I’m Your Puppet
They’re dropping like flies. That guy who was in Iron Butterfly and moved on to Captain Beyond. One of Dion’s Belmonts. But the death that affected me most was that of Bobby Purify.
Actually, I just learned today that there were two Bobbys. But this is the one who sang on "I’m Your Puppet". A song that only went to number six which I was unmoved by when I was thirteen but now illuminates the entire landscape of my formative years.
I know, I know, we still have hits today. But they’re not ubiquitous. You can go to number one and still most of America doesn’t know you. And the songs all sound the same. With beats and raps and youngsters imploring you to pay attention, they need to get rich, quick!
The original Bobby Purify retired and went into maintenance.
That’s how it used to be. Music was something you did, something you passed through on your way to your permanent job. Getting ripped off was part of the process. Your career was a fling. And unlike today, when people post YouTube clips and wonder why they’re not instantly famous, it was understood that most people would never make it and those that did might still be forgotten.
"I’m Your Puppet" was cowritten by Spooner Oldham and Dan Penn, legends unknown to most punters today. They were the names in parentheses, on the 45s, on labels that were anything but corporate monoliths.
"I’m Your Puppet" is slow and dated and just perfect. There’s a simple piano intro, an organ, a drum, just a basic track until the horns come in, but what makes the track is the vocals.
You start off their puppet and then you either get angry about it or they’re unimpressed anyway. But in the beginning, you’re high on life and love and you’ll do anything for a smile.
James & Bobby Purify are not singing for Procter & Gamble, not to be on the cover of a magazine, they sound like men down the street telling their story. Hell, until today I wasn’t even sure they were African-American. Because you see back then songs were something you heard, not something you saw. They infected you and created movies that play in your head for the rest of your life.
"I’m Your Puppet" doesn’t bring back the highlights of my life, rather it sheds light on the mundane life walking the halls of junior high, spending Sundays at the JCC. What did John Lennon say, life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans?
If you don’t know this record, I’m gonna link to it. As well as versions by the Box Tops, Yo La Tengo and one of the writers, Dan Penn. You see, a great song can be sung by anybody, especially you, driving along in your car, walking from the driveway to the front door.
And I don’t think "I’m Your Puppet" is forever. Very little is. Shakespeare, Beethoven and probably the Beatles. But not Spielberg, certainly not the American Idols and not James & Bobby Purify either. But if you were alive back then, they were best friends, they were a building block of your life.
And when they start removing blocks you’re reminded life is like Jenga, and eventually it implodes and everything you’ve built disappears, you’re gone.
Bobby Purify’s been gone less than a week. I’m luxuriating in a track he despised for the amount of work involved, but right now it sounds effortless and so right.
