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 Goodbye to the Godfather of Soul
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Goodbye to the Godfather of Soul
Guardian Unlimited: Arts blog - music
Goodbye to the Godfather of Soul
Caroline Sullivan
December 25, 2006 01:10 PM
If James Brown was going to die - something which weirdly seemed unlikely until today - he couldn't have chosen a more attention-getting moment to do it. Leaving the stage for the last time on Christmas Day is fantastic timing, coming
from a singer whose name was synonymous with flamboyance.
Flamboyant or no, Brown had become part of the musical establishment by the time I knew who he was. I grew up with his music on the outskirts of my consciousness, aware that he was a rampart of R&B, but knowing nothing
beyond that. I'd occasionally encounter some Brownian staple like Sex Machine at a party, but had no desire to explore further. They seemed base and obvious, compared with the intricate pop twitterings I preferred.
It took a while (let's be honest, it took about 10 years) before I finally got it. Eventually I understood why self aggrandising coinages like Soul Brother No 1 and Godfather of Soul were justified, and how the legwork he'd done in the 60s influenced my twittery pop favourites decades later (not to mention nearly every rap record ever made). I finally heard the textures and the musicianship. I saw beyond the hair (what was WITH that hair?) and the capes and recognised the talent and originality.
Brown had relatively few chart hits in this country, and my particular favourite, It's a Man's Man's Man's World, doesn't turn up on radio playlists very often. It probably will in the next few days, though, as programme directors dip into his catalogue to eulogise him (which would you choose, by the way?). It's a shame to see him go; how could I have ever believed he was anything less than the Godfather of Soul
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