George HaffendenToday marks the birthday of the last great soul man Mr Bobby Womack, who sadly passed away last year at the age of 70. He is responsible for some of the most romantic, as well as most heart-breaking, soul songs of all time, from ‘That’s The Way I Feel About ‘Cha’ to the devastating ‘If You Think You’re Lonely Now’. Beginning his career sing gospel with his brothers, to be signed to record by Sam Cooke, to marrying Sam Cooke’s widow after his death, to writing for Wilson Pickett, to performing for Sly Stone, to touring with Ray Charles; Bobby Womack did it all.
It was a bit of a shock when he sadly passed away last year; Womack was on another comeback, launched initially by his work with the band Gorillaz, but then by his superb album The Bravest Man in the Universe back in 2012, produced by Damon Albarn. He went on to perform at Glastonbury, across Europe and America. Behind the scenes, however, Womack had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, and admitted publically that he struggled to remember words of his song’s on stage – and was soon flanked by auto-cue monitors.
Health problems plagued Womack further; after the release of the album it was announced that he had cancer. I had tickets to see him in London at his album release party, but it was cancelled and rescheduled to a date I could not make. I never got the chance to see the man, and it rankles me to this very day.
But his music lives on, and today’s rare cut comes from his 1981 comeback album ‘The Poet’, distributed through Motown Records. The album is most famous for his brilliant aforementioned single ‘If You Think You’re Lonely Now’, a heart-achingly beautiful song that became a fan favourite – even comedian Richard Pryor couldn’t resist the song.
The album is fairly strong, featuring some great vocal performances from Womack, particularly on ‘So Many Sides To You’ a wonderful opener to the album, featuring the brilliant lyric “I’m up to my heart in teardrops/Out of my mind over you”. It’s a slab of heartache funk; the perfect 1980s song for the last great soul man.