Along Comes Misery

Thanks to Ana-B for cooperation on this post!

Why is it that so many of Tina Turner's songs seem to possess such a strong auto- biographical undercurrent? Is it that I am looking for it in her songs when in case of others I wouldn't? But then, why do I seem to hit on something every time I'm looking for it?

From Jack Robinson's photosession, 1969 (look it up here)

Spring 1969. The Turners have out their first Minit 45 (# 32060), released in March. As for their career, 1969 was a good year: they were playing Vegas now and getting paid more than ever; Ike was enjoy- ing his lush life and before the end of the year they were touring with the Rolling Stones. For the Blue Thumb label, they recorded two bluesy LPs that wouldn't go far saleswise but show Ike & Tina doing something different. They re-released their A&M album River Deep, Mountain High and increasingly started to cover songs made famous by others (»With A Little Help From My Friends«, »I've Been Loving You Too Long«, »Come Together« etc.). And Tina came to develop her ill-famed X-rated stage antics (watch Tina in action over here, from the Stones documentary Gimme Shelter). Little mattered it then that in April they had their Los Angeles home burglarized, with items worth $70,000 and their car part of the booty.

On the personal level though, things had gone from bad to worse. Tina had her stomach pumped clear of 50 valiums after she had discovered that Ike had fathered a child with her friend Ann Thomas and after Ike had started to treat her ever more violently. »Yes it finally got to the point where I was ready to die. ... I felt like I could not take any more. ... And that's when I started to hate Ike Turner. ... [W]ith the women, and the beatings, I had started losing that love for Ike. And now, after the pills and the hospital, I was starting to hate him« said Tina in her autobiography (I, Tina, p. 144 + 148).

From Jack Robinson's photosession, 1969

Now, Minit # 32060 was out in March. It features a com- bination of two songs, »I'm Gonna Do All I Can (To Do Right By My Man)« on the A-side and »You've Got Too Many Ties That Bind« on the B-side. And these two songs being put together on one 45 does raise some questions.

The first tune, »I'm Gonna Do All I Can (To Do Right By My Man)«, was penned by country musician and producer Wayne Carson. It's one of those husband & wife songs, crammed with that kitschy marital and ultimately depressing devoteness lyrics so typical of the C&W scene ... he's the only real thing that ever happened to me ...  He can make me be good, he can make me change my ways, do the things a good woman should and I'm gonna make him happy each and every day. I'm gonna do all I can to do right by my man, to be the kind of woman he wants me to be ... Ike couldn't have cared less. The song made it to #98 pop in May '69.

Let's turn to the B-side, Johnny Northern's & Jimmy Bailey's »You've Got Too Many Ties That Bind«. As to Tina's performance, this B-side is much stronger than the A-side. And what a contrast! Listen to Tina singing ... Every time in my life when things begin to glow, there comes a change and back downhill I go ... Every time when happiness comes my way, along comes misery and destroyed my whole day ... I once was blind but now I can see, I can see, oh yes I can see - that there's too many ties that binds (!) ... I cross my heart, hope to die, each time I think about my life, I wanna cry. That's why I'm singin' there's too many ties that bind. Too many, too many ties ... Phew! Ike couldn't have cared less. But how must Tina have been feeling when singing these lines? And how to reconcile the two songs?

From J. Robinson's photosession, 1969

However, things are a little more complicated still. The labels of Minit # 32060 on both sides give Ike Turner and Willie Mitchell the production credits. It is unknown at what time »I'm Gonna Do All I Can« was recorded. But it is known that the B-Side, »Too Many Ties That Bind«, was recorded years earlier and actually released for the first time in 1964 on Sonja # 5000. On the Sonja 45, only Ike Turner is credited and the song title appears as »Too Many Ties That Bind«. Ana-B (from The Singing Bones blogspot) told me that what you hear on Sonja # 5000 is not just the same song, but the exact same recording we find on the Minit B-side. So, essentially, the newer side, »I'm Gonna Do All I Can«, was in 1969 pressed with the older recording. Moreover, this also explains the curious fact why the song on the Minit (re-)release was re-titled »You've Got Too Many Ties That Bind« even though the lyrics of the song do not feature the words »you've got«. Ana-B pointed out that Sonja # 5000 was probably an early Willie Mitchell production and that he got the belated credit on the Minit single. She also hinted me at John Ridley's Page where you'll find a review of Sonja # 5000 (the gist of it is quoted below in the comment section).

So what are we making of the Minit single? Musically, we have Tina singing two heartrending ballads here. Conceptually, we have a plea of marital thankfulness and an outcry of utter desperation, an explosive mix. Are they expressing just the same, after all? If looking at Tina's troubled life in and around 1969 and how she dealt with it this doesn't seem farfetched. But the B-side was recorded years before, and maybe also the A-side was not really a recent recording. So why put out both songs in 1969 (apart from the convenient fact of recycling, in part, older material)? I have no obvious answer to this. In fact, I am musing about this without truly knowing whether Tina's private life had any part in why these tunes were released in 1969. On the other hand, can you listen to these songs and be convinced, in earnest, that her private life had nothing to do with it? They just so closely reflect, in all their contrasting message, Tina's state of mind in 1969. And what she told in her auto- biography about the events in late 1968 and early '69 just so closely mirrors the lyrics of the B-side ... but she kept on holding up the facade and was stuck with Ike (that's where the A-side comes in) ...

