Bob Babbitt, Bassist, 1937 - 2012

by Dick Mac

There are few bass lines more readily identifiable by my generation than this:

If you are over 50 you have likely heard that riff repeatedly throughout your life.  It is the opening of a Motown hit.  It was created by Bob Babbitt, a Funk Brother.

It is amazing to me that any of the Funk Brothers would be 74 years-old.  Harder to accept, still, is that they are not all going to be with us forever. 

Bob Babbitt died yesterday, July 16, 2012.

Rest in peace. 

Godspeed.

Bob Babbitt, bassist for Motown's hit-making studio band Funk Brothers, dies of cancer at 74

Bob Babbitt, wikipedia entry

Bob Babbitt web site

Dusty, Dusty, Dusty

by Dick Mac

Dusty Springfield performed a lot of duets on television. Not enough of them, of course, but there are decades worth of them.

I tried to pick just one, but had to publish a collection because I just couldn't pick one.

Dusty and the television camera had a love affair in the 1960s, and I was a beneficiary of it!

Here she sings the Nile Rodgers-penned, Diana Ross hit "Upside Down," with Tom Jones



Here she sings the Motown classic "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" with Englebert Humperdink:



Here she interviews The Beatles:



And here is a montage of duets that makes me feel like I'm on an acid trip, because it's mostly so surreal:



"A House Is Not A Home" with Burt Bacharach:

A Musical Interlude

by Dick Mac

Listening to 45 RPM records was the saving activity of my youth. I would listen to anything, even if it was music I didn't really care for very much. Somehow, bands like The Lettermen, The Four Seasons, and other 1960s singing groups had their records everywhere. I would listen to an insipid falsetto love song followed by a grinding and funky soul song.

I liked The Monkees more than I liked The Beatles; but like everyone else in my neck of the woods, I preferred Motwon and soul. If my 45s were spread across the floor, there would be more Motown (including Tamla and Gordy) and Atlantic labels than any other.

Everyone listened to Supremes songs. Everyone. The Supremes were on television and the radio all the time, even after The Beatles came to town.

Ed Sullivan loved them, Dick Clark loved them, they were on Shindig and Hullabaloo and even Where The Action Is.

Everyone listened to Supremes songs! Here is a remarkably high-quality clip of "Where Did Our Love Go."