Chanson Papillon
I wish I had been mature enough to appreciate Luther--"Big Luther, curl not quite right Luther"--while he was yet alive. He hits now but struck as old then. It was music for people who weren't on their parents insurance, whose concerns were how they were going to pay their rent not how to not repeat an article of clothing for 1 month's worth of school days.
This Saturday, since it was nice and I had to return a way overdue book to the hardly ever open New York Performing Arts Library, I charged up the iPod and hit the streets, shuffling a library that runs from Abelardo Vásquez to Wynton Kelly. In the midst of all that esoteric shit lay a not always so stout soul legend from the city of wind, a woman who earned her mono-moniker: Chaka Khan. I've been privileged to hear her live twice, once when I was too young to appreciate it and recently, when she was a little too past her prime to be properly appreciated. But her seventies/eighties revelation of a voice, preserved pristine on record, compressed and uploaded to my MP3 player will forever be in top form as on "Papillon," a Luther Vandross featured track that came into rotation right at the end of my trek to the bilbiotheque. The big single off her second solo album, Naughty (1980), "Papillon" was written by Gregg Diamond, the disco producer behind Andrea True Connection's "More More More," and originally recorded by Luther Vandross with Whitney's mama, Cissy Houston, contributing vocals. Luther only humbled himself so much when he appeared as a background vocalist on Chaka's version. He was anything but unassuming: on the chorus he lets his voice linger loudly. It's lovely but only makes sense given the context. Stars don't share, they shine. Not that Luther in any way steals Chaka's thunder-- she had a powerful voice, an original take and her own passion--but he, at moments, basks in the spotlight maybe rightfully so, since it sort of was his song first. Either way, they complemented each other, fleshing out Gregg Diamond's incredible lyric: "a long song of surrender in blue." It always takes my breath away.
"Papillon AKA Hot Butterfly" by Chaka Khan [MP3]
"Papillon" by Luther Vandross [Buy from iTunes] (Sorry, I would have posted Luther's version too but can't find a DRM free copy.)
*© Cedric The Entertainer in the The Original Kings of Comedy
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Comments
1.
tL says:
i am most indebted to my mother, who's fan-status of mr. vandross was at an all time high while me and the sybs were growing up. i think we still have VHS tapes of video soul episodes with everybody from young new edition to take six to luther vandross featuring gregory hines. she and i would reenact the duet and i would sing my heart out; listening to luther vandross makes me feel every bit as good now as it did then... on the star-shine tip, the classy thing about stars of yesteryear (as illustrated by your chaka reference) is that they could shine together - simultaneously - without beef. if there was ego tripping, they were professional enough not to let everyone see it. (can i be nostalgic for a time that was not my own? hm...)
07/16/2007 at 9:44 PM