Son of Timatollah

Here, at Matt Welch's place. With Bette Midler, Burt Bacharach, Rita Coolidge, Leon Russell (I still <heart> Leon Russell (just last night listened to him sing "Crystal Closet Queen" about Little Richard), Sonic Youth, and starring Bonnie Bramlett. Featuring Karen and Richard Carpenter.

I don't know Bramlett's work well. Beyond the Delaney & Bonnie stuff, the single performance of hers I'm most familiar with is an exquisite backup vocal on Lowell George's performance of "Heartache" on his underrated solo album Thanks, I'll Eat It Here. Beautiful voice.

Welch's piece is based on the link to this Wikipedia entry that he saw in this post at Scott MacMillan's blog.

I guess I'm surprised that anyone who's listened to that song for most of our lives wouldn't know that it was about groupie sex, even if Richard Carpenter did change "sleep with me" to "be with me." I guess I just took it for granted that people understood that "Superstar" and "What's Your Name" were two sides of the same story.

Extra credit: Find the secret Lowell George tribute in the opening paragraph!

Labels: bonnie bramlett, carpenters, matt welch, music, music history, pop culture, superstar