Betcha By Golly Wow

Famous 56, playing all the Boss hits, all the Boss time!

I am often pleasantly surprised when I discover that someone who I know is a fan of whatever variant of Rock music they enjoy, also happens to really enjoy some old school Soul. I find this happening most often among fans of well constructed Pop songs, which means they appreciate good songwriting; something that the Soul and Pop music of the 60's and 70's had in an almost unfair abundance.

I am also very grateful to have been born and raised near Philadelphia, where I got as diverse a musical education as it was possible to get. The local 'boss hit' AM radio stations of the mid to late 60's played The Turtles right next to Stevie Wonder, followed by Paul Revere & The Raiders and then some Northern Soul on a local indie label. It was all wonderful. Check out this weekly hit singles chart from August of 1967 for a snapshot of the musical times. (Click on the chart to expand.) We haven't seen this sort of variety in radio programming since then.

During the years of the Nixon presidency from 1968 through 1974, we were fortunate to witness the arrival of some of the greatest, and most musically diverse Pop, Soul and Rock music ever made. That was just about all we had going for us then, what with our soldiers still being needlessly killed in Vietnam, and Tricky Dick hunkered down in the White House like a gin-crazed badger. Weird times, indeed.

There should be no argument that Detroit provided us with great Soul music that was 'The Sound Of Young America' during the 60's. But come the 1970's, the muse, feeling maybe a bit more grown up, turned its attention east to Philadelphia. With that move came a resurgence of vocal groups, often featuring a tenor lead. For me, that door was kicked open by The Delfonics' "La-La Means I Love You", whose opening drum break has been sampled as much as anything by James Brown. There was also "Cowboys To Girls" by The Intruders, which I loved for its raw sound, despite the orchestration and vocal harmony. But the best was yet to come.

Their 1971 debut album had 5 Top 10 singles on it!

Some of the sweetest Soul music ever recorded was made by The Stylistics, and that's primarily because their hit records were a high water mark for the songwriting and arranging talents of Thom Bell and Linda Creed. The Stylistics proved to be one of the most successful soul groups of the first half of the 1970's. The group had 12 consecutive Top 10 hits in the US, including "Stop, Look, Listen", "You Are Everything", "You Make Me Feel Brand New", "I'm Stone In Love With You", "Break Up To Make Up", and today's featured song, "Betcha By Golly Wow".

An earlier draft of the song had been recorded in 1970 for the Bell label by actress Connie Stevens, as "Keep Growing Strong". But a slight rewrite and a new arrangement got The Stylistics to #3 in March of 1972. This, my friends, is songwriting at its apex. Dig this 4 minute work of indisputably soulful art.

Many have attempted to cover "Betcha By Golly Wow" since, with wildly mixed results. That roster includes Grant Green, Ramsey Lewis, Freddie Hubbard, Tuck Andress, Dionne Warwick, Johnny Mathis, Phyllis Hyman, Smokey Robinson, Aaron Neville, and Pat Metheny. Parts of the song were sampled for recordings by Mariah Carey and Busta Rhymes. But this tune has proved to be one of those that will not bend to reimagining easily. The definitive rendition was the Stylistics' hit. So the only thing left to do is to let the song be as it is, and ask it to dance. There was no one more suited to that assignment than His Purple Badness himself, Prince.

Prince, in the 90's

The work of The Stylistics, along with the Philly Sound in general, proved to be very influential to the generations of singers and songwriters that followed, and Prince is a major example of that. Despite his eccentricities, he is an unmatched talent as a composer, arranger, producer, vocalist, and multi-faceted musician. The term 'musical genius' is insultingly insufficient when discussing Prince. He's in his own league.

The 90's proved to be a prolific time for Prince. We got to hear a lot of what many fans still consider to be some of his very best work. Up until 1996, Prince's album releases had been tightly controlled by a constipating contract with Warner Brothers, which severely limited what he could put out at any one time. This created an enormous backlog of material, which Prince began releasing as soon as he was freed from that contract. His celebration of this release, the monumental 1996 album, "Emancipation", was a bursting dam of new music in a 3 CD set that also contained no less than 6 cover versions. These tracks not only fit right in with the album, but were also songs that Prince had been wanting to record, but was contractually prohibited from doing so. Prince said at the time that the Warner contract stipulated that they would only release Prince's original material.

Prince's version of "Betcha By Golly Wow" was released as a single on November 19th; the 23rd birthday of his then-wife, Mayte Garcia. The next day, Prince performed the song on The Oprah Winfrey Show. The single charted fairly well in the US, getting to #31, and just missed the Top 10 on the UK Singles chart, peaking at #11. Again, I have a feeling that the song was one of those that would not easily yield to just anyone. But what song could resist being seduced by Prince? It obvious that he loved the song, as he writes in the album's booklet, "Maybe, the prettiest melody ever written... manyacherryburst...". Somehow, I don't think he's referring to a Les Paul paint job there.

About 90% of the recorded output of Prince is currently available at a reasonable price. There are some out of print titles from the 90's that are now commanding collectors' premiums. Avid Prince collectors certainly have plenty to look for to jeopardize their wallets. But some titles, like "Emancipation", are now more affordable new than used. However, that could soon change.

This past April, Prince and Warner Brothers decided to kiss and make friends again, ending a long and often bitter feud. A deluxe reissue of "Purple Rain" has already been announced, with others likely to follow. Prince will also secure the return of ownership of all of his Warner master recordings, which a huge bone of contention in the 90's. But, he would soon have the ability to get them back under the Copyright Revision Act of 1976, which states that any master recording copyright can be terminated 35 years after it was granted. The law went into effect in 1978, which happens to be the same year that Prince's first album came out. Since all of his albums are due to come back to him fairly soon anyway, that means there must be a better reason than that to do the deal.

I think it's because the years haven't been that great to Prince financially. For a major artist, Prince hasn't sold all that well since he went indie. According to Soundscan numbers posted by Billboard, he has sold 18.5 million albums in the United States since 1991, but 14.3 million of those were with Warners. These days, much of an artist's income comes from touring and merchandise sales, and the fact remains that he hasn't had a really huge blockbuster tour in a long time. Touring has become incredibly expensive to do, and that's reflected in the horrific ticket pricing of recent years. There’s nothing like a large cash infusion from a deal with a major label, even if it is an old nemesis, which was probably a good enough reason in itself to make peace with the past. They can make a lot more money working together than they can apart. If that doesn't justify burying the hatchet, nothing will.

Regarding The Stylistics, their hits can be found on any number of Philly Soul box sets and Best-Of's under their own name. I will recommend this fine reissue of their debut album from 1971, and also this excellent import anthology, if you want a more thorough overview. Both are great choices.