Wednesday, August 01, 2007

I Can't Wait Until I See My Baby's Face

The summer song this week ("we might not have the summer, but we have the songs" or something like that anyway) is I Can't Wait Until I See My Baby's Face, as done by...well, take your pick.

First up is Dusty Springfield from her magnificent 1967 album, Where Am I Going, the second best in her oeuvre, pipped by 1970's A Brand New Me (aka From Dusty With Love). Controversial, I know, but I go for Gamble and Huff's Philly strut, lush arrangements and melodramatic heartbreak over its Southern predecessor, Dusty In Memphis. And anyway, there is something annoying, isn't there, about the post-Pulp Fiction canonisation of Son Of A Preacher Man and DIM.

You will notice not only that this is where St Etienne borrowed the tune for Nothing Can Stop Us Now, but that my copy's a little crackly.

I'm not certain who the original version's by, but the northern soul kids go for The Monticellos. This could just be because it's the rarest, of course. For my money, Justine "Baby" Washington delivers the best version, although there are others to choose from (including Aretha Franklin and Sonji Clay Mohammed, Ali’s ex-wife) I'll stop here.


Disclaimer: I do hope I've put the right versions up, but due to certain complications (administrative uselessness and no sound card at work to check, there may have been a mix up. Let me know if there are any mistakes. Ta).

3 comments:

ally. said...

fine fine choices maestro - it's ms springfield for me every time. this is my favourite of her lps, along with dusty definately i think. know what you mean about in memphis- it's beautiful but there's a whole lot more
x

Anonymous said...

Wow - great blog -

I can't wait until... is one of my all time favorites -

Maybe you can help me - I have many versions of that song from: Justine Washington, Dusty, Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick, Spyder Turner,
but I don't have the Monticellos Version and only a bad Sonji Clay version - maybe you can help me do get those in a good quality? If you need anything - please let me know - nice greetings from germany

tom.mann@gmx.at

Fire Escape said...

A link to the Monticellos version is in that post! I don't have the Sonji Clay version, sadly.