1

I was used to the Al Kooper version, with a lot more production. But I was out hiking in the mountains listening to the Spotify playlist I created for the “Too Busy Thinking About My Baby” missive and when it slipped into the Johnnie Taylor version of “Toe Hold” I truly got the lyrics for the very first time. Funny how that works, it’s half a century later and suddenly you get the meaning of a song. Sometimes I was just oblivious, other times I was too young to understand at the time, and I’ve always marveled at how these musicians/songwriters were so insightful at such a young age, hell, Jackson Browne was sixteen when he wrote “These Days.”

Now I always thought the original “Toe Hold” was too naked compared to the Al Kooper cover, but the other night…

The thing that truly amazed me first was Johnnie Taylor’s voice and delivery. Like most people I knew him most from “Who’s Making Love” (to your old lady, while you were out making love), another soul hit on the AM Top 40 of the day. But listening again, this guy is utterly fantastic, amazing, positively a legend whose reputation needs to excavated, studied and admired. You can’t get this on a singing competition show. The passion, the intensity.

Now the truth is we’ve got to give Kooper notice for excavating “Toe Hold,” which was a b-side to “Little Bluebird” in 1966. I never heard it on the radio, I only knew it because Kooper covered it.

But he was not the only one, the same year as it was included in “I Stand Alone,” Wilson Pickett did a version. And Pickett deserves all the props he’s received, but here he’s going through the motions compared to Taylor on his take, Pickett’s just Pickettfying the song, whereas Taylor is at his wit’s end, he’s telling us a tale from his soul, you truly believe it.

Now Ellen McIlwaine covered “Toe Hold” too. I’d like to tell you it’s delicious, but at best it’s interesting. She’s received a lot of press recently, but her take pales in comparison to Taylor’s too. The only one who comes close is Kooper, because he throws everything into the song, it’s a white man’s take on the song with horns providing the emphasis that Taylor delivers purely with his voice.

2

“All my life I’ve been a poor boy
It’s been hard to get a dime
Everything I got
I had to pay for it on time, but that’s all right”

ON TIME! When I was fifteen I knew he wasn’t talking about paying on a certain date, but I wasn’t wise enough to know what it was like to pay for something on time, not having enough cash to pay for it right up front.

“Long as I got a toe hold
Long as I got a piece of you
Long as I got a toe hold
I can make it through”

That’s all he’s looking for, he’s not asking for much, he only needs a toe hold. This is the opposite of the braggadocio of today, when everybody’s a winner, displaying their wealth. This is the truth, but sans pessimism.

“I said I went to my doctor
First thing he talked about is malnutrition
I’m not tryin’ to be a fat man
I got to look after my ambition”

The doctor takes one look and sees that this guy is struggling, he doesn’t have enough of the right food.

Yet Johnnie is not focusing on the negative, but the positive. He doesn’t want to focus on the pitfalls, but the opportunities.

“A lil’, lil’, lil’, lil’, lil’, lil’, lil’, lil’ toe hold
A lil’, lil’, lil’, lil’, lil’, lil’, lil’, lil’ toe hold”

This always stuck out to me in Kooper’s take, but it was the sound, the delivery, the way he got all the “lil'”s out. But when Taylor sings it… There’s a combination of desperation and internal strength at the same time. He believes in himself, he can make it through.

“So baby if you’re with me
Let the whole world be against me”

It’s like by singing the song Taylor has convinced himself, with her he can succeed, screw all the forces against him.

“I don’t expect to ever get rich
You may find me diggin’ in a ditch”

All he’s looking for is a toe hold, he’s willing to do whatever it takes to get by. It all works as long as he’s got her by his side.

Now with this delivery, it wouldn’t be hard to be convinced. And women were. Taylor had six acknowledged children and three others by three different women.

You’ve got the He-Men of the Universe with all the money in the world, but they haven’t got the game of the guy singing this song. That’s the power of music.

And one can say that fifty years ago the Black man was a second-class citizen sans the opportunities of today, that it’s a breakthrough to be able to boast, however…

Most people are not winners and the truth is as long as you’ve got a modicum of ambition you can cobble together a life, you can get by. And more important than the money is love, relationships, life.

