C&L's Late Nite Music Club Honors Norman Whitfield
By Nicole Belle Saturday Sep 20, 2008 10:00pm
Ain't Too Proud To Beg - The Temptations
Norman Whitfield, 1940-2008, RIP
Norman Whitfield, who passed away yesterday at age 67 in Los Angeles after a long battle with diabetes, may not be a name immediately familiar to most music listeners. But I would venture a guess that virtually everyone reading this has at some point in their life heard Norman Whitfield's work--and well past the simple L.A. Times headline that accompanied his obituary: "Motown Songwriter And Producer Won Two Grammy Awards."[..]
Motown founder and chief Berry Gordy once noted that if any one person warranted his own wing in a Motown Museum, it'd be Whitfield. Without his contributions as a songwriter, arranger, and producer, it's hard to imagine that the label's "Hitsville USA" boast would have been taken very seriously--especially from 1966 to 1974, when he guided his main Motown charges the Temptations to no less than two dozen top 10 R&B hits, including 11 gold and five platinum-selling singles. Perhaps you've heard of some of them:
"Ain't Too Proud To Beg"
"Beauty Is Only Skin Deep"
"(I Know) I'm Losing You"
"You're My Everything"
"Cloud Nine"
"I Can't Get Next To You"
"Ball Of Confusion"
"Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)"
[..]
Norman Whitfield had his share of difficulties later in life. Besides failing health, he also got into trouble with the IRS government in recent years for unpaid taxes. But in any event, everyone really should know who Norman Whitfield was. Without him, you know, there'd be no "War" --as in "War/What is it good for?/Absolutely nothin'."Say it again.
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great songwriter.....................peace to your ashes brother.........
Another musical legend is gone but will never be forgotten. Thanks, Nicole, for honouring Mr Whitfield and his fine music.
Great songwriter!
My favorite version of "Just My Imagination (running away with me)" by Peter White:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4EQI725Mac
Norman Whitfield 1941 - 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE7DMKsU5ls
In honor of Rick Wright; Pink Floyd - "Time"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmJHqvw3e5g
Earl Palmer "Tipitina" RIP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb9E2O5SiGU
Mr. Whitfield and the artists who performed his music, especially the Temptations, provided a large part of the musical backdrop for my college years. A lot of the music in the late 60's was just good rock and roll, like many of the Temps' songs, but a lot of these artists were also politically aware and included protest music in their repitoires.
The Temps' "Ball of Confusion" and Edwin Starr's "War - What is it Good For? - Absolutely Nothin!" - were songs we all knew, and the latter was often chanted at anti-war rallies and marches right before the Viet Nam war was ended.
Maybe there's some artist out there today who'd like to do a reprise to honor Whitfield, and give this generation a good marching song - they/we may need it.
I've always leaned more towards the Stax/Muscle Shoals/Sly side, although I dug Motown, too, and as much as I loved the Smokey/HDH stuff, I always preferred the edge of the Whitfield/Strong stuff.
All the tunes cited are classics, but I'll never forget the first time I heard Papa Was a Rolling Stone on the radio. It truly made bein' stuck in traffic on the Garden State Parkway a pleasurable experience.
The man made his mark. Professionally, who could ask for more.
Another Whitfield/Strong classic: Marvin Gaye - "I Heard It Through The Grapevine"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyA_DNw2vyg
another great norman whitfield song: papa was a rolling stone @ skippy.
"Norman Whitfield and Barratt Strong
Are here to make everything right thats wrong
Holland and Holland and Lamont Dozier too
Are here to make it all okay with you"
- Billy Bragg, "Levi Stubbs' Tears"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=I4v8VJ0LRgA
"Ball of Confusion" and "Cloud Nine" are my favorite Motown-era songs.
RIP.
RIP sir.
You music will live in our hearts and minds forever.
RIP Mr Whitfield.
The Temptations, My Girl
Now these guys had the moves.
I wish it would rain.
We also wouldn't have had the Seinfeld where Jerry convinces Elaine that War/What is it good for? was the original title of War and Peace
In the spirit of "the best money is free money", some Patti Smith Group:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPVMYDrbrCo
Graham Parker and the Rumour, perfect for these times:
Protection - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO3lnFJR32M
Don't Ask Me Questions - "I stand up for liberty, but can't liberate." - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQRstTbHsao
A lot of people didn't like Whitfield's "psychedelic soul" stuff (1968-74). That was the very era where I really got into the Tempts, though. Disc 3 of the Tempts' box set, "Emperors of Soul," covers most of that era, as does the later double-CD "Psychedelic Soul" (which includes a killer alternate mix of "Ball of Confusion" and the 12-minute LP version of "Papa was a Rollin' Stone").
How many of you know that the group didn't want to cut "Papa"? It so happened that Dennis Edwards' daddy died on the third of September - and Whitfield knew it. He wanted the group to be bitter while singing the vocals...that's what he got.
Did you also know that Gaye's version of "Grapevine" was recorded in early 1967, BEFORE Knight/Pips'? Motown's infamous Quality Control panel hadn't learned its lesson from the "Ain't Too Proud to Beg" misstep a year earlier and rejected Gaye's record (which WAS radical for that time). Eager to prove the song's commercial potential, Whitfield made Knight's version in a more "conventional" Motown style - and was rewarded with Motown's best-selling single ever. Gaye's "Grapevine" was later buried in the "In the Groove" LP; when it FINALLY was released as a 45, 18 months after it was recorded, it shot past Knight's version to become Hitsville's champion!
"Smiling Faces Sometimes" (Undisputed Truth) was another, now-neglected Whitfield masterpiece. (It was written originally for Eddie Kendricks.) That song was certainly the inspiration for the O'Jays' "Back Stabbers".
Yet another genius is gone...
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