Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five Bonus Edition: A Tribute to Billy Paul

As if losing Prince on Thursday wasn't hard enough, now one of my favorite soul singers in Philly native Billy Paul has passed away at the age of 81.  For years, I only knew about three songs of his--one of which was his most popular in the 1972 across-the-board smash hit, "Me And Mrs. Jones".  However, around the time that my fascination with everything Philly soul began in 2003, that's when I doubled up and purchased two of his greatest hits albums because 1) many of his full-length albums were either hard to find or out of print and 2) one album had one or two more songs that the other didn't.  Although he had a very unique delivery, his jazzy style on songs like "Ebony Woman", "Love Buddies", "Let's Fall In Love All Over Again" and "There's a Small Hotel" always put me in the mindset of smoky nightclubs, stiff drinks and a grand piano.  Spending the first 13 years of his recording career working with legendary producers Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff, they crafted their sound around what he did best and didn't try to make his music sound too much like the rest of the Philadelphia International Records roster.  That's a huge amount of the reason why I fooled with him so tough because he wasn't like anyone else that they had in their stable of greatness.  So to pay tribute to his legacy, I present an impromptu "Rave & Favorite Five" celebrating Paul's music...

#5 "I THINK I'LL STAY HOME TODAY" (Let 'Em In, Philadelphia International, 1976).  The common theme with three out of the five featured songs in this tribute is the beauty of hip hop.  First hearing 9th Wonder's smack-your-momma-in-the-mouth drums on Memphis Bleek's "Smoke the Pain Away", I immediately jumped up when I heard the sample and said, "Hey, I know this song!"  That's what made me appreciate it even more than I did when I first purchased Me and Mrs. Jones: The Best of Billy Paul.  A second reason has to do with the fact that the song just makes you want to be lazy with the one you love as Billy lays down the vocals smooth and simple that encourage you to do just that.  The third and most important reason why this song is on the list is because of the musical brilliance of composer Dexter Wansel.  If you know "Theme From the Planets" or The Jones Girls' classic "Nights Over Egypt", then you're more than familiar with his work as his compositions always make me feel like jazz meets funk meets the Space Shuttle.  At about the 4:17 mark of "I Think I'll Stay Home Today", the music tells the journey of being whisked away while floating higher and higher on the clouds of ecstasy and making love on the rings of Saturn or in a nondescript room on the Starship Enterprise.  So why would you want to go anywhere again if this is playing?!?!  Yeah...I didn't think so...

#4 "LET'S MAKE A BABY" (When Love Is New, Philadelphia International, 1975).  About three or four years before R. Kelly came out with "Half on a Baby" is when I first recalled hearing this song on The Original Quiet Storm one night while just lounging around.  I know that I giggled like the slightly immature teenager that I was and did a few double takes when I heard some of the Gamble & Huff-penned lyrics..."Come on, come on, let's make a baby"..."Don't be shy, don't be shy, let's be fruitful and multiply"..."Let's do it, let's do it, let's do it, let's do it"...I'm sitting at the radio like, "Is this guy for real?!?!"  Apparently, the lyrics were labeled as "obscene" and "negative" along with other songs at the time like Hall & Oates' "Rich Girl" and The Four Tops' "Catfish", leading Rev. Jesse Jackson and Operation PUSH to call for a ban and/or alteration of these songs.  Funny...I didn't know that tastefully asking a woman to have a child with him, wanting to put "wisdom in his head" and teach him to "walk around with his head up tall" was such a bad thing--especially when you have so many absentee fathers.  Leave it to Jesse.  Whole time, I dug Paul's candor as well as the late, great Bobby Martin's musical arrangements as he used P.I.R.'s house orchestra, M.F.S.B., to his advantage with a dreamy Rhodes, an inviting guitar, lavish strings and seductive congas to make some FRFR baby-making music.  Years later as an adult, I would play this song for various girlfriends (usually while riding around, not during "extracurricular activities") and they'd giggle just as much at the lyrics as I did as a young bull.  Whole time, I'm sure that one or two were probably were thinking, "But for real...come on, come on," while I was thinking, "I'm good, I'm good".  Love the song though...that cranks for sure.

#3 "WHEN LOVE IS NEW" (When Love Is New, Philadelphia International, 1975).  Although I first heard "When Love Is New" around the same period of my life as "Let's Make a Baby", I always think about my road trips to and from Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn riding along the Belt Parkway.  Being the last song on the aforementioned greatest hits compilation right after "I Think I'll Stay Home Today", I would always be in a zone and ready for this song by the time it played.  Although it's ironic that I'm so far removed from that particular relationship, the sentiment of this song is always fresh.  Once again combining the jazzy soul of Billy Paul, the arrangements of Bobby Martin and the writing of Gamble & Huff, Paul once again comes smooth: "When love is new...everyday's a new sensation...when love is new...you're thrilled with infatuation...when love is born...it's so warm...soft...and tender...everybody's willing to surrender...when love is new."  There isn't a person alive or who has ever walked the face of the earth, claimed to have ever been in love and hasn't felt exactly like that.  Nothing fancy to those lyrics whatsoever, but when love is new, it sure as heck feels that way.

