Try a Little Tenderness

I was walking around the other day and ran across the Top 100 Singers of All Time on Rolling Stone Magazine.  This title piqued my interest, so I had to look.  Sitting at number eight on the list was Otis Redding.  And there on the picture was Otis on his knees, with a microphone and a cord dangling while Otis was belting out a tune.  Otis was dressed in slacks and a white shirt and was in a cold sweat.  I felt a chill go up my spine.  This picture represented the feeling of passion better than anything I have seen in awhile.  Don't take it from me, take it from Booker T. Jones, famed keyboard artist of Booker T and the MG's regarding his audition the first time they met:

" It didn't seem like an audition at all.  It was a performance. It wasn't the size of his voice - we knew lots of people with vocal powers like that. It was the intent with which he sang.  He was all emotion. It was like, "this guy is definitely not singing for the money." I don't think he ever did."

To me that says it all,  the picture said it all.  As time has evolved and Otis has passed on, we have sayings now that it's all about the money.  Greatness for Otis apparently was never about the money...it was about the joy and the love of his craft, music. 

Today we have so called artists making millions with little or no music training.  I was told there is one man who hangs with a rapper who makes a certain sound and gets paid millions just to make a sound.  In every sense it feels like most of these people are in it for the money.  I don't resent that, but I would say that if there was such a thing as a time machine and Otis could be brought back to 2008, and Otis could be on stage with any contemporary artist, I think he would blow most of them away.  And I believe the contemporary fan would be awed.  Just a concert, no special effects, no garbage, just performing and how good are you really, without the fluff.

One other thing that hit me about the singers in the article was that a big number of them were proficient on musical instruments and knew about key changes and tempo and timing.   

Otis paved the way for artists to come.  It is a shame he left before his time at the young age of 26.  My favorites, Try a Little Tenderness, Respect, Tramp and These Arms of Mine.  But what do I know...I was the guy my friends called "Mr. Pitiful".