This is what comes to my mind the moment I think of Luther.
When he died, that’s what I kept playing as I went into a cave of my own feelings. And that intro? “When I say goodbye, it’s never for long.” I took that seriously. The beat just makes me hit my two-step while snapping. This is hands down my FAVORITE Luther Vandross song for so many reasons. My 5 Favorite Luther Vandross Songs Power of Love I picked out 5 of my top Luther songs, which was like picking out 5 pairs of my favorite shoes. So, as I *wall slide* down memory lane for one of the greatest voices of our generation, I will jam to his music. Even in death, folks don’t give him the tribute and props like other artists of his caliber. It was HIS.Īnd I don’t think the man got as many props as he deserved while he was alive (although he did win 7 Grammys). Luther Vandross took old songs and when he sang them, folks forgot the originals. That man’s vocal chords were clearly coated with Heaven’s ambrosia and dusted with angel St. Cos we were all set to go over the top when the Old Mister Brennan ad came on.Īnyway, back in the kitchen, Luther Vandross has gone and Alice Cooper (sorry, the wife) is heading out the door.Ĭarmel is the wife's sister, the sound one, and I can imagine her face when she sees, strolling towards her, a glam rock icon thinly disguised as her little sister.Today is the 8th anniversary of Luther Vandross passing, and chile… he is STILL missed. He took a slug of his pint, and swallowed. I was remembering something that never actually happened. But I was lying in the muck with all the other lads. Just to be absolutely clear: the Secret Woman is not a veteran of the First World War - or any other war, as far as I'm aware. And I swear to God, Charlie, I was remembering the war. D'you know that song, 'The Green Fields of France?' he says. I was with my pal, the Secret Woman, a while back - last year - and we were chatting about all the First World War programmes that were on the telly. We become our own story tellers - or something. With songs, though, we don't just remember we make more of our moments and feelings. The photos show us a moment we can recognise, and we remember people we'd forgotten, say, or a hairstyle we wish we'd forgotten. Photographs are good too, but songs do more. Songs haul us back into our pasts in a way that nothing else - no other art - really can. At least, that's what I'll say when she has a go at me later for not warning her - when she gets back from wherever she's going.Īnyway.
I see now: she's wearing her coat, so she's on her way out. But she'll see that, herself, the next time she's in the bathroom. She's looking a bit like Alice Cooper, two black lines running down her cheeks. Just to be clear, she wipes hers and I wipe mine. The song's over and we wipe our eyes, me and the wife. The father in the song isn't my father and I'm definitely not Luther Vandross.
I miss my Da but he's been dead 30 years. Luther is singing about missing his father. The church organist played 'Anarchy in the UK' when her Da walked her up the aisle on our wedding day.īut anyway, this is different. I'm famous for my detestation of ballads and all things smoochy and sentimental. The song Luther is singing is called 'Dance With My Father' and normally I'd hate it. I think we might have been identical twins in a past life.īut anyway. We stand in our kitchen, just us and the low-fat super milk - and we listen to a Luther Vandross song, from beginning to end, for the first time in our lives. I don't blame you for blubbering, love. That milk must be really rancid, is it? And I was about to give it a sniff, to be on the safe side. I was looking at it, trying to make sure that it was just ordinary milk. The only machine in my hand was a carton of milk. Luckily, I wasn't driving or in control of any other machinery. I heard Luther Vandross a couple of days ago and I started crying.