#2 "WAR OF THE GODS" (War of the Gods, Philadelphia International, 1973).  So in Part 2 of the Billy Paul Hip Hop Trifecta, I first became familiar with "War of the Gods" through Ludacris' "War With God" from Release Therapy--which was one of my favorite tracks on that album largely because of the sample.  If it weren't for being the music geek that I am, checking out the album credits, seeing that it was a Billy Paul sample and searching high and low for the original, then I would have never discovered one of the greatest achievements in music that I've ever heard in my life.  From the opening tap, you know that something magnificent and epic is on the horizon as it begins by cleverly utilizing more synthesizers than typically associated with early Bobby Martin arrangements or Gamble & Huff productions.  Even with as hauntingly gorgeous and dramatic of a build-up as I've ever experienced, the 2:38 mark is when the goosebumps rise on my arms every time and my attention is sealed for the next seven minutes and change.  Lyrically, this is among Gamble & Huff's best work as Paul stirs up the soul and vocally translates the spiritual crossfire that mankind has been caught in forever and a day: "Lucifer, oh Lucifer/God of evil, you're the god of hate/We see you every day/Father of the lie/You made man die/When the light shines, you run and hide/The darkness is where you find your life."  I could easily sell you all on how dope the beat switch is, which calls to mind Santana's "Oye Como Va".  However, I'm still stuck on how Paul sings "Lucifer, oh Lucifer"...I promise that he will never hear his name sung like that--although placed into its proper context, it's followed by plenty of denouncement.  As perfect as this song is, it still doesn't hold the same weight as...

#1 "LET THE DOLLAR CIRCULATE" (When Love Is New, Philadelphia International, 1975).  Completing the BPHHT--because everything is better as an acronym and you know it--I remember being at a Lamond Community Day celebration in 2008, about to hook up a mean burnt hot dog from the grill and hearing Young Jeezy's "Circulate" play over the speakers.  I stopped mid-mustard-squeeze and was like, "Whoa, what's this?!?!"  As soon as I heard Billy Paul's voice in the sample, I said, "I need to find this instrumental ASAP!"  Unfortunately, the only one that I could find was yet another 9th Wonder beat and although it utterly banged, it wasn't exactly what I wanted because I just liked what Don Cannon did a little more.  So what does Dirk do when he can't get exactly what he wants?  Simple: he turns nothing into something, i.e., I found the original, took the instrumental parts that I wanted and made my own loop.  The end result: click here and find out.  (Yes...that is a shameless plug, but it's a part of my story with this song.  Work with a brother.)  

As for the original, it's just amazing.  The first two bars of those drums immediately catch my attention.  Those commanding horns make a grand entrance, eventually giving way to those signature string arrangements, once again assisted by Bobby Martin.  In one of the rare occasions when Paul sings his own lyrics, he talks about the sign of the times: "City with millions going broke/Industries polluting the air with smoke/Politicians talking crazy/Workers being so lazy/Is it all because of Watergate?/Please...let the dollar circulate."  Sans Watergate, that really doesn't sound too much different than Detroit and its financial troubles, the Flint water crisis and Trump's vow to "make America great again".  Although I thoroughly enjoy "War of the Gods" a little more from a musical perspective, I can listen to "Let the Dollar Circulate" even more frequently because of the sum of all parts.

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Now I know some of y'all might be thinking, "Dang...how come you didn't have his most famous song on this list?"  Simple: as much as I absolutely love a classic like "Me And Mrs. Jones"--a song that transports me back to riding around with my dad--I have listened to enough of his music on my own that I just enjoy a little more.  Heck, it was difficult leaving out other favorites like "Black Wonders of the World", "Am I Black Enough For You", "I Was Married", "This Is Your Life" and any of the aforementioned songs in my introduction.  Although most people are more familiar with the notable members of P.I.R.'s heyday in the 1970s like Teddy Pendergrass, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes, The O'Jays and Lou Rawls, Paul had quite an extensive catalog and left behind a vault of great music covering a wide range of topics for the casual listener and the avid fan of his music alike to unveil and enjoy for years to come.  Rest in Paradise, Billy Paul...

If you're as much of a fan of Billy Paul's music as I am and know more than just "Me And Mrs. Jones", then please feel free to drop some of your favorite songs of his in the comments!