Happy Soulful Sunday...
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Get off my LAWN! "Grumpy Old Farts"
- Thread starter B-string
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Thanks for another good one. That’s what you call mood music. It’s specially good when you consider that the soul ballad was recorded in 1962, predating so many standards. An evolution from slow doo-wap.
Otis toured on the southern chitlin’ circuit. In the days of segregation, black performers couldn’t perform in clubs for whites. These clubs provided venues. Pay was low in the early 60’s, it was based on the gate. Typically a 60/40 split in favour of the artists on each $0.50-$0.75 ticket. They were lucky if they broke even. But it helped support the records. A lot of great songs were written on the road in seedy motel rooms. Loneliness was a common theme.
This was Otis’ first Stax single. There was a lot riding on it and it did very well, initially selling 800,000 copies. The lyrics connected with many.
“These Arms Of Mine"
These arms of mine
They are lonely
Lonely and feeling blue
These arms of mine
They are yearning
Yearning from wanting you
And if you
Would let them
Hold you Oh how grateful I will be
These arms of mine
They are burning
Burning from wanting you
These arms of mine
They are wanting
Wanting to hold you
And if you
Would let them hold you
Ohh how grateful I will be
Come on, come on baby
Just be my little woman (yeah)
Just be my lover I need somebody,
(Somebody) To treat me right
(Ohh) I need your warm loving arms to hold me tight
And I need your tender lips too
Hold me, hold me.
Otis toured on the southern chitlin’ circuit. In the days of segregation, black performers couldn’t perform in clubs for whites. These clubs provided venues. Pay was low in the early 60’s, it was based on the gate. Typically a 60/40 split in favour of the artists on each $0.50-$0.75 ticket. They were lucky if they broke even. But it helped support the records. A lot of great songs were written on the road in seedy motel rooms. Loneliness was a common theme.
This was Otis’ first Stax single. There was a lot riding on it and it did very well, initially selling 800,000 copies. The lyrics connected with many.
“These Arms Of Mine"
These arms of mine
They are lonely
Lonely and feeling blue
These arms of mine
They are yearning
Yearning from wanting you
And if you
Would let them
Hold you Oh how grateful I will be
These arms of mine
They are burning
Burning from wanting you
These arms of mine
They are wanting
Wanting to hold you
And if you
Would let them hold you
Ohh how grateful I will be
Come on, come on baby
Just be my little woman (yeah)
Just be my lover I need somebody,
(Somebody) To treat me right
(Ohh) I need your warm loving arms to hold me tight
And I need your tender lips too
Hold me, hold me.
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My first really good bass was a '63 Hofner Beatle bass. Dead flats, uprightish tone. Tiny neck, strong pickups, neck dive.
I sold that and picked up a '64 Fender Jazz. Smooth and fast neck. 1.5" at the nut. Not too heavy. Great tone, always sat in the mix well.
Now I use an active '83 Ibanez Musician PJ. Dead ground wounds. Lots of palm/foam muting. Spank when I need it. J type neck. 3 band eq. Along with my always-on HPF to limit bandwidth, I can beat any rig into submission with it.
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Passinwind
I know nothing.
- Dec 3, 2003
- 23,079
- 46,038
- Disclosures
- Designer/Toaster Tech @ Passinwind Electronics
Zero. And I like it that way.
In all honesty, I've always preferred mixing live shows to playing them. For me that meant working with (often much) better bands, making better pay, and not having to travel. But I retired from doing that a few years ago as well. I'm pretty much down to being on one sub list, which last year translated into two day-of-show calls for big band gigs that pay the band entity but not the players. That money goes back into supporting local school music programs, and occasionally things like charts, lighting and PA stuff, etc. Going into a reading gig like that stone cold can be quite an adventure, but I really enjoy that.
Eventually I could see doing my originals act again maybe once a month, and hopefully something else about as often.
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Gotta wonder how long the original was 'fore they cut it for 'air play'. Also, how long live? I can see the dancers lovin' every minute of it.
I’ve seen a lot of vintage Hofner Beatle basses with neck joint issues. I played one in the 60’s that came with a flat carpenter’s pencil shimming it to obtain a playable angle.
When I was buying my current one, I went to a local store that kept pulling them out from the back room. There must have been a dozen. I finally found a good one and it’s stood up well for over 35 years. Most were separating at the neck. Today I would try to reset the neck but back then I was too worried about undertaking it.
