan Baez
We Shall Overcome
49 2338 The Righteous Brothers
Little Latin Lupe Lu
50 2351 Ray Price
Make the World Go Away
51 2463 Bob Dylan
Masters of War
52 2475 Dave Clark Five
Glad All Over
53 2494 Little Johnny Taylor
Part Time Love
54 2532 Dusty Springfield
I Only Want to Be with You
55 2680 Roy Orbison
Blue Bayou
56 2897 Bob B. Soxx & BlueJeans
Why Do Lovers Break Each Other's Hearts?
57 2920 Doris Troy
Just One Look
58 2939 Bob & Earl
Harlem Shuffle
But where's Brenda Lee?
Here she is, when country and rock crossed over:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baTVZytxs_k&feature=related
and at that sock hop:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvisHwwGkw4
~`~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
President_dudley
On Oct 23, 2:19 pm, Janice <jan...@dixoncreekstudio.com> wrote:
> On Oct 23, 4:31 am, President_dudley <dud...@cloud9.net> wrote:
>
> > . . .
> > Like, perhaps, others 'round hear, i came up when top 40 radio not
{snip irrelevant dudleyBabble}
>
> To prove your point, here's a list of 1963 Top Songs fromwww.acclaimedmusic.net:
>
> (1st # is 1963 ranking, 2nd # is all-time ranking)
>
> 1 10 The Kingsmen
> Louie Louie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0V4NRBQ7as
Here's the original by the guy who wrote it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgWrpCBVL-8
>
{snip 2 thru 57}
>
> 58 2939 Bob & Earl
> Harlem Shuffle
>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDV7VUDdX8M
Here's a cover by a buncha brits:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOkIU8BCxgU
Thanks 1st for the proof, and 2nd for the stroll thru "memory". That
list wd make a heckuva soundtrack, movie to be determined.
> But where's Brenda Lee?
>
> Here she is, when country and rock crossed over:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baTVZytxs_k&feature=related
>
> and at that sock hop:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvisHwwGkw4
>
Brenda Lee, indeed. How old is she in that first clip, like 11?
as to the sock hop, here's the better-known rendering:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCUcbRTB6Rs
& one i didn't know of 'til now... learn something every day, eh?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rYoRaxgOE0
May i have this dance?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuSod8U2AZE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OauMxtbktrU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGBXHCGFOgw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVo0iMfuP7w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL2_zhLs_T4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnGc3mI7YKw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjBOCft7Nbc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FO6uzDn-xnE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTV1lpu9G_c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YSoDaTcH8g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_Bj8wrXslk
Don't get me wrong. I'm sure Kids today, kids 30 years prior to me,
kids 30 years hence, feel similar.
All boils down to the common hormonal activity.
That said, Levi, requiescat in pace.
Be well, stay strong, and pay very close attention,
dudley
> ~`~
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~