oh hey great

Reblogging a silly old post of mine for fellow James Carr lover, milessmiles. Also here and here.

For those of you who want more soul music that I’ve posted, click on the soul tag.

ohheygreat:

“These Ain’t Raindrops” - James Carr

Remember Soul Sunday? Yeah, I kinda don’t either.

But this week I was listening to James Carr and holy Jesus did that man have one of the best voices in the history of the world. If you know him, you know “The Dark End Of The Street” or “Pouring Water On A Drowning Man” (that’s a link to a vide of him singing live, and I highly recommend you watch it).

So anyway, if you don’t own You Got My Mind Messed Up, you should get it now. You should listen to it all week. You should kick your own sorry ass for having come this far in life without being familiar with a singer who never got his due, a soul singer who was always overshadowed, a voice as great if not greater than so many others we celebrate regularly.

You know how much I love Otis. I mean, I love Otis so much that last night I spent most of a 40 minute drive thinking about how much I’d love to be able to go back in time just to be able to see him live, while also wearing a really cute outfit in which I would dance all night. I didn’t even fantasize about meeting him, just seeing him perform. So when I say that James Carr deserves to be as celebrated as much as Otis Redding, you best believe I am serious. Listen to the way he digs down so deep and kicks you up out of that chair! I throw my hands up in the air and from across the room my friend looks over at me and laughs because my headphones are on and all he sees are two little hands waving and shoulders writhing involuntarily, I am swooning and I can’t help it - plus that goddamn organ and is there someone singing duet? How can you even tell! He’s blowing everyone out of the water.

You won’t hear anything better this week. Trust me.