The King is Dead
Ben E. King has died at 76.
He’d be a legend, even if he’d never recorded another note. Amazing song, amazing singer.
RIP.
by Glyph · May 1, 2015
Glyph
Glyph is worse than some and better than others. He believes that life is just one damned thing after another, that only pop music can save us now, and that mercy is the mark of a great man (but he's just all right). Nothing he writes here should be taken as an indication that he knows anything about anything.
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That sucks.
I can’t think of anything else to say, but feel compelled to say something.Report
It’s almost hard to say anything about a singer who sang a song so massive – that single, perfect song towers over 99% of anything else out there.
I’d bet more people know the “mountains crumble” imagery from it, than from its source in Psalms.
It’s been referenced musically and lyrically time and again. Just a gorgeous piece of work.Report
I have to wonder how much of that was the old analog equipment.
I love the hot sound of the old Chuck Berry stuff on the Chess label, and the Muddy Waters live.
But I think a lot of that was some guy trying to keep a little needle not too far over the red line.Report
Analog equipment probably doesn’t hurt (it’s maybe more forgiving in certain ways); but still, that voice. That performance. That rhythm/those chords. Marvelous.Report
I heard on the radio tonight that it almost didn’t get recorded. It was passed in when he was in The Drifters, and sort of stumbled upon when he went solo.Report
Like I said, it’s way above anything else he (or most anyone else) ever did, but the Drifters were pretty great too:
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