Remembering Percy Sledge
To pay tribute to the late Percy Sledge, who passed away on April 14th at the age of 74, I decided to pick a few of my favorite Percy Sledge tracks and write a little bit about each one.
“When a Man Loves a Woman” (1966) – There’s absolutely no way I could leave this one off of the list. One of the most enduring testaments to the resilience of the human spirit, it is an indelible classic whose reputation is completely deserved. Sledge is straining his voice to its limits, not exactly hitting all the notes, but pushing things as hard as he can. It’s a pleading and urgent refusal to succumb to heartbreak. Spooner Oldham’s placid farfisa organ and the hoplessly out-of-tune horns at the end only add to this marvelous, if imperfect classic.
“When She Touches Me” (1966) – Another one of my favorites from When a Man Loves a Woman. Roger Hawkins has a light touch on the ride cymbal, and Oldham’s spindly organ get things going. Then, at about the 1:30 mark, the horns kick in, Hawkins slams the drums and Sledge sings “And everything’s right!” This moment might be Sledge’s best, even surpassing the sullen beauty of “When a Man Loves a Woman.”
“Put a Little Lovin’ On Me” (1966) – Sledge was known almost exclusively for his ballads, but this one has a real uptempo drive, with Sledge delivering a lighthearded, almost playful vocal. Some knifing guitar and scattered horns make this one sound like it could have been recorded a few hundred miles north in Memphis for Stax.
“Take Time to Know Her” (1968) – The organ on this one immediately recalls “When a Man Loves a Woman.” It’s another tearful ballad from Sledge. His voice is more present on this one, never overpowered by the drums or horns like in his earlier work. Sledge is almost unsure of himself on the vocal. Almost like he’s not sure how he’s supposed to feel about the narrative he is telling. His slightly awkward phrasing, perhaps the result of him having very little formal musical training, make him sound even more vulnerable than normal. Another classic.
“Out of Left Field” (1968) – Another timeless ballad from Sledge, this one demonstrates the heavy country music influence that was so much a part of what made Sledge so distinctive. His inflection has plenty of twang, and the gospel guitar and backing vocals make this one hard to pin to any genre, although the tremelo on the guitar certainly recalls Pops Staples. Sledge proves himself to be a versatile singer, blurring genres without much effort or even self-awareness.
“I’ll Be Your Everything” (1974) – Like “Out of Left Field,” this one also has a heavy country and gospel influence. The backing band is a bit more contemporary, and the strings occasionally become overwrought, but if anything Sledge is a more accomplished singer at this point in his career. In lesser hands, this song might come off as a bit corny, but there’s enough nuance in Sledge’s interpretation that the song never gets too weighted down by sap or sentimentality.