Feb 3, 2025 10:49 PM
The Essence of Emily
In the April 1982 issue of People magazine, under the heading “Lookout: A Guide To The Up and Coming,” jazz…
William Bell’s new album on Stax is titled This Is Where I Live.
(Photo: Ginette Callaway)Tell us about the title track.
My good friend Joe McCuen suggested I write something about my life. Well, I was working on this song called “This Is Where I Live” about a love relationship. But after my talk with Joe, I dropped that subject, broadened the song to be the story of my life, and kept the title.
Talk a little about your approach to songwriting.
Man, I love to watch people. I get my ideas and a lot of my inspiration from watching people and the things they do. I also write poems, so I’m always writing. Sometimes I’ll have a lyric and then structure a melody around it. Sometimes I have a melody in mind, and write lyrics that fit it.
I like truthful songs; if you write truthfully about situations that you’ve experienced—and maybe others have, too—then people will listen.
“Born Under a Bad Sign,” which you composed with Booker T. Jones, is one of your signature songs. How is the version on this new album different from your previous version?
Yeah, that song’s been recorded by everyone from Albert King and Jimi Hendrix to Cream, but Homer Simpson has probably made the most money on it [laughs]. [Actor Dan Castellaneta, who provides the voice for cartoon character Homer Simpson, sings the tune on the 1990 album The Simpsons Sing The Blues.]
John told me heard the song a certain way and he wanted to do it in a totally different way from the original, almost an acoustic take. I told him to let me listen to his treatment for a couple of days. The more I listened, the more I loved it, so we included it on the album.
“People Want To Go Home” has a gospel inflection. Have you ever thought about making a gospel album?
My mother wanted me to make a gospel album for her, but I never did, and now she’s passed on. I’ve been approached about doing a gospel album, and maybe I will one day. But I figure if do a good gospel album, I’ll be a preacher by then [laughs]. The song is really an assessment of a person’s life. When you get older, you’re tired and you just want to know you can go home and rest.
How do you think you’ve evolved as an artist?
Well, I hope I’ve evolved some. I’ve had a colorful life. I’m much more comfortable in my place now as an artist. I am pleased that grandparents, parents and children all show up at my concerts, and they all sing along with me. You realize you are a part of their lives and that you have a responsibility to them to sing the truth.
I studied acting for a while and worked at the Academy Theater in Atlanta, and I’d like to do more acting. I’m also working with the Stax Music Academy and the Berklee College of Music, helping kids do concerts on their own. Some of them remind me of myself at that age; soul music is in good hands with them.
I had no idea that I’d have this kind of longevity. If you can live this long and still have a career, I say, “Wow.”
(Note: For more info on William Bell, visit his website.)
“She said, ‘A lot of people are going to try and stop you,’” Sheryl Bailey recalls of the advice she received from jazz guitarist Emily Remler (1957–’90). “‘They’re going to say you slept with somebody, you’re a dyke, you’re this and that and the other. Don’t listen to them, and just keep playing.’”
Feb 3, 2025 10:49 PM
In the April 1982 issue of People magazine, under the heading “Lookout: A Guide To The Up and Coming,” jazz…
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