Summertime
Bobby Womack & The Roots
Red Hot + Rhapsody, 1998
This is another Dale Mixtape Classic that I finally acquired while out in San Francisco last week. This was the opening song on the second mixtape he made me (circa 1999) which cemented his “people’s champ” status. I got all excited when I found a promo Levi’s “Red Hot and Rhapsody” sampler for $2 at Amoeba with the song on it, but it’s an edit and cuts off the spoken intro which arguably the best part of the song…boo. Luckily I also ripped the full album from my new b.f.f. Valerie.
Red Hot + Rhapsody is part of an ongoing compilation series by the Red Hot Organization which is “the leading international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture.” RH+ Rhapsody is tribute to George Gershwin, there’s also Red Hot + Riot which is a tribute to Fela and several others.
Other than Bobby Womack’s voice and his bastardization of Gershwin’s classic lyrics (like “fish are steady jumping”), the upright bass (Leonard Hubbard I presume) really makes the song.
Can anyone tell me what’s going on with the bugged-out backing vocals at 4:29? It sounds like he’s singing in harmonics - is that possible?
>> songs are available for two weeks [13.8 MB]
