Patty loved this song for years, and only just now discovered that the singer, the late Bobby Caldwell, was white, not black.
She’s not the only one. There’s a crowd of black YouTubers who have enjoyed Caldwell’s music for years but never saw him until just recently. Their reaction was a great deal of surprise that he was a white man… and pure delight.
It’s not my kind of music, but I have to stand up and cheer for what is being done with it. Bobby Caldwell and his songs bring people together and make them happy! You can’t think of a better use for music. And why bother to try? (“Better than all the politicians put together!” Patty adds. One cannot but agree.)
He has a good voice. I don’t think I ever heard him before.
He was very popular on black radio stations.
Reading more about him, it’s obvious that he was a very talented and versatile fellow. At one point, he played Frank Sinatra in a Rat Pack tribute show which ran in Las Vegas for a couple of years.
First off, I love this song. It’s a well written, well arranged and well performed tune, and came along at just the right moment to relieve some of the Disco tedium of 1978.
R&B has its earliest roots in the Antebellum South, and has developed over the years. Its appeal crosses racial boundaries, and has influenced the development of many musical genres. As you point out in your initial post, “Bobby Caldwell and his songs bring people together and make them happy”. The song charted well on the Hot 100, the Soul Singles and even the Easy Listening charts, which proves that it appealed to a wide audience.
Music is a means of expression, and while circumstances vary greatly for various peoples, we can all respond to the emotions expressed in the music we hear. It can foster understanding and open our hearts to the feelings of others. Music is a wonderful tool. Even if you didn’t understand the language of the lyrics, the sound of the music itself is pleasing to the ear.
In the case of this song, the music is very well crafted. Bobby Caldwell sang it in a masterful way, and I believe that he played the bass line, which was a major contributing factor to the song. The horn arrangement is great, too. It’s a very well constructed recording.
This reminds me of the movie “New Orleans” featuring Louis Armstrong and Billie Holliday.