For the record: »I'm Gonna Do All I Can (To Do Right By My Man)« never appeared on an album at the time (the Turner's only Minit LP being Live In Person). The song was first released in the '80s on LP and was afterwards included in CD packages of the Minit r&b output (one recently re-issued). »You've Got Too Many Ties That Bind« appears on a 1991 Japanese CD (TOCP-6597) which has all the Minit sides and is actually entitled You've Got Too Many Ties That Bind. 

Ike & Tina Turner: »I'm Gonna Do All I Can (To Do Right By My Man)« / »You've Got Too Many Ties That Bind«
on Minit # 32060 (1969):

Let's Hear the Lass

The fame of New Orleans as a creative hub for r&b and soul music is commonly buried under the legacies, seemingly more important and lasting, of Chicago, Detroit, Memphis, Philadelphia or even Cincinnati and New York. And while New Orleans's heritage of big band sound, jazz and cajun is widely celebrated, all other styles of music created in the Crescent City have been underrated or outright forgotten. Well, that is a mistake. Everybody who wants to correct this picture can easily go for John Broven's classical study Walking to New Orleans: The Story of New Orleans Rhythm and Blues (1974, the US-edition was published under the title Rhythm & Blues in New Orleans). And then we have, from recent years, the book by Jeff Hannusch (The Soul of New Orleans: A Legacy of Rhythm And Blues, Ville Platte 2001) and Rick Coleman's biography of Fats Domino (Blue Monday. Fats Domino and the Lost Dawn of Rock 'n' Roll, Cambridge, Mass. 2006). There is therefore no problem in re-evaluating the historical importance of New Orleans for r&b or soul.

Minit LP # 0004 (1963)

A good introduction to the musical richness of the town during the early 1960s offers the Minit LP »New Orleans: Home of the Blues, Volume 2« (Minit LP 0004, 1963). It contains songs by Ernie K-Doe, Benny Spellman, The Showmen and Irma Thomas. Nothwithstanding the somewhat misleading title as good as all songs on this LP clearly belong to the r&b or early southern soul tradition, though they are more or less strongly influenced by the peculiar New Orleans sound. And that's what makes this LP so interesting.

Six of the twelve songs on this LP are by Irma Thomas. Indeed, this LP has been called, with some justification, the »first album« of Irma Thomas (her actual solo albums were released only later on the Imperial label). Irma Thomas is renowned as the true »Soul-Queen of New Orleans« to the present day, and she was the most successful r&b singer active in and around New Orleans in the 1960s. (See also Grace Lichtenstein's / Laura Dankner's Musical Gumbo: The Music Of New Orleans, New York 1993, p. 172-191.) Between 1960 and 1966 she recorded for Ron, Minit, Bandy and Imperial, all labels closely connected to the Crescent City or even based there. In 1967 she moved on to Chess Records (Chicago). Irma Thomas's most famous hits were (and still are) »Ruler Of My Heart« (1963), »Wish Someone Would Care«, »Break-a-way« and »Time Is On My Side« (all from 1964). On this blog, you could already hear her song »It's Raining«.

The two songs you can listen to in the following are from the Minit LP # 0004. At the same time, they were released as A- and B-side of her third Minit-single (# 642) in January 1962. The first song, »I Done Got Over It«, had already been a hit in 1961 for Ernie K-Doe (civic name Ernest Kador Jr.) who also wrote the song. The second song, »Gone« was written, according to the information on the disc label, by a certain »N. Neville«, that is »Naomi Neville«, and this again was the songwriter's pseudonym of Allen Toussaint but actually the maiden name of his mother. Both songs resemble each other somewhat and say »New Orleans!« with every note you hear. This becomes particularly evident from the rhythm as well as from the accompanying piano which not a little reminds of the style of Fats Domino and his famous »triplets«. Ernie K-Doe and Allen Toussaint were the masterminds behind this particular »New Orleans-Soul« and those mainly responsible for the recordings at Minit Records.

That »I Done Got Over It« is a »gospelish tune« as a critic remarked in Billboard (February 3, 1962, p. 28) seems very far-fetched to me. Equally questionable is his verdict that the backing is »a bit old-fashioned«. But this can still be tolerated. However, the same critic's verdict concerning Irma's song »Gone« basically shows that the guy either wrote his first review that day or that he had a strong dislike of everything coming out of New Orleans: »Lass sells a slow tempo ballad with warmth, aided a bit by the group and combo. Lass is better than the material.« Well. Let's better listen to the »lass«:

Irma Thomas: »I Done Got Over It« / »Gone« from the Minit LP # 0004 (1963):

Drip Drop

Today is a wonderful day, sunny and all. The blossoming trees festively celebrate their springtime vitality in front of blue sky's horizon.
But as it is, I've got much work to do. The trees and the sky are for me but a faint reminder of the outside world. I wish it would rain ...

Gladys Knight & The Pips: »I Wish It Would Rain« from the Soul LP # 711 (1968):

Oooops, it works ...!

Irma Thomas: »It's Raining« from the Minit LP # 0004 (1963):