Della Humphrey – Don’t Make the Good Girls Go Bad
Della Humphrey
Listen/Download – Delle Humphrey – Don’t Make the Good Girls Go Bad MP3
Greetings all.
The recent passing of Clarence Reid brought up a number of conversations among the soul collectors/DJs in my world.
There were countless mentions of Blowfly, references to his own soul and funk sides outside of that persona, as well as mentions of the many records that he worked on for other artists, whether in his songwriting partnership with Willie Clarke, as a producer/arranger or both.
One of the records that was mentioned multiple times was today’s selection, Della Humphrey’s ‘Don’t Make the Good Girls Go Bad’.
Back in the day when I first picked up this 45, I (mistakenly) assumed that it was a Philadelphia record, thanks to it’s presence in the Arctic Records discography.
Later on I began to pick up on how many records from outside of Philly had been licensed to local labels, and that more than one of these came out of Florida.
This was one of those.
Della Humphrey was apparently a junior high school student when she recorded this record in 1968.
Reid worked out a deal with Arctic, and the record was released, the first of three 45s that she would record for the label. It would go on to be a Top 20 R&B hit in the Fall of 1968 (making it into the Top 10 in Philadelphia), also making into into the Hot 100 on the Pop side.
The record is a ballad with a robust underpinning, with horns adding to a base of organ, bass and drums. I’d almost compare it to the Superlatives ‘I Don’t Know How (To Say I Love You) Don’t Walk Away’on Westbound, as a record that is a mid-tempo, sweet number kind of ‘disguised’ as a ballad.
After her three 45s with Reid for Arctic, she made one more record, a reggae side with King Sporty called ‘Dream Land’, but her recording career ended when she was still a teenager.
There’s a great article about and interview with Humphrey at the Long Play Miami blog.
I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll see you all on Wednesday.
Keep the faith
Larry
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Themocracy
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