My Favorite Soul Songs… Part II

I love this genre…I made Part 1 a couple of years ago, but never followed up. Sometimes soul blends with pop and is closely related to R&B. Below are a few that I have always liked.

Freda Payne – Band Of Gold

I’ve always liked this song. It’s a bit of a soap opera but it’s a really good soul song. The song peaked at #3 on the Billboard 100 in 1970. The guitar had a rubberband-type effect that was used in this song.

Because of the subject matter, Freda Payne did not want to record this at first. She thought the song was about a woman who was a virgin or sexually naïve and felt it was more suitable for a teenager. When Payne objected to this song, Ron Dunbar (co-writer of the song) said to her, “Don’t worry. You don’t have to like them! Just sing it,” and she did. Little did she know that this song would become her biggest hit and would give her her first record of gold.

Aretha Franklin – Baby I Love You

This is my personal favorite song of Aretha Franklin…and she has a boatload of great songs to pick from. She could bring soul to You Light Up My Life and THAT is saying something. I’ve said this a lot but Aretha Franklin and Janis Joplin are my top female singers.

This Aretha Franklin song was released in 1967 and it was on the Aretha Arrives album. It peaked at #4 on the Billboard 100, #3 in Canada, and #39 in the UK in 1967.  Her sisters Carolyn and Erma provided backing vocals along with the Sweet Inspirations, an R&B girl group founded by Cissy Houston. Musicians who were featured on the track included engineer Tom Dowd and Muscle Shoals players Jimmy Johnson and Joe South on guitars, Tommy Cogbill on bass, Spooner Oldham on electric piano, and Roger Hawkins on drums. Truman Thomas also played the organ.

Franklin recorded this with Atlantic producer Jerry Wexler in New York City during the same session as Chain Of Fools. The song was written by Ronnie Shannon, who was also responsible for another hit for Aretha with I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You).

Temptations – I Wish It Would Rain

It sure got A LOT of play when I went through my first real hard breakup. You break up with someone…the Temptations have your back. Their greatest hits were more like advice than songs, which I loved.

David Ruffin sings this song, and you can feel the sadness and pain in his voice. The man had a tremendous voice. Naming my favorite Temptations song would be hard, but this one would be near the top.

The song has been covered by Gladys Knight and the Pips, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin and The Faces. This song was released right before the psychedelic soul hit Cloud Nine, and the band’s style began to change.

Stevie Wonder – I Was Made To Love Her

Of all Stevie Wonder songs…this one is at the top of the list for me.

Anything Stevie does, I like. Sometimes when I hear a song, it takes a few times for me to like it, but this one…hooked me the first time. This song peaked at #2 on the Billboard 100, #5 in Canada, and #5 in the UK Charts in 1967. The song was written by Wonder, Lula Mae Hardaway, Henry Cosby, and Sylvia Moy. Lula Mae Haraway was Stevie Wonder’s mother.

Jimmy Ruffin – What Becomes of the Broken Hearted

Jimmy Ruffin was the brother of then Temptation David Ruffin. This was written by Motown writers Jimmy Dean, Paul Riser, and William Witherspoon. They wrote it for The Detroit Spinners, but Ruffin convinced the Motown writers to let him try it, and they liked what they heard.

I think Motown has been the soundtrack to more breakups than anyone else. This song peaked at #7 in the Billboard 100 in 1966. The great Smokey Robinson produced this track. He worked on many Motown classics as an artist, writer, and producer. This would be Jimmy’s biggest hit of his career.

 

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

25 thoughts on “My Favorite Soul Songs… Part II”

  1. I feel the same about the Aretha Franklin song. I really don’t even know who Ronnie Shannon was. But those two songs were killers that seemed to fly under the radar. Of course it’s Aretha so even under the radar makes it better than most.

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  3. Cool tunes, Max. Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong, and Rodger Penzabene teamed up to write I Wish It Would Rain. Penzabene was a Motown staff writer, and he penned the emotional lyrics based on his own personal heartbreak and he committed suicide just days after the song’s release.

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  4. Very good list. I agree about “Baby I Love You”. Any song of hers is great, but that one is the top of the heap for me. I could see the Spinners doing “What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted”.

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  5. The story behind “Band of Gold” is complicated. I wrote about it earlier this year: One of the writers says it was about a woman’s marriage to a gay man. One of the other writers indicates that the song was shortened and originally was about a young bride turning her new husband away from the marital bed: “And the memory of our wedding day/And the night that I turned you away.” (Or is it about erectile dysfunction?) But love the electric sitar!

    A great selection of songs! “soundtrack to more breakups” – I heard “Tracks of My Tears” more than I can say after two of my housemates broke up in the mid-70s.

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    1. Thanks for that info… yea I always wondered what she meant and what went wrong…oh yea…that electric sitar keeps me coming back.
      Listening to her and watching her…she was the complete package. I can’t believe she wasn’t more well known. I know she had another hit with Bring The Boys Home and a few minor ones.

      Soul music has helped me through some breakups for sure….Tracks of My Tears…yea that is a great one for that.

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