Tell me all you want about Sam Altman, I’d rather be Johnnie Taylor.

The truth is back then musicians were the winners. Because of the music they created. It was right there baked into the grooves, in an era where you had to have the chops to make it, when being a nepo-baby opening for a star was not enough to garner an audience. When all that dreck of today fades away Johnnie Taylor will still be around to triumph, convincing listeners with his music.

This guy is utterly fantastic. I’d like to point to someone in today’s hit parade who’s even in the same league, but I cannot.

Although “Toe Hold” was written by Stax greats Isaac Hayes and David Porter, Johnnie Taylor truly makes it his own.

“Toe Hold” is a showstopper. One listen would inspire greatness…

And cause a plethora of wannabes to call it a day.

Brett Gurewitz is not only the owner of Epitaph Records, but a member of Bad Religion as well. We go deep into Brett’s history, from becoming a punk in the San Fernando Valley to ultimately signing Tom Waits to his record label. But before that, Brett opines on the nuts and bolts of running a record label…who to sign, how to promote, interactions with DSPs… Brett is fantastic, this is a MUST-LISTEN!

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brett-gurewitz/id1316200737?i=1000787632482

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/a7f74282-3d37-4868-b5c6-91e249433c9f/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-brett-gurewitz

1

People forget that “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” went to number two for Gladys Knight & the Pips before Marvin Gaye took it to number one little over a year later, on the way to its becoming the biggest Motown single to date.

And the Temptations released “Too Busy Thinking About My Baby” in 1966 before Marvin Gaye had huge success with the song in 1969, although the Temptations never put it out as a single.

I could never understand how a song that was already a hit could be a hit by a different artist on the same label so soon thereafter. As for Creedence Clearwater Revival’s eleven minute version of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” mere months after the success of Gaye’s take, that made no sense to me. It wasn’t that different.

Unlike Al Kooper’s version of “Season of the Witch.”

2

That was the track from “Super Session” you heard first, the eleven minute cover of Donovan’s “Season of the Witch,” it was the same song, but completely different, and just as great, if not better, in its own way.

Now I’m an anomaly, I’ve always preferred the second side of “Super Session” to the first, the one with Stephen Stills as opposed to Michael Bloomfield. Maybe if Stills had died instead he’d be just as revered, then again, Bloomfield’s star is fading.

So the first song on the second side, Stills’s side, is a cover of Bob Dylan’s “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry.” And it couldn’t be further from the original on “Highway 61 Revisited.” Now if you listen to it you’ll see although Gram Parsons gets all the credit for bringing country to rock, “Sweetheart of the Rodeo” came out on August 30, 1968, whereas “Super Session” was released before that, on July 22nd. Interesting.

Now of course “Super Session” came out after the first Blood, Sweat & Tears LP, which is a masterpiece. But it didn’t sell prodigiously and Al Kooper was replaced by David Clayton Thomas in his own band.

Now Thomas just died and got lengthy obits everywhere. But in truth, his only success came with the second Blood, Sweat & Tears album, whose songs Kooper had picked before leaving/being kicked out (depending on who you listen to). Sans Kooper, the band was dead in the water.

So if you purchased the first Blood, Sweat & Tears album, and then “Super Session,” you were primed for, and immediately went out and bought, Al Kooper’s solo debut, “I Stand Alone.”

3

“I Stand Alone”… If only it came out a few years later, when it didn’t matter whether you had AM hits or not. It was far from a stiff, but it was ultimately a cult item. At this point, February 1969, very few markets had underground FM radio stations, with free formats that played a cornucopia of music like this. So, in order to hear “I Stand Alone” in most markets you had to buy it. And, in truth, Al Kooper didn’t reach his pinnacle of fame until the live version of “Dear Mr. Fantasy” from “The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper” became a radio staple over the ensuing years, gaining traction as FM radio spread.

That’s right, the original Traffic “Dear Mr. Fantasy” was not a hit. By this point, the band had broken up, there was no single. The song was legendary if you knew it, but not that many people knew it, not that many people had purchased Traffic’s debut at all.

