靈魂歌手Fontella Bass 去世

1965年以熱門排行榜第4名暢銷曲Rescue Me成名的黑人靈魂女歌手Fontella Bass12月26日不幸因心臟病去世（72歲），Fontella 12月2日就在聖路易心臟病發。

Fontella Bass 童年時就跟母親一同在Clara Ward聖歌合唱團演唱，少女時代他因在俱樂部演出而獲經紀人Oliver Sain 青睞，並邀他去幫藍調歌手Little Milton伴唱，後來她抓住機會從代班歌手變成成了正牌歌手。

1965年Fontella Bass前去芝加哥，經過Chess唱片公司的測試，他開始與Bobby McClure搭檔出唱片，他們的Don't Mess Up A Good Thing得到熱門排行榜第33名，在靈魂歌曲排行榜則得到第5名，她在這家公司一共出了八張唱片，後六首歌都是他個人的作品，但因 Rescue Me這首歌版稅的問題，Fontella對唱片事業一度很失望，他與先生喇叭手Lester Bowie搬到巴黎，在那兒還出了二張專輯，1972 年開始半退休。

1990年Fontella Bass又告American Express未經同意在電視廣告用了Rescue Me，要求五萬美元的賠償。

Rescue Me這首歌在靈魂歌曲排行榜得過4週冠軍，也是電影「修女也瘋狂」的插曲之一，歌迷們應該還有印象。

 

Rescue Me

Fontenella Bass

(C. Smith - R. Miner)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwt3kr0_l6I

Verse 1:

Rescue me

Take me in your arms

Rescue me

I want your tender charm

'Cause I'm lonely

And I'm blue

I need you

And your love too

Come on and rescue me

Chorus 1:

Come on, baby, and rescue me

Come on, baby, and rescue me

'Cause I need you by my side

Can't you see that I'm lonely

Verse 2:

Rescue me

Come on and take my heart

Take your love and conquer every part

'Cause I'm lonely

And I'm blue

I need you

And your love too

Come on and rescue me

[repeat chorus 1]

[repeat intro]

[repeat verse 1]

Chorus 2:

(Come on baby)

Take me baby (take me baby)

Hold me baby (hold me baby)

Love me baby (love me baby)

Can't you see I need you baby

Can't you see that I'm lonely

Chorus 3:

Rescue me

Come on and take my hand

C'mon, baby and be my man

'Cause I love you

'Cause I want you

Can't you see that I'm lonely

Chorus 4:

Mmm-hmm (mmm-hmm)

Mmm-hmm (mmm-hmm)

Take me baby (take me baby)

Love me baby (love me baby)

Need me baby (need me baby)

Mmm-hmm (mmm-hmm)

Can't you see that I'm lonely

 

鄉村歌唱界的盲歌星Ronnie Milsap

很多暢銷歌曲的創作構想與啟發來自教堂，作曲人Archie Jordan替Ronnie Milsap所寫的1978年冠軍曲What A Difference You've Made In My Life就是一個例子。

Archie表示：在一次聖經研討課結束後，一位學員站起來做見證，那人說他感覺上帝如陽光般日夜照亮他，給了他很不平凡的生命…，這個想法刺激Archie想去探討有多少人有相同的看法。

Archie覺得其實不需要直接談上帝，談談夫妻與小孩也不錯，而且這個構想到第二天早上起床時還在他腦海中，於是他決定開始寫這首歌。

當Ronnie Milsap開始錄這首歌之前，他只要Archie Jordan改了一點歌詞，為了求好，Ronnie與Archie 還有志一同的在錄音的時候擔任鍵琴伴奏。

Ronnie Milsap於1977年11月19日推出What A Difference You've Made In My Life，二個月後在鄉村歌曲排行榜獲得冠軍，那是他第九首鄉村歌曲排行榜冠軍曲。

Ronnie Milsap1943年出生於北卡羅萊納州Robbinsville，天生即雙眼失明，但極具音樂天份的他12歲即能玩多種樂器 ，自1973至2000年，Ronnie Milsap在鄉村歌曲排行榜一共有63首暢銷曲，其中有35首獲得過冠軍。

Ronnie Milsap在鄉村歌唱界的成績，就如同流行歌唱界的黑人盲歌星Stevie Wonder一般受歡迎。

 

What A Difference You've Made In My Life

Ronnie Milsap

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSVy5HrFGbs

What a difference you've made in my life,
What a difference you've made in my life
You're my sunshine day and night.
Oh, what a difference you've made
In my life.

[Orchestral Interlude]

What a change you have made in my heart,
What a change you have made in my heart,
You've replaced all the broken parts.
Oh, what a change you have made...

In my heart.

Love to me was just a word in a song
That had been way over-used.
But now I've joined in the singing
Cause you've showed me love's true meanin'
That's why I want to spread the news.

What a difference you've made in my life,
What a difference you've made in my life,
You're my sunshine day and night
Oh, what a difference you've made...

