Angie's Life - The Soundtrack Part 3

Old post I decided to finish.

The one the only Bobby Womack !

I have always been an old soul. I like older music and older men. So - Bobby Womack speaks to me. I like his swagger. He acts like he's the most handsome man in the world, even though he's not. He has confidence. Women like that. We like it a lot. Not over confidence mind you - just confidence in the right dose.

Bobby knows women - and he talks to us like he knows us. If men would take the time to get a PHD in their women everyone would be happier. But I digress. Back to Bobby. I didn't just discover him - he's been with me for a long time now. He says things that make you want to turn the lights down, drink dark liquor, and take your panties off.

Let me try to explain my fixation with Bobby Womack. I'm a Southern girl, a Pisces with daddy issues. I'm attracted to strong men. Men you know better than to get involved with, but you do it anyway. Men who spit game like Bobby's lyrics -but you don't know it's game, because he's that good or because you don't want to know.

Bobby's been spitting his particular brand of game to me since I was a teenager, and I'm not tired of him yet.

In I Wish He Didn't Trust Me So Much he's talking about how he's in love with his friends wife. Not good right? But get this, he spins it! In the end it's his friends fault for trusting him too much. You gotta love that!

You're Welcome, Stop On By, is an invitation to a married or otherwise engaged woman to feel free to come on over to his place. He tells her he's there for her, however, he's getting a little tired of being "that second guy." Mind you, he's not tired enough to stop - he's just putting that out there so she thinks he wants something more. Psych!

I could go on, and on but I'll stop at my favorite. Woman's Gotta Have It He pretends to be talking to men on this one. Telling them how to get, and keep us - that we have to have it. Fir good measure he throws in, "Give her what she wants, when she wants it, where she wants it and how she wants it." Now in reality Bobby is speaking to us, to women. He's letting us know that he knows us. He knows what we need, and he can give it - when, where, and how we want it. Works for me!

So when Bobby's on the Southern girl in me sashays her hips, the Pisces slips on the rose colored glasses, and the daddy's girl is reminded of her father.

*Head nodding, sipping from glass - Sing it Bobby!

Angie's Life - The Soundtrack Part 2

Betty Wright, Betty Wright Live! - Tonight Is The Night, Clean Up Woman
Natalie Cole, Thankful - Our Love, Annie Mae, Keeping a Light

I purchased my first album when I was eleven years old. I had patiently saved up $12.00, and I was anxious to give it to the "Record Man". (Record Man = A guy who drove around the neighborhood selling albums and records out of his van. Complete with loudspeaker blasting music to announce his arrival.) I can remember my daddy coming outside with me to witness my first music purchase. So I walk up to the van, and the record man asked, "What would you like young lady?" " The Betty Wright Live album please!", was my reply. Lord have mercy. What in the hell were they doing letting an 11 year old child buy an album about Betty Wright's first sexual encounter (Tonight is The Night), and cheating (The Clean Up Woman) ? My daddy's philosophy was "it's music, it's okay", which overruled any protests my mamma may have had. Thus it began.

Next purchase, same year. It was Natalie Cole's album, Thankful. I played the hell out of that album. I remember thinking the album cover was beautiful. The colors were soft earth tones, which I'm partial to even now. Natalie looks so warm, serene and confident on the cover. Who knew she was strung out on drugs? Not me, I just knew she was pretty, she could sing her ass off and she sounded like she was having fun. That's when I decided to put on "concerts" and force mama and daddy to sit in the living room and watch me sing the entire album. I would turn the lights down low, slink in mamma's high heals and a dress and perform! In hindsight, my parents were probably so patient because they were high as a kite - and in that state entertainment comes in all shapes and forms. But as a pre-pubescent diva I thought they were spellbound by my singing and stage presence. Anyone who has heard me sing can tell you it was neither. My parents just loved me enough to let me dream. And in those moments I was just as serene and confident as Natalie.

Angie's Life - The Soundtrack Part 1

The Ojays - Ship Ahoy
Santana - Abraxas
War- The World Is A Ghetto, Cisco Kid

I was listening to a song while riding in the car the other day and it brought me back. I mean way back. I was maybe five or six years old. I remember it like it was yesterday.

I'm sitting in an orange bean bag chair. The room is furnished with bean bags carpet and string art all over the wall. There was a "psychedelic" light that made the string glow in the dark. In the corner of the room on the carpeted floor sat the 8 track stereo and record player. (I'm dating myself here.) The window panes were painted dark blue. Yes I did say painted. There were several burn marks on the carpet as this was my daddy's uhm let's see how to say this, his "Reflection Room". There was also a Rolling Stones album cover that was made like a pair of jeans on the front. There was a zipper and everything! I can not tell you how many times I unzipped it to see the bulging white briefs inside. The amount of weed smoked in this room was surpassed only by the amount of good music played in it.

My daddy appreciated good weed and good music. He always managed to have an abundance of both. He planted the seed for my appreciation for good music.

I can remember sitting in that bean bag with my head back, just listening. Ship Ahoy is some deep shit when you are six years old, and probably experiencing a contact high. The sounds from within the slave ships, the pounding of the ocean, whips and chains.......and the deep bass voices and the melancholy of the chorus....."ship ahoy, ship ahoy, ship ahoy............." It was overwhelming. It was sad and it was beautiful all at the same time.

I think that was the moment I learned that music could do anything. It could evoke a plethora of emotions. Make you see images, smell scents, dance, sing, cry, hate, laugh and love. Santana, War, Teddy Pendergrass and so many more stick in my head today because of that time and because of that room.