They are all going away. Your own mortality becomes more and more real. With this virus and natural aging you wonder how much longer YOU will be around. For those of us who time line our lives with music, when one of the ones from our teenage years leaves, it really hurts.
Bill Withers died on March 30th of heart problems. I wasnt yet old enough to drive so I had to ride along with buddies in 1971. The radio was on and now and then you could actually hear a song over the talking teens. The summer of 1971 was heavy on singer songwriters like Carole Kings monster album Tapestry and James Taylor and the last remnants of Janis Joplin. Brown Sugar and its killer opening riff always made the talking stop and the air guitars kick in. And the weird ones that always appealed to me. Chicago by Graham Nash, Mercy Mercy Me by Marvin Gaye, Sweet Hitchhiker the last gasp of CCR, Riders on the Storm by Jim, Liar by Three Dog Night recorded in a bathroom, and the Diana Ross less Supremes kicking it with the psychedelic Nathan Jones.
Then one day I heard Aint No Sunshine. Depressing, blue, and a guy with a guitar. What more do you need? The absolutely perfect timing of an entire verse of "I know I know I know.........". This song hit home with this undiagnosed manic depressive. Who was this Bill Withers dude?
Bill Withers was a Navy veteran who decided to write songs on an acoustic guitar. And write songs he did. My god, what a genius.
Lean on Me is his masterpiece. Still relevant. Still used as a song to get people through tough times. Theres help out there and plenty of people to lean on.
But it was the 1972 song Use Me that I really dug with its bass line and suggestive lyrics. Then in the 80s it was Just the Two Of Us and then Bill Withers said enough is enough and basically quit talking.
He went into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015.
He went into my Hall of Fame the first moment I heard Aint No Sunshine. Love ya Bill Withers. You made my life better.
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