In my life.

[Orchestral Interlude]

What a difference you've made in my life
)Listen to me)
What a differencer you've made in my life,
You're my sunshine day and night
Oh, what a difference you've made
Yeah.

What a difference you've made in my life,
What a difference you've made in my life
You're my sunshine day and night...
Oh, what a difference you've made....

Yeah.... yeah,
Yeah, yeah -h - h

What a difference you've made in my life
What a differnce you've made in my - y - y life
You're my sunshine day and night
Oh, what a difference you've made
Oh what a difference you've made

In my life - e - e

 

席塔琴大師Ravi Shankar去世

對歐美流行歌壇很有影響的印度樂手Ravi Shankar於12月11日在聖地牙哥去世（92歲），Ravi Shankar  1960年代因席塔琴藝在歐美流行歌壇走紅，甚至當年二場歷史性流行音樂盛會蒙特婁與伍茲塔克音樂節都有他的演出，Ravi Shankar 有二個女兒Anoushka Shankar 與 Norah Jones都在流行音樂圈，其中Norah Jones於2002年獲Grammy最佳新人獎，在歌唱與影視界很受歡迎。

Ravi Shankar成名與前披頭合唱團團員George Harrison很有關係，1965年經由The Byrds合唱團團員David Crosby介紹，George Harrison認識席塔琴大師Ravi Shankar，並且在披頭合唱團的電影Help的配樂裡開始用席塔琴，後來還在專輯唱片Rober Soul裡的Norwegian Woo d（This Bird Has Flown）用席塔琴伴奏，讓西方音樂界開始注意到席塔琴與Ravi Shankar。

1968年當披頭合唱團還未解散前，George Harrison 還出了一張個人的專輯唱片Wonderful Music，這張以演奏為主的專輯融合印度與西洋音樂，在吉它大行其道的1960年代後期讓歌迷們耳目一新 。

Norwegian Woo d（This Bird Has Flown）在1966年錄製後並未推出單曲，但於滾石雜誌500大歌曲榜獲得第83名，是一首在搖滾樂歷史中很重要的歌。

 

Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

The Beatles

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvTnX-KzmTY

 

I once had a girl Or should I say she once had me

She showed me her room Isn't it good Norwegian wood?
She asked me to stay And she told me to sit anywhere

So I looked around And I noticed there wasn't a chair
I sat on the rug biding my time Drinking her wine

We talked until two and then she said "It's time for bed"

She told me she worked In the morning and started to laugh

I told her I didn't And crawled off to sleep in the bath
And when I awoke I was alone This bird had flown

So I lit a fireIsn't it good Norwegian wood?

Southern Nights的故事

許多歌手會唱別人的歌，例如Glen Campbell 1977年的冠軍曲Southern Nights就是一個例子。

Glen Campbell回憶：我在Jimmy Webb家裡找歌，我當時問他有沒有別人唱的而他很喜歡的歌，Jimmy Webb就在唱機上放一首Allen Toussaint的Southern Nights給我聽…。（Jimmy Webb是一位知名作曲家，Glen Campbell的名曲By The Time I Get To Phoenix、Wichta Lineman與Galveston都是他的作品）

Glen Campbell後來寄了一個拷貝給他的製作人Gary Klein，Gary說他也喜歡這首歌但不懂歌詞的含意。

Gary Klein 最後替Glen Campbell版的Southern Nights做了一段很好聽的開場，這小小的改變讓Southern Nights這首歌登峰造極。

Glen Campbell的Southern Nights在1977年元月底進入鄉村歌曲排行榜，在3月19日獲得冠軍，這是Glen Campbell第39首鄉村歌曲排行榜暢銷曲，也是第5首冠軍曲，這首歌同時也獲得流行歌曲排行榜軍曲。

Glen Campbell是四座Grammy獎的得主，但去年宣佈患了阿茲海默症，以致記憶漸漸喪失，令歌迷們不勝唏噓。

GLEN CAMPBELL
"Southern Nights"

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wOUFo4Lwf8Southern nights


Have you ever felt a southern night
Free as a breeze
Not to mention the trees
Whistling tunes that you know and love so
Southern nights
Just as good even when closed your eyes
I apologize
To any one who can truly say
That he's found a better way

Southern skies
Have you ever noticed
Southersn skies
It's precious beauty
Lies just beyone the eye
It goes running through the soul
Like the stories told of old

Old man
He and his dog that walk the old land
Every flower touched his cold hand
As he slowly walked by
Weeping willows would cry for joy

Joy

Feels so good
Feels so good it's frightening
Wish I could
Stop this world from fighting
La-da-da-da-da, da-la-da-da-da
Da-da-da-da, da-da-da, da-da

Mystery
Like this and many others
In the trees
Blow in the night
In the southern skies

Southern nights
They feel so good it's frightening
Wish I could
Stop this world from fighting
La-da-da-da-da, da-la-da-da-da
Da-da-da-da, da-da-da, da-da