Richard Berry and the Pharaohs – Have Love Will Travel
Richard Berry
Listen/Download – Richard Berry and the Pharaohs – Have Love Will Travel
Greetings all.
I hope all is well in your little corner of the interwebs, as well as whatever connection any of us has to the “real” (less so every day) world.
As referenced in Monday’s post, this has been an exceptionally busy couple of weeks for yours truly as well as a fantastic example the old saw about how life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans.
The Funky16Corners fam had quite a bit of planning (and travel) already penciled in on the calendar, and then a death in the family ended up sending us a few hundred miles in the opposite direction.
Fortunately the week ended on a big up note, with the Funky16Corners Mobile Sound System rolling into Philly to provide the musical entertainment for a wedding party.
I’ve spun many a night, but never before in celebration of someone’s nuptials, and it was a stone gas.
This probably has to do with the fact that the loving couple put together quite a wingding. In addition to requesting a soundtrack of the finest in funk and soul (me again) with a concentration of the sounds of the Big Easy (you know how I roll), the people were very cool (there were even a couple of Funky16Corners fans in the crowd) and the food was spectacular.
It’s always nice to be a part of a happy occasion (usually as a partygoer) but spinning records (there were more than a few people who were stunned to see vinyl being used) and seeing folks get down to stuff like Roger and the Gypsies and Professor Longhair was – in the words of my old man – “something else”.
If anyone else out there decides to get hitched and wants to hear music like that, you know where to find me.
That said, I pulled out a grip of “love” related 45s on Saturday night (on account of what else are you celebrating at a wedding??) but didn’t get around to spinning today’s selection, which is more a reflection of the fact that I went in loaded for bear than anything to do with the quality of the music in the grooves, which is – as usual – quite high.
However, it would have been groovy for two reasons, not the least of which is the fact that I use a spin on the title for the motto on the back of my DJ business cards (as seen directly below this sentence).
You see, if you haven’t heard the OG version of Richard Berry’s ‘Have Love Will Travel’ (which is something that can also be said about his original ‘Louie Louie’, featured here a few years back) you have almost certainly heard the song covered by folks like the might PNW garage gods the Sonics, Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Black Keys, Thee Headcoatees, and Central Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen.
Released in 1960 (the title is a tip of the hat to Richard Boone’s TV cowboy Paladin aka ‘Have Gun Will Travel’), and like ‘Louie Louie’ doomed to see success only in the hands of others (though in this case not much more) the original ‘Have Love Will Travel’ is a tightly swinging bit of West Coast R&B by Berry and his Pharaohs.
Opening with the “bow bow bow bow” of the bass singer and pushed along by a hard-hitting snare drum and piano, ‘Have Love…’ sees (hears?) Berry’s stellar lead sailing on top of the tight harmonies of the Pharaohs. Once heard – or danced to – it is immediately obvious why this record became an anthem of sorts.
It was already a killer, but like ‘Louie Louie’ it was ripe for seismic reinterpretations by disaffected, snotty, testosterone fueled headbangers, fired up enough to convince their audience that the title was not in fact an idle threat.
The record is sought after by both the Mod and Northern Soul crowd because it kicks all kinds of ass while retaining a stylish, dare I say soulful veneer lost in most of the later interpretations.
Not too long ago I got into a small interwebs shouting match with some thickheaded garage purist who insisted that in the case of ‘Louie Louie’ Richard Berry had been consistently outdone by most of his coverers. This goon had the poor taste to try to serve me a dish of cold “Paul Revere and the Raiders did the best version”, which I promptly sent back to the kitchen with a note that said something to the effect of “pull your head out of your ass”.
I am of the opinion that if you have any taste at all for black music, once you’ve heard Richard Berry’s originals there’s really no going back.
Those that know me (or have happened upon my other blog Iron Leg) know that I have a definite taste for (and strong roots in) garage rock (the fuzzy 60s kind) but I’m smart enough to know the real thing when it falls into my ears, and Richard Berry and the Pharaohs were/are that real thing. All following versions are reinterpretations on a theme, and that theme has strong, deep roots in R&B that are not coming out no matter how hard some pageboyed, Beatle-booted stooge yanks on them.
If today’s story had a moral, it has something to do with knowing the value of those roots and paying respect to the people that cultivated them in the first place.
So there.
Bow bow bow bow, bow bow bow, bow bow bow….
Peace
Larry
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Themocracy
I couldn’t agree more, Richard Berry’s song has a charm that none of the later covers have, except maybe the one that the Imperialites recorded in 1964, it follows very closely the original although a bit faster.
I posted the Imperialites cover in my blog a few months back, in case you want to check it out.
https://www.dediscosymonstruos.com/blog/2011/4/1/have-love-will-travel-the-imperialites.html
Keep the great work you are doing, I really dig yor blog and radio show, and is one of the reasons why I started mine, thanks!!
Jorge
Nice post Larry.
This is probably my favourite Black Keys track (well, you know what I mean) and I wasn’t aware of who had done the original until today!
Digging the extra long ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’ as well.
You are still the master!
Stu, Glasgow, (Bonnie) Scotland
one of my alltime favs here…i also love the imperialites version which i found on the obscure Vinyl sampler “V.A. mello jello … for mello muffins”
maybe i´ll upload it to my youtube channel also.
great blog here ! keep good music alive
An old fave of mine, back when I hung out at a record store in Solana Beach, CA. The flipside, “No Room” is a great one, too. Flip sides (sorry) are just about all great.