But Al Kooper had. “Smiling Phases” had been picked for, and appeared on, the second Blood, Sweat & Tears album, the one without him, and on “I Stand Alone,” Kooper covered “Coloured Rain.”

Now in truth, the title track, “I Stand Alone,” is a standout.

But some of the covers…

Kooper covered Nilsson’s “One,” and Bill Monroe’s “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” but the two soul covers were the piece-de-resistance, “Toe Hold” and “Hey, Western Union Man.”

“Toe Hold” was a Stax staple, first recorded by Johnnie Taylor. This song has been unjustly lost to the sands of time, and Jerry Butler’s “Hey, Western Union Man” had more commercial success, and I hear it on SiriusXM every once in a blue moon, but this is a soul classic just waiting to be discovered by the younger generations.

But back in 1969, Al Kooper took these two numbers and applied the Blood, Sweat & Tears formula, maintaining some soul, but bringing horns right up front and rockifying both of them, “Hey, Western Union Man” is one of my absolute favorite tracks period, with the horn flourish announcing the number, down to the telegraph beeps to boot. Yes, Kooper threw in everything, including the kitchen sink, but instead of a mess, he made a delectable concoction.

So if you loved these songs as much as I did, purchasing Al Kooper’s 1969 follow-up, “You Never Know Who Your Friends Are,” was a no-brainer. No, scratch that, I awaited it with bated-breath, bought it immediately when it came out, broke the shrinkwrap, dropped the needle…

Now the title track opens the second side, and it’s an enjoyable jaunt. And the first side opener, “Magic in My Socks” was good too, but ultimately one can’t call the “You Never Know Who Your Friends Are” album anything but a disappointment. And I was really disappointed, having loved “I Stand Alone” so much.

But back in those days, if you bought it, you played it, ad infinitum, because you’d paid for it, and you ended up knowing it by heart.

And at this late date the one track I think of when I think of this album, the one that sticks out, that is embedded in my brain, is Al’s version of “Too Busy Thinking About My Baby.”

4

“Uh-huh, oh yeah
Uh-huh, oh yeah”

And then the horns come in heralding excitement, levitating the room, and Al starts to sing:

“I ain’t got time to think about money
Or what it can buy”

They were off and running, just like with “Toe Hold” and “Hey, Western Union Man” on the previous album.

This ain’t the Marvin Gaye version, it’s sped-up, it’s a tear, only a little bit of the soul is left, replaced with those horns and the mellifluous voices of the backup singers. It might have been cut in a studio, but it’s got a live feel, this is the kind of music you want the band to play when you’re at the club. (Well, at least when they used to have bands at clubs.)

You know how it is. There’s nothing somnambulant about it, you’re completely energized, at the end of your wits, bopping around.

And Kooper’s take is great, but it’s not in the league of Marvin’s. You don’t want to compete with Gaye, because he’ll wipe the floor with you.

5

Now the Temptations’ original has a different groove, it positively swings, it’s even sweetened with strings. Eddie Kendricks is giving it everything he’s got. But today it sounds dated, a period piece, hearkening back to the past more than looking forward. Sure, it’s soul, but it sounds closer to the big band era than what Kooper did with the track, modernizing the horns, never mind the groove.

And that’s what Marvin Gaye added, the groove.

“Uh-huh-huh, oh yeah
Oh, listen to me, people”

And we are. This is not the Kooper take, hedonistically dancing in the club to the band banging it out on stage. No, Marvin demands our attention, from the very get-go.

“I ain’t got time to think about money
Or what it can buy”

And you believe him.?
But it really kicks in in the second verse, when Marvin truly gets into it, starts to play. He growls. He takes his voice way up high. He’s showing off for the object of his affection…and us.

There’s a brief instrumental section, with the strings sweetly singing, and then Marvin comes back.

“All the diamonds and pearls in the world
Could never match her worth, no, no
She’s some kind of wonderful, people will tell you”

BINGO! “She’s some kind of wonderful,” Marvin lays it down exactly as Grand Funk lifts it for their own track with that moniker, directly from Gaye to Farner. Yup, when I hear people mention “Some Kind of Wonderful” these two songs conflate, become one in my brain. Then again, both acts are from Michigan and the message is ultimately the same. But, Grand Funk is bopping the woman over the head, it’s akin to the Flintstones, whereas Marvin is more like Cary Crant, suave.

