Little Boy Blue
Rufus featuring Chaka Khan
Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, 1975
Second in a series of under-appreciated album cuts by very well-known artists; I think this is my favorite Rufus & Chaka song. I understand the musical gravity of that statement hence the “I think…” This album is, of course, famous for it’s hits “Sweet Thing” and “Dance With Me.” It’s album cuts are also known to hip hop producers; you can hear “Ooh I Like Your Lovin’” in Boogie Down Productions’ “The Blueprint” and “Circle” in Little Brother’s “The Becoming.” But I’ve never heard or seen anyone mention this song.
I always tend to lean on the more cinematic songs out the bunch and this is no exception. This song doesn’t sound like anything else they’ve done or like most “soul” music I know of, due in large part to the electric guitar dueling with the string section. The non-linear progression of the song also adds to the drama, instead of building to one climax it almost builds to three but never really gets to any of them.
I sound like a high school band director but this song is all about the dynamics. It starts big but quickly steps down a couple notches before the first verse starts. The verse stays fairly laid back but then after a one bar lull, the song launches into (what usually would be) the chorus with my favorite bar of the song (1:15). Only it’s not a chorus at all, it’s all instrumental. This pattern repeats with the 2nd verse and 2nd “chorus” which turns into a extended guitar solo (over swung 16th notes in the strings?!)…ok, without, falling over the deep end of technical analysis, let’s just say there is a lot going on that isn’t typical and it works all works perfectly.
The icing on the cake is the wordless riff that Chaka sings from 4:16 to the end. It as if she’s saying “I’ve said everything I need to say but this is too good to end yet.” There is a similar ending on “Runaway,” my favorite Eric Roberson song. Of course, “Runaway” came 26 years later so I have to wonder if this was an indirect influence.
>> songs are available for two weeks [7 MB]
April 15th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
[…] is “lesser known tracks from known albums volume 3″ (1, 2). This album is well known for the excellent title track and the even bigger if less satisfying […]