Mike Stoller and Jerry Leiber
Listen/Download – Alvin Robinson – Down Home Girl
Listen/Download – The Coasters – Down Home Girl
Listen/Download – The Coasters – Soul Pad
Greetings all.
Sweet weeping jeebus I am bummed, on account of last night, as I was settling in for my rest word came down that one of my all-time musical idols, Jerry Leiber had passed away.
If the name is not immediately familiar, pair it with that of Mike Stoller, and then step off the curb into an abyss of rock’n’roll, R&B and soul history, where the pair stand astride the past 50 plus years as a mighty colossus of songwriting and production.
To say that Leiber/Stoller songs were a huge part of my musical mindset would be a giant understatement.
As I sit here writing this tribute, with the Coasters version of ‘Down Home Girl’ playing on a loop in my headphones, tears welling up in my eyes, I think of how much Leiber and Stoller’s work, from the Coasters on up through Miss Peggy Lee (see Iron Leg next Monday) has meant to me.
Though both of them hailed from the East Coast, Leiber and Stoller came together in Los Angeles in the early 50s where their songwriting empire (using that word to denote a kingdom as opposed to merely a financial construct) came into being, where their earliest successes formed a veritable cornerstone of 50s R&B, with ‘Kansas City’ and ‘Hound Dog’ (the proceeds of which probably yielded enough hundred dollar bills to compact them into solid blocks and build a literal foundation).
They went on to work with the Robins, which begat the Coasters for whom L&S created almost two dozen chart hits, on to the Drifters (There Goes My Baby, On Broadway), Ben E King and countless others.
The pair also had their own labels for a time, with the Red Bird/Blue Cat/Tiger axis that brought us the Dixie Cups, Shangri Las, Alvin Robinson, Ad Libs, Bessie Banks, Evie Sands, and many more.
The thing that always grabbed me about their best work as songwriters/record crafters was the fact that they were almost unequalled in the amount of gritty joie de vive that they could pack into the grooves of a three-minute record.
Though the Coasters were always known for the comedic feel of their 45s, the records they made with L&S were far more sophisticated than “funny”. They were kinetic, explosive, sexy, and manic, layered with heart and soul.
Though their collaboration (which often expanded to include other songwriters like Artie Butler, Phil Spector or Mann and Weil) could be described as symbiotic, the lion’s share of the lyrics were created by Jerry Leiber.
Of all the classics they created, none resonates with me more than ‘Down Home Girl’.
I first encountered the original recording by Alvin Robinson many years ago on a comp of New Orleans soul and though I came away from that record wanting to know more about many of the artists, none of the songs kicked me in the ass like ‘Down Home Girl’.
I can’t think of a finer bit of pop poetry:
Lord I swear the perfume you wear
Was made out of turnip greens
And everytime I kiss you girl
It tastes like pork and beans
Even though you’re wearin’ them
Citified high heels
I can tell by your giant step
You been walkin’ through the cotton fields
Oh, you’re so down home girl
Everytime you monkey child
You take my breath away
And everytime you move like that
I gotta get down and pray
Don’t you know that dress of yours
Was made out of fiberglass
And everytime you move like that
I gotta go to Sunday mass
Oh, you’re so down home girl
Oh, you’re so down home girl
I’m gonna take you to the muddy river
And push you in
Just to watch the water roll on
Down your velvet skin
I’m gonna take you back to New Orleans
Down in Dixieland
I’m gonna watch you do the second line
With an umbrella in your hand
Oh, you’re so down home girl
I’m with ya baby
You’re so down home
Ow! Yeah, too much
Outta sight
You’re so down home girl
The fact that Leiber and Stoller thought to have Alvin Robinson, an obscure New Orleans guitarist and singer (who just happened to have a remarkable voice) deliver such a vivid, lascivious, funny set of lyrics is one of the great musical intersections of their long, stellar career.
It’s a record that these many years later I still find new things to love every time I listen to it. Robinson’s vocal is up to the task (and then some) of delivering one of Leiber’s finest lyrics, packed with subtle twists and turns.
The Coasters remarkable 1967 two-sider of ‘Down Home Girl’ and ‘Soul Pad’ was almost a half-decade past their last hit, and despite its obvious quality, did not return them to the charts.
Their slightly funky take on ‘Down Home Girl’ shows a more relaxed side of the group, but their old selves still manage to poke through here and there.
‘Soul Pad’ is – at least in my opinion – one of Leiber’s funniest lyrics with references to Thelonious Monk and psychedelics, and the arrangement by Mike Stoller is perfection.
Jerry Leiber may not be with us any longer, but the music he created over more than 60 years will live forever. I know that sounds like a cliché (and it is, really), but it’s also true.
You know that somewhere, long after we’re all gone, some space amoeba in the far reaches of the universe will be splitting over and over again to the reverberations of a Leiber and Stoller song, pulsing on radio waves, galloping through the ether.
As it should be.
See you all on Friday with a tribute to the mighty Nick Ashford.
Peace
Larry
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