The one that got away. Around 1970, friend needed some parts for his BSA 650cc motorcycle. He offered me a beautiful early 60’s black Jazz bass for $75. It played like a dream. I passed on it. I thought that it could have been stolen as he never talked about playing.
Old school Hofner workers.
Thank you Mr. @beans-on-toast . I already see a few I'm drooling over!
It's been a couple years since the country cover band got paid, . . . . or rehearsed, for that matter! We've all got family commitments that make scheduling anything impractical; they with children, me with grandchildren (my latest is now 2½ days old and we're staying at his house!).
At the moment, my weekly church gig (except this week) and monthly bluegrass jams are tremendously enriching, if not remuneratively conducive. The "working drummer" at my church gig is miraculously on time, in perfect time, every week. I assume, and hope, it is a paid gig for him. But, at my more mature (ahem) experience level, I do not envy his schedule or revenue one tiny bit.
Passinwind
I know nothing.
- Dec 3, 2003
- 23,079
- 46,038
- Disclosures
- Designer/Toaster Tech @ Passinwind Electronics
Heh. The Hofner rep in TO is a good friend of mine. A few years ago at NAMM we were discussing my preamp designs and he pitched me really hard on taking a new Chinese Beatle Bass and filling it up with electronics a la the pre-Alembic Guild basses that Phil Lesh and Jack Casady played. Tempting in many ways, but I just don't do short scale basses. But never say never!
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Gotta wonder how long the original was 'fore they cut it for 'air play'. Also, how long live? I can see the dancers lovin' every minute of it.
The Stax label release was 2:35. When the recording left the studio, it went to Atlantic. Often there were various stems, or submixes. Nothing was done live on TV. So there was often an instrument track that the artists sung over. They would ride the vocal to balance it.
When I started out, our band visited a hits AM station. They played mono 45’s. If you wanted to be played, the song had to fit on a 45, max was five minutes, but optimal mastering was three minutes or under.
The DJ was literally in a closet, standing room only, no chair. They added compression and a touch reverb to give songs more intensity. Commercials and intros were on tape.
If you wanted to get in the air, the studio had to meet radio’s requirements. They did what they had to do to get airplay.
Like you said, live they might milk the song. The Youngbloods could play Get Together for a half an hour.
I picture the dancers at a live show just kinda holding on and swaying-and getting 'warm'.The Stax label release was 2:35. When the recording left the studio, it went to Atlantic. Often there were various stems, or submixes. Nothing was done live on TV. So there was often an instrument track that the artists sung over. They would ride the vocal to balance it.
When I started out, our band visited a hits AM station. They played mono 45’s. If you wanted to be played, the song had to fit on a 45, max was five minutes, but optimal mastering was three minutes or under.
The DJ was literally in a closet, standing room only, no chair. They added compression and a touch reverb to give songs more intensity. Commercials and intros were on tape.
If you wanted to get in the air, the studio had to meet radio’s requirements. They did what they had to do to get airplay.
Like you said, live they might milk the song. The Youngbloods could play Get Together for a half an hour.
Short scale shouldn’t scare anyone away.
I have a high frequency amp waiting in the queue.
Ever try a low temp solder product such as Chip Quik for reworking surface mount parts?
Invalid Link Removed
Looks interesting. Demos on youtube.
http://www.chipquik.com
Passinwind
I know nothing.
- Dec 3, 2003
- 23,079
- 46,038
- Disclosures
- Designer/Toaster Tech @ Passinwind Electronics
I've never had much problem just desoldering SMDs with regular solder wick. But I also haven't worked with anything smaller than 603 pitch so far. Please let us know how it goes!
I'm not scared of short scale, I just haven't ever played one I really loved. Different strokes, I guess. Maybe an Alembic would work for me, I've always loved Stanley Clarke's sound.
Thanks @SoulReflection for the great song and thanks to @beans-on-toast for the background. Great Soulful Sunday listening! We were watching a special about the USA in the 40's and it was sad that Hattie McDaniel (Mammy) was sitting next to the kitchen because of her color when called up to receive her Academy Award. We are a lot further along than we were back then.
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Your welcome, Will...It is good to remember our history, to recall the good times and, hopefully, not to repeat the bad...
- Oct 22, 2015
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- I am an affiliate for Ari Cap.
And still not out of quarantine:
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Del Ramos of The Association was playing an Ibanez Mikro when I saw them last year. I got to talk to him and he said that he liked it, so there is a place for short scale basses.
I didn’t realize that people expressed animosity towards short scale basses. I have two and nobody has ever knocked me for it.
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