Whoa, Mack Daddy!

"Mr. Womack...uh, I don't know how to tell you this...but...Elton John called. He says he wants his glasses back."

Bobby Womack - Fire and Rain - My favorite of all his covers. The brotha gets over on this one...

Bobby Womack - Sweet Caroline - Arguably the finest performance of this song I've heard. That is, best I've heard since I performed it with the American Mastodon and a friend at Dennison University's weekly karaoke night at the student union.

Bobby Womack - The Preacher/More Than I Can Stand - Imagine a black baptist preacher telling a hilarious story to his congregation about walking in on his wife cheating on him. Then, add some funky music behind him and you've got a close approximation of this song.

In my opinion, if you have a discussion about the greatest soul singers of all time and Bobby Womack’s name is not mentioned, you’ve committed a criminal offense. Whether writing songs (including the Rolling Stones 1st U.K. #1 “It’s All Over Now)”or playing guitar (on Sly & the Family Stone’s “There’s a Riot Goin On”), he’s been a part of many of pop music’s greatest albums. Check him out at ubl.com to get the full biography, but the guy had the full swing going from a pastor’s son singing gospel tunes, to becoming a rich and famous soul musician, to bottoming out from drug abuse, to desiring to record a country album (with the hilariously stunning title “Step Aside, Charley Pride, Give Another Nigger a Try”), to becoming a washed up soul singer with some famous friends, and most recently recording a gospel album. The man has done it all. However, I will always remember him for two things, 1) His “inventively reimagined pop covers” and 2) His “lengthy spoken philosophical monologues”. Like few performers, Bobby Womack gives you a glimpse of his soul with every performance. Full of humor, melancholy, and passion, he laid it all out on vinyl for the rest of the world to experience with him.