In the darkest night, one can always find some hope. This is the title track to a comeback album from the King of Soul. You can listen to him sing, preach, beg his woman and his audience for one more chance:
If I fall short
If I don’t make the grades
If your expectations aren’t met in me
There is always tomorrow or tomorrow night
Hang in there, baby
Sooner or later, I know I’ll get it right
Change always starts with admitting our mistakes, our failures and is there a more profound confession than Burke singing:
I know, I know I was wrong
Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong
And yet, and yet, no matter how dark, no matter how far down we fall, there is always hope. He pleads, “don’t give up on me.” He needs that hope, the possibility that love can arise from the ashes.
The big man passed on a Monday morning in 2010 while on route to a concert in Amsterdam. Learning of his death, my then 17-year-old son asked why it wasn’t big news, why aren’t the flags at half-mast. He suggested a train like Lincoln’s carrying the body around the country.
My son only knows the greatness of the songs. Not the meandering career, the early gospel songs, the early 60’s disks with Atlantic records, the wanderings for nearly three decades until the audience caught up with this King of Soul and his release of his album Don’t Give Up on Me where he covers songs written by Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Brian Wilson, Van Morrison and others.
As much a myth as he is a man, Burke’s biography tells of how his grandmother – Mother Moore – foresaw her grandson’s birth and established a church – Solomon’s Temple – several years before his birth. Like many myths, Burke’s origins are hard to pin down. He claims to have been born upstairs from a church or even in the church, his first wails mingling in perfect unison with the choir. He was born in 1936, 1938, or 1940; take a choice. None of it matters, as long as we have the music.
#Songoftheday #spreadinghappiness #solomanburke #hope #love
YouTube: https://youtu.be/tbvZ6CawWEY?si=6DG9fvPbv0FnE4MQ
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/4A11HoXH8oIUfWtJaTE34T?si=47eb20c778a543ed