Lou Johnson

Listen/Download – Lou Johnson – Walk On By MP3

Greetings all.

I’d like to get off to a start by thanking everyone for the overwhelming response to the Allen Toussaint memorial mix and tribute I put together last week to mark the passing of the New Orleans musical giant.

I can’t really think of any other modern musician who’s work runs as deeply into Funky16Corners as Allen Toussaint, as writer, producer, arranger and carrier of the New Orleans musical torch.

His passing was a blow to modern music that I felt quite deeply and the unusually large number of people that came by the blog and listened to the mix suggests to me that it had the same effect on the rest of you as well.

It is a weird bit of synchronicity that I wrote the bulk of this piece the day before Toussaint passed away.

I had been holding the Lou Johnson 45 you see above for a special occasion, and unfortunately that occasion ended up being a sad one.

So read on…

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Today’s selection is an intersection of two of my personal musical obsessions, those being Allen Toussaint and Burt Bacharach.

I have referred to Toussaint as the ‘Bayou Bacharach’ before, for his mastery of melody as well as his talent crafting other people’s recordings of his songs.

In this particular case, the whole thing gets flipped, with Toussaint working his magic on an actual Bacharach/David song.

This is a partuicularly interesting record because the performer in question made his bones earlier in the 1960s with versions of Bacharach/David songs, hitting the charts with numbers like ‘Reach Out For Me’ (1963), ‘Magic Potion’ and ‘There’s Always Something There To Remind Me’ (both 1964).

By the time 1966 rolled around the hits had dried up and his contract with Big Top Records was coming to an end.
Fortuitously, Johnson ended up in New Orleans with the mighty Toussaint, where he would lay down today’s selection, ‘Walk On By’ backed with a Toussaint original, ‘Little Girl’.

Considering how many times ‘Walk On By’ has been covered and reworked, Johnson and Toussaint’s take on the song may very well be my favorite.

Toussaint takes the pace and overall feel of the song and dips in in a potent mix of New Orleans herbs and spices, adding in plenty of rolling piano, sweet female backing voices and some very well-placed horns.Though it starts slowly, the tempo builds almost imperceptibly, pushed along by the bass and drums, until it’s almost danceable.

The deeply melancholy song is given an almost happy facelift, and it’s up there with some of Toussaint’s best work for Sansu during the same time period.

The record was a commercial failure (though it did make the Top 40 on a number of New Orleans radio stations), but it did lay the groundwork for Toussaint and Johnson’s collaboration a few years later for Volt.

It’s a classic example of the Toussaint “touch”, as well as a solid entry into the Bacharach/David covers sweepstakes.

I hope you dig it, and I’ll see you all on Wednesday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 

 

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

 

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.

2 Responses to “Toussaintiana Addendum: Lou Johnson – Walk On By”

1. Ted Singer says:

   November 15, 2015 at 12:50 pm

   Larry,
   Great piece on AT. And what a great piece for me to share with all my friends who may not necessarily be tuned in to you or read music blogs with any regularity. You reached more than you know.
   Thanks,
   Ted

2. Bill says:

   November 15, 2015 at 4:03 pm

   Soul perfection