The Stutterer's Song: Remembering Bill Withers | Hacker News Reader

The Stutterer's Song: Remembering Bill Withers

thepointmag.com

60 pointssamclemens10 comments

Bill Withers was not afraid to try something unique with his singing. The "I know, I know, I know..." in "Ain't No Sunshine" and in "Lovely Day" he stretches out the "lovely daaaaay" to the point of craziness especially at the end.

Love his stuff. He has been sampled and a covered quite a bit.

Bill Withers is one of my all-time favorite artists, which makes this a pleasure to read. This article makes some pretty wide stretches to connect the few dots within, but it's well-written.

Same. The article is well written, but I prefer to let the music stand alone, rather than try to draw a speculative connection to the artist's life just to fit a narrative.

Side note: A couple years ago I was flipping around the radio dial, and I ran across "Sweet Wanomie". I was instantly hooked, but I had no idea who the artist was. It turned out a local independent station put Just As I Am on a loop for six months, as a way of keeping the FCC happy when they had no other programming available. I became very familiar with that album.

I need to know more about this station.

It's a small town, relatively speaking. Only a few hundred thousand people in the area. Someone has a low power license, but they needed volunteers and equipment. The FCC apparently expects FM license holders to broadcast something. So that's what they did while they got organized. Now they are up and running with volunteer DJs who get to play whatever they want.

Sorry it's not HN related, but he had some great tracks that are less well known in some circles and deserve more recognition.

Let's Pretend - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiSmeCIi3Lo

I'm Her Daddy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SAke0jV-0o

Use Me - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HprVW3gS-H4

Who Is He (And What Is He to You?) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0bAUY6WzAw

Grandma's Hands - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcW7UBHSvJ8

Harlem - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbbwiE2GgkE

I remember Bill Withers.

https://jango-index.ml/?artist=Bill+Withers

I was expecting Scatman.

Then someone ought to make sure you're not disappointed :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hy8kmNEo1i8

That was also the first artist that came to mind for me when reading "stutterer's song".

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