We’re solo parenting Microkhan Jr. this week, which means we have to put off lots of tasks ’til after his bedtime—specifically catching up on the day’s e-mail deluge. That’s precisely what we were doing last night, cold Ballantine in hand, when William Bell’s classic “I Forgot to Be Your Lover” came wafting across Radio Nova. It had been so long since we heard it—we lost our Stax Records box set during our last move, and with it a lot of our favorite Bell nuggets. “I Forgot to Be Your Lover” is perhaps the song we missed most, though the lyrics can be painful. The one that tugs on our heartstrings every time:
Oh, I been working for you
Doing all I can but
Work all the time
Didn’t make me a man
The YouTube poster mentions that the song was most recently sampled by Ludacris, but we’ll always remember it as the basis for the hook in Killah Priest’s meditative, True Master-produced “One Step.”
Oh, and William Bell’s still alive and kicking, this time with his own label. And they have snazzy official shoes for sale.
phil green // Sep 22, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Scarface sampled this for my block I think. There’s a version by Jaheim also, almost a cover:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs8RGLTEtow
What do you think happened at all-star weekend? I have a theory but it’s kind of dumb.
Brendan I. Koerner // Sep 22, 2009 at 5:37 pm
@phil green: That is, indeed, a baffling lyric. Perhaps he Tivo’d the Rookies/Sophs Challenge and didn’t watch it ’til the following morning, as a main event warmup?
Of course, the all-time most “huh?” lyric belongs to Oasis: “Slowly walking down the hall/Faster than a cannonball.” WTF?!?!