Tales of my latest travels will have to wait for another day; I've had too little time to process. Meantime, on we go with more pop ephemera."Just to Be Close to You" was one of the first signals of the Commodores' transition from funk party band to Lionel Richie-dominated ballad outfit. It's a finely arranged and sung tune once they get past the intro - but people, that intro is something. On hearing it a few weeks ago, a friend and I laughed about the excesses of Lionel's Southern, preacherly drawl. "Ah! You know, I been through so many changes in my life, girl ... Aw'nah founndat mateer'l thangs I thought had so much valyah - aw girl, didn't really have any valyah at all! Then I was a lonely man. A man with no direction, with no purpose. No one to love and no one to love me for me. Aw girl ..."
So I was listening to the song again today and started thinking: Who does that voice remind me of? Finally I realized who it was:
Reverend Brown, the preacher who introduces Randy Watson in Coming to America.
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