DIG THIS WITH BILL MESNIK AND RICH BUCKLAND- THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS
My Fellow Americans, Life is actually just a microscopic, deluded moment in time, so let's cut to the freakin' chase. One look at our impending election debacle can solidify my case. It has been my contention since birth, that the answer to every difficulty we encounter on this sacred yet demented Stone, can be revealed with ultimate clarity through the ultra neurotic engagements of Music, Art, Literature, Film, Poetry and a good Pastrami sandwich. Why would any sane human spend so must time on a film set (Do you know how long you gotta wait until your 8 second deliverance of an edited beyond repair line gets a chance to become a professional embarrassment etched in time forever? ) or expend so much energy in a recording studio, piecing together another ode to a man or woman who could not care less how much love existed within your digestive tract? It's all about hymns and prayers and a quest for mercy and forgiveness and silence and faith. We were blessed with Charles Bukowski, Gene Chandler, Lenny Bruce, Mitch Ryder and a legion of creative explorers whose influences provided the air we breathe. So Let's Dance! This site shall explore the reaper, find a way to disarm the stench of injustice, discover some true loves and talk it all over before it's all over. So what's the worst that our desires could produce? Failure? So sue me. I'm going to require your assistance in making as much trouble for the grown-ups as possible. Let the record show that my childish heart yearns to disrupt the madness. Join me Ladies and Germs!
DIG THIS WITH BILL MESNIK AND RICH BUCKLAND- THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS
BILL MESNIK OF THE SPLENDID BOHEMIANS PRESENTS: THE SUNNY SIDE OF MY STREET - SONGS TO MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD - EPISODE #66: LOVIN’ YOU by Minnie Riperton (Epic, 1975)
This is the story of a love song that sings from beyond the grave.
Lovin’ You started life as a lullaby for baby Maya Rudolph, the child of singer Minnie Riperton and songwriter Richard Rudolph. Stevie Wonder, who co-produced the record, plays the gorgeous electronic keyboard accompaniment. It was a late-entry addition to MInnie’s solo album Perfect Angel, and the baby oriented lyrics had to be adapted to make it more about romantic love. But the gentle feeling of bliss it conveys is a perfect rendering of maternal devotion, and to insure the communication of its original intent Minnie chants: “Maya, Maya, Maya, Maya” at the end - (a secret message to the future), before the record fades out.
Four years later Minnie Riperton was dead from breast cancer, and young Maya was deprived of her mother’s earthly presence. But her song of maternal love plays on.
At the time of its release, Lovin’ You went to the top of the charts, buoyed by Minnie’s extraordinary range, showcasing an unearthly cascade of descending notes. Listening to the song 50 years on, the composition, with its edenic landscape of ethereal chords and birdsong, and the voice of a perfect angel at the center - is the personification of a Sunny Song.