Ralfi Pagan – Make It With You
Ralfi Pagan
Listen/Download – Ralfi Pagan – Make It With You
Greetings all.
I hope everyone had themselves a sweet summer weekend.
Things were low key hereabouts, with my youngest son celebrating his fourth birthday, for which he got (and I assembled this morning) and old-school tricycle.
Right now, the sky is beginning to lighten after a torrential downpour, and Scooby Doo is on in the background, while my cup of iced coffee sweats next to the laptop…in other words, Sunday.
The tune I bring you today is another one of those records that I knew of for many, many years before I actually heard it, or owned a copy.
I am a big fan of Latin soul, especially mid-60s boogaloo, but every once in a while I get wind of something a little later in the game, maybe a little mellower, and it hits all the right pleasure centers in the brain (and then some), and Ralfi Pagan’s 1971 cover of ‘Make It With You’ is one of those records.
Pagan was a Bronx-born vocalist who recorded for Fania between 1969 and his untimely death in 1978*.
He specialized in ballads, delivered in a voice that sounded like a cross between Little Anthony and Smokey Robinson.
His version of Bread’s ‘Make It With You’, which was a Top 40 R&B hit in 1971 made Pagan a star with the Chicano audience, where the record remains something of a lowrider classic.
Though only three and a half minutes in length, ‘Make It With You’ manages to work as a minor epic. First and foremost is the arrangement (by Johnny Pacheco), which starts off sounding like an outtake from a Neil Young session, melts (with an odd key change) into a perfect bit of sweet soul.
Now, at the risk of sounding like a rube, I’ve always had a soft spot (how appropriate) for Bread’s early singles. David Gates had a real knack for crafting solid melodies. Unfortunately, he also had a real talent for matching them up with era-appropriate lyrics, thick with post-hippie, California sentimentality, always delivered with a completely straight face, which is probably why they were so successful.
Despite what any brigade of hipster douchebags might think, nobody was appreciating Bread, or the Carpenters ironically back when they first came out.
People loved those records because they took the earnest, heart-on-sleeve-ery of a Hallmark card and wrapped it up in just enough long hair and denim to make it palatable for “the kids”.
Ralfi Pagan took ‘Make It With You’ – which was Bread’s first hit (their only #1) in a long string of chart records that lasted until 1977 – and recast it, ever so slightly, arresting the tempo and delivering the lyrics in a soulful falsetto, that takes the ‘first wedding dance’ feel of the original and moves it into a back seat make out session.
The interesting thing is that the only real indicators that this is a ‘Latin’ record (aside from the Fania label** and its popularity with Latino audiences) is the very end of the record when Pagan starts singing in Spanish (echoed by the backing vocalists).
It’s a great record, and definitely worth a couple of close listens.
I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back on Wednesday.
Peace
Larry
PS This week’s edition of the Funky16Corners Radio Show is now available for download. Just click on the Radio Show tab in the header.
*Pagan was killed while on tour in South America
**This record was also issued on Wand
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PS Head over to Iron Leg for some Chicago garage punk.
Themocracy
I highly recommend that entire first Lp out of which that song came out, it’s a really soulful record. Also may I suggest you turn that 45 for “Stray Woman” a sweet and quite funky tune ( I actually kind of prefer it to “Make It WIth You” but it’s a tough call…)
Here it is from a previous post:
https://colmenadehumo.blogspot.com/2010/05/ralfi-pagan-stray-woman-fania-1972.html
Thanks for a great site! I frequently check back for your postings. Ralfi Pagan’s “Make It With You” is a great single! I’m a big lover of cover songs, and this always makes my compilations. Keep up the great work –
a fan,
Crombie
as I said on Iron Leg, your commentary is firing on all cylinders today!!
I grew up with Bread and the Carpenters and like their records. I don’t find them to be “guilty pleasures” (which means having to explain what they are doing in your collection when someone “hip” is looking through it). That term is makes my skin crawl.
And if there’s a David Gates label credit on a pre-Bread 45, I snap it up.
Thanks again Porky!
I dig both Bread and the Carpenters, especially their early stuff.
I don’t know if you remember the mighty ‘Kicks’ zine put out by Billy Miller and Miriam Linna back in the day, but they did at least one story documenting David Gates pre-Bread work, which included all kinds of interesting stuff including rockabilly and hot rod 45s.
He was a talented tunesmith, and while I don’t always dig the lyrics, the records as a whole are very groovy.
Great work as usual Larry. A quick question that you may be able to help with. I have vague memories of a great indie soul 7″ about the terrible Atlanta child murders of 79-81. It was released c 1980 and was a Gospel-tinged ballad. Any ideas? I guess there may have been several singles dealing with the subject.
Andy
That sound very interesting but it doesn’t ring any bells for me. Let me know if you find the answer.
L
this is so good.