Deadsplinter Up! All Night: Want You To Know

23/6/20 Jonee 37

Here’s one of my favorite songs of all time. Not a lot of lyrics, but these three lines pretty much tell the whole story.

The Rotary Connection – Want You to Know

The Rotary Connection were made up mostly of backing musicians and singers from the Chess Label. They included a receptionist at Chess’s office with a remarkable voice named Minnie Riperton. Minnie had actually been recording for a while, first as a member of the group The Gems, and later under the pseudonym Andrea Davis, but never found much success. Her time with The Rotary Connection didn’t help her quest for fame much either, but it did allow her to display her astonishing vocal range for the first time. The Rotary Connection did end up recording 6 LP’s (including a Christmas album) between 1966 and ’71 for the Cadet Concept label, a psychedelic Chess Records offshoot that was the brainchild of Leonard Chess’s son Marshall. I guess it kept him off the streets.

Post Rotary Connection, Minnie recorded one solo record with Charles Stepney, one of the producers of the RC albums, called Come To My Garden which is one of the most beautiful things ever put on tape. It features Les Fleur, a song that’s become something of a classic. After that, she was in semi-retirement raising her kids, Marc and Maya Rudolph in Gainesville when an intern at Epic Records rediscovered her. The fourth single off her first album for Epic was Lovin’ You which would become one of the most iconic songs of the 70’s, and it wasn’t until a few years ago that I realized she sings Maya’s name over and over again at the end of that song.

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37 Comments

    • I was working at a classical music festival in the 90s when Bobby McFerrin came in as a guest conductor.  I had no idea of his musical background until that week, watching him rehearse with the orchestra.  Whenever he wanted a particular section (2nd violins, flute, percussion, etc) to play something in a certain way, he would just borrow one of the instruments from the players and play it.  That dude has talent coming out his ears.

      • there might be some functionality issues with the new text editor i put in for the comments that i’m going to need feedback on from everyone, but it seems to work if it is just a link in text rather than a link share via the text editor?

        so you might need to click on the “remove link” icon…it’s a work in progress that i’m going to need everyone’s help with…to say the least.

        further details of a possible error message or what happens when you try to post your comment would help out with the fixing of this issue.

    • …awake?

      …seems like the answer is

      …I’m starting to think my sabatical from these threads is mostly an attempt to persuade myself that I’m getting some sleep…not sure who I think I’m fooling…so if I start starring things in old ones it maybe shouldn’t come as a surprise & I’ll thank you not to draw too many conculsions if the timestamps start adding up to more hours than there really ought to be in a day that includes rest

  15. O.o erasure
    thats been a while lol
    anyhoo…i miss most of the weekday duans… not coz im asleep but coz im in bed pretending to be
    fuckit…lying down is still rest right?
    this song has nothing to do with nothing….its just the kinda soundtrack my day is having

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