Cover version of the month #89
The Isley Brothers cover Stephen Stills
The thing I love about my cover version of the month feature is that I regularly discover new things about a song I love. The chorus of Stephen Stills Love The One You're With was inspired by his friend Billy Preston. Apparently it was something he regularly said. I guess it's easy to imagine people saying that in the free swinging 60's!
If you can't be with the one you love
Honey, love the one you're with
A constant driving acoustic guitar is at the heart of the song, allowing vocals, choir, beats and additional instruments to come in over the top at various times.
The choir lifts the chorus, while the organ (played by Stills) could easily have been played by Preston who inspired the song. The do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do section enhances the catchiness of the song.
Like so many of the great songs from that period, the lyrics are remarkably simple and therefor relatable.
Down, confused, baby, the imagery of the rose in a fisted glove and the eagle flies with the dove, love, sad, crying, good times, waiting for something to do, heartache, joy, girl, boy ...
Stephen Stills makes songwriting seem so easy. Maybe others just overly complicate the art!
The Isley Brothers add on additional 40 seconds to the original, but they remain pretty true to it. The harmonies on the chorus are glorious.
Taken from their magnificent 1971 album Givin It Back that also has brilliant covers of Neil Young's Ohio merged with Jimi Hendrix' Machine Gun, a 10-minute plus version of Dylan's Lay Lady Lay and James Taylor's Fire and Rain. It's well worth checking out and I'm positive that I'll feature one of these songs in the future.
The Stephen Stills original and The Isley Brothers cover version are added to my Everything Flows Cool Cover Versions playlist on Spotify which also features all of the songs below. Search for the title or CLICK HERE
Previous covers of the month
40. Jumpin' Jack Flash
44. Witchi Tai To
45. Our Lips Are Sealed
46. Sunshine Of Your Love
47. Here Comes The Sun
48. I Think We're Alone Now
49. Don't Let Me Down
50. It's Oh So Quiet
51. Alcoholiday
52. Summer Holiday
53. Who Do You Think You Are?
54. Head On
55. Nothing Compares 2 U
No comments:
Post a Comment