“Too Busy Thinking About My Baby” is two minutes and fifty six seconds of perfection, compact and exquisite.

And Norman Whitfield produced the record. And he wrote the song too, along with Barrett Strong and…

Janie Bradford.

Who?

Every day my father used to wake up my mother saying “Muggs, guess who died!”

Well, not every day, but often enough that it became a regular joke in our family. My father read the obituaries assiduously, after all, he grew up in Bridgeport and he knew most of the names.

Not anymore. Today you can die and most people are unaware. Oh, you can purchase an obit in the paper…then again, who reads the paper? No, at this point very few purchase obituaries, but the papers publish their own words for significant people. And it’s interesting who makes the cut, who they choose.

Of course Dolly Parton gets reams. To tell you the truth, I don’t remember this much passion and furor about anybody dying since Elvis. (Of course, except for John Lennon, who is in his own category, I’m still not over that.)

So Dave Marsh earned an obituary. But more well-known people do not. Seems the more idiosyncratic your success was, the more impact you had in a certain field, however narrow, the greater the odds you’ll be featured. Just being rich is not enough. Although if you reach a certain amount of fame, you’ll get some words.

But the thing about obits is they come after you die. So you can’t bask in the admiration. It’s kind of like that “Curb Your Enthusiasm” episode with Albert Brooks watching his own funeral. That’s what you want, to hear the accolades before you pass.

And the funny thing is obits are not always consistent. Like with Jaye P. Morgan. The “Los Angeles Times” said this:

“Morgan was class treasurer of her California high school, and her peers nicknamed her J.P. after the 19th century financier J.P. Morgan. She later feminized it by changing the initial J to Jaye.”

The “New York Times” this:

“‘My name was Mary Morgan, and at the time there were a lot of singers with the last name “Morgan,”‘ she said. (Their ranks included Jane Morgan and Marion Morgan.) It was Mr. DeVol who came up with Jaye P., a play on the name of the Gilded Age financier J.P. Morgan.”

What is the truth? I tend to trust the “New York Times,” its obits are usually more in-depth, but when it comes to entertainment figures, the “Los Angeles Times” is occasionally superior.

Which raises the question whether Barrett Strong, singer of the song, was one of the composers of “Money (That’s What I Want),” the first hit Motown single, albeit on Tamla.

Here’s what Wikipedia says:

“Singer Barrett Strong claimed that he co-wrote the song with Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford. His name was removed from the copyright registration three years after the song was written, restored in 1987 when the copyright was renewed, and then excised again the following year. Gordy has stated that Strong’s name was only included because of a clerical error.”

(Wikipedia was determined to be almost as accurate as the Brittanica…)

So that’s who Janie Bradford is/was. She co-wrote “Money.” You know, that song that every garage band played back in the sixties, never mind the new wave version by the Flying Lizards in 1979.

Of course the Beatles covered it. Was that our inspiration? “Money” just seemed to be a song in the air, the kind that was always there, the concept of someone actually writing it seemed if not unfathomable, at least superfluous. It was bigger than its composers.

Now depending on which obit you read, Janie Bradford either got a gig as a receptionist at Motown and worked her way into becoming a songwriter or Gordy Berry was introduced to her by Jackie Wilson as a songwriter and she was regarded as such from the very beginning.

Does it matter?

Yes, only because the story is so unique. For all the stories of Carole King and Cynthia Weil, the truth is successful woman songwriters were a rarity, especially in the Black soul music world. Hell, we’ve heard about Holland/Dozier/Holland and Smokey Robinson, as for Ashford & Simpson, their first hit didn’t come until 1966, with Ray Charles’s version of “Let’s Go Get Stoned.” But “Money” was released in 1959.

Now anybody can get a credit once. Maybe you were just in the room. But to do it twice?

We all know “Money.”

But we also know “Too Busy Thinking About My Baby.”