just like many other songs on this list, this one seemed to fall in my lap unexpectedly. i had long recognized otis redding as the voice behind 'sittin on the dock of the bay,' a song i had definitely liked, but i am not sure what compelled me to download this song when i did (it was early college sometime). but there it was on my ipod one day. the first time i heard 'i've been loving you too long' i got chills. all the way from my feet to the top of my head. there was a connection. maybe it was the honesty in it. maybe it was the slow buildup that culminated in the release of such heavy emotion in redding's voice. i'm not sure what it was, but it got me thinking.
there is nothing more moving than hearing someone pour their heart and soul into something. maybe because there we recognize similar things inside ourselves-- people expressing the things we wish we could express. maybe that is the connection. this song does that, reaching down inside to some common denominator that seems more primal and real than so much music out there.
the sound of redding's voice tells a lot. there is something there that feels real, is real. the voice of someone who has been there. it is grit and it is dirt and it is honey and it is warmth.
sometimes music just makes you see more clearly. this song sortof opened my eyes in a way that i cannot exactly understand or explain. but it definitely got to me. and got me to further explore more of otis redding's work, which is all wonderful, wonderful stuff. more than anything, this song got me interested in the powerful forces that lie behind "soul" (in its musical and human forms).
an amazing performance from backintheday:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGlKJDEI1Nk
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