Let’s bring it on home together
Months after I said I would write about “my favorite songs of all time,” here I go with my first post. I’m starting in no particular order, of course.
In 1995-1996, I used to listen to “Flipside Fifties,” a program on Bellevue Community College radio that played a mix of 50s and 60s rock ‘n’ roll and R&B. I was influenced by the music I heard on this program to eventually host a similar program in college, on WBAR. One night, I heard a song called “I’ll Bring It Home to You” by Carla Thomas (although I didn’t know it at the time), which was an “answer song” to Sam Cooke’s “Bring It on Home to Me.” I was so jazzed when I heard this song. I already loved Sam’s version and hearing Carla’s version was like hearing that someone else loved the same music, too. (I usually didn’t share the same musical tastes as my peers, so I had to make connections somewhere.)
Around 1998-1999, I thought about “I’ll Bring It Home to You,” having only heard it that one time, and wondered who sang the song, since I never caught who was the singer, nor was I sure what was the actual song title. In those days, I didn’t automatically consult the Internet. I did things the old-fashioned way. I went to the Tower Records at 4th and Broadway in lower Manhattan and went through every CD in the Oldies section. It took me about 3 hours. I looked through every CD song list, looking for something that would pop out to me. Nothing did, so the next day I went to the Tower Records at 66th and Broadway and went through their Oldies section. Many of the CDs I had already seen the day before, so I was able to look through them quicker. It took about an hour, but I got to Carla Thomas and saw that she had a song called “I’ll Bring It Home to You” and I thought, “That’s gotta be it!” And it was.
Point of this story? Well, that in some way my obsession with “I’ll Bring It Home to You” was really my way of expressing how much I love the song “Bring It on Home to Me.” The song evokes such visceral emotions of love, longing, and desperation in less than three minutes. I love the piano intro. The studio version is great, but after I heard the live version on One Night Stand: Sam Cooke Live From the Harlem Square Club, 1963, I felt transformed. I’m not a big fan of studio-released live recordings, but this album is so visual. When Sam tells the crowd to twist their handkerchiefs around during “Twistin’ the Night Away” or gives anti-domestic violence advice during “It’s All Right/For Sentimental Reasons,” I feel like I’m there in the audience. When the crowd sings “Yeah” during “Bring It on Home to Me,” I feel it brought home to me.
If you’re interested in more answer songs, WFMU has a spazzy collection of them, including a downloadable version of “I’ll Bring It Home to You.”
22 April 2008 – 1:00 AM
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