Viola Wills – If You Could Read My Mind
Viola Wills
Listen/Download Viola Wills – If You Could Read My Mind
Greetings all.
I hope the end of the week finds you all well.
I should remind you that the Funky16Corners Radio Show takes to the airwaves of the interwebs this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’t make it at airtime you can always come by the blog and grab yourself a downloadable MP3 of the show (and more than 100 archived episodes) over the weekend.
The tune I bring you today is something that came as a bit of surprise to me the first time I heard it…sort of.
The first time I heard a disco version of Gordon Lightfoot’s 1971 hit ‘If You Could Read My Mind’ was on the soundtrack to the movie ‘54’. I thought it was very cool and set out in search of the record, only to discover that the version in the film was a re-recording (by Stars on 54) of the original disco-ization of the song.
That version, which you see before you today, was recorded in 1980 by Miss Viola Wills.
The surprising part, at least for me, was that all I ever knew of Viola Wills was her killer, early 70s funk 45 ‘Sweetback’ (which you can hear in Funky16Corners Radio v.6 – Bold Soul Sisters).
I had always assumed that Wills was just another one-shot funk singer and hearing her sing something like this was jarring.
Of course if I’d bothered to do any digging at all I would have soon discovered that Viola Wills had a number of phases in her long career.
She was first discovered in her native LA by Bronco-era Barry White, and recorded several 45s during the 1960s (some of them written and produced by White).
She recorded ‘Sweetback’ in 1971 (Wikipedia says that she performed the song on Soul Train!).
The most successful stage of her career comes during the disco era, when she placed records near the top of the Dance charts a number of times in the late 70s and early 80s, imcluding ‘If You Could Read My Mind’ which hit #2 in 1980.
Wills version of the song, so far removed from it’s acoustic, singer/songwriter origins actually makes for a fantastic disco record.
Despite his folkie origins, Lightfoot was an accomplished pop songwriter, and the melody translates well into Wills’ upbeat, dance floor interpretation.
While it certainly may not be everyone’s cup of disco, I dig it a lot and I hope you do too.
See you next week.
Keep the faith
Larry
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Themocracy
One of the great forgotten Disco Divas, mainly because she never had that pop-crossover 45 in this country that others managed to get. They love her in the UK. Her disco-ization of “Stormy Weather” is pretty fabulous.
Odd thought. Wonder whether Willis’ phrasing and vocal style on this influenced Whitney Houston on “The Greatest Love Of All.” I hear echoes of one in the other.
Jeff
That’s a very interesting theory. I have no idea what Whitney’s exposure to Wills was – her “hits” were mainly on the disco charts – but it’s certainly possible. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone break down her (Houston’s) influences.
More digging is called for!
Larry