Dusty Springfield | Take It Easy

As he tells us in his post This Job I Got, Jim has chosen ‘song that mentions a profession’ as today’s Song Lyric Sunday theme, at the suggestion of Di, whose blog at pensitivity101 is well worth a visit or several. My chosen profession may feel more like a calling, but as my stepmum is an ordained minister in the Church of England I’m keeping it in the family by choosing any combination you like of vicar/minister/preacher as my ‘profession.’ It is Sunday, after all! I’m playing you three songs today, which are very varied in nature and take rather different approaches to the theme.

This is my lead song, which has provided me with today’s title:

And the lyrics:

Billy Ray was the preacher’s sonAnd when his daddy would visit he’d come alongWhen they gathered ’round and started talkin’That’s when Billy would take me walkin’Out through the back yard we’d go walkin’Then he’d look into my eyesLord knows, to my surprise

The only one who could ever reach meWas the son of a preacher manThe only boy who could ever teach meWas the son of a preacher manYes, he was, he was, ooh, yes, he was

Being good isn’t always easyNo matter how hard I tryWhen he started sweet-talkin’ to meHe’d come and tell me “Everything is alright”He’d kiss and tell me “Everything is alright”Can I get away again tonight?

The only one who could ever reach meWas the son of a preacher manThe only boy who could ever teach meWas the son of a preacher manYes, he was, he was, ooh, Lord knows, he was (yes, he was)

How well I rememberThe look that was in his eyesStealin’ kisses from me on the slyTakin’ time to make timeTellin’ me that he’s all mineLearnin’ from each other’s knowin’Lookin’ to see how much we’ve grown and

The only one who could ever reach meWas the son of a preacher manThe only boy who could ever teach meWas the son of a preacher manYes, he was, he was, oh, yes, he was

He was the sweet-talkin’ son of a preacher man(The only boy who could ever teach me)I kissed me the son of a preacher man(The only one who could ever move me)The sweet-lovin’ son of a preacher man(The only one who could ever groove me)(Was the son of a preacher man)(The only one who could ever reach me)(Was the son of a)

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: John Hurley / Ronnie Wilkins

Dusty Springfield – real name Mary O’Brien – first came to fame as part of the pop band The Springfields, which also included her brother Dionysius, who went by the stage name of Tom Springfield. They had several hits both in the UK and the US, and then Dusty embarked on her solo career in late 1963. She had a whole string of hit singles, notably You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me, which was #1 in the UK and #4 in the US. Son Of A Preacher Man was released in November 1968 as the lead single for her album Dusty In Memphis, which came out in January 1969 in the US and April in the UK. The single peaked at #9 in the UK and #10 in the US – funny how our memories play tricks on us, as I would have thought it got higher than that if I hadn’t looked it up. Dusty was much less successful in the album charts, and this one wasn’t a hit in the UK, and only reached #99 in the US, though in 2020 it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Not bad for a little English girl! Dusty died of cancer in March 1999, a month shy of her sixtieth birthday, but that wonderful smoky voice of hers lives on in her records.

I said that I would be playing three very different songs today. This next one is as close as any of them get to recognising religion as a profession, though in this case it is more of an industry, particularly in the US where huge amounts of money are made. This sends the whole thing up, and is one of my favourite music videos:

The Hooters packed so much into that, and the over the top characterisations are brilliant. I particularly love the visual references to Grant Wood‘s painting American Gothic. That dates back to 1930, and I wonder what the couple depicted in it would think of how their country has changed: there are a couple of clues in the video as to how the band thought of this! This was a track on their July 1987 album One Way Home, which reached #27 in the US but didn’t chart here: none of their albums have, which I think is to our discredit – but I bought them! It was also released as a single, reaching #61 in the US but somehow getting to #22 here in the UK: I can only think that was due to the birth of MTV Europe that same year, though I do recall hearing it on the radio too. The band, it should be noted, are American, so don’t think this is anyone else taking a pop at tv evangelists – they are entirely your creation!

I promised you a third song, didn’t I. After two which might not be deemed to be particularly religious, given that I’m taking that as my ‘profession’ for today’s theme, I though I’d leave you with something a little more spiritual in nature. I absolutely loved this one when it was released, bought the album and played it to death, but I wouldn’t mind betting that few, if any, reading this will know of it:

The Strawbs began life in 1964 as The Strawberry Hill Boys, named after the area of London where the founder members were in teacher training college. Grave New World, was their fourth album, released in February 1972 after Rick Wakeman had left the band to join Yes, of whom you might have heard – that’s more likely than your knowing The Strawbs, to be honest! Benedictus was the only single released from it, but it didn’t make the charts. They were more of an albums band at that time, which was reflected in its chart placings of #11 in the UK, #49 in Australia and even #191 in the US. After Rick Wakeman’s departure, band leader Dave Cousins consulted the I Ching asking what to do next. The answer from the coins, “Humble must he constant be, where the paths of wisdom lead, distant is the shadow of the setting sun”, forms part of the first two lines of the song, and probably does wonders for my credibility as a serious purveyor of meaningful songs . Or not.

That’s it for today. As I said, they are a mixed bunch, but I hope you have enjoyed somewhere between one and three of them. Enjoy the rest of your day, and I’ll see you again for Tuesday Tunes – correctly numbered, this time!