William Harrison "Bill" Withers Jr. (July 4, 1938 – March 30, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He had several hits over a relatively short career of fifteen years, including "Ain't No Sunshine" (1971), "Grandma's Hands" (1971), "Use Me" (1972), "Lean on Me" (1972), "Lovely Day" (1977), and "Just the Two of Us" (1981). Withers won three Grammy Awards and was nominated for six more. His life was the subject of the 2009 documentary film Still Bill. Read Full BioWilliam Harrison "Bill" Withers Jr. (July 4, 1938 – March 30, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He had several hits over a relatively short career of fifteen years, including "Ain't No Sunshine" (1971), "Grandma's Hands" (1971), "Use Me" (1972), "Lean on Me" (1972), "Lovely Day" (1977), and "Just the Two of Us" (1981). Withers won three Grammy Awards and was nominated for six more. His life was the subject of the 2009 documentary film Still Bill. Withers was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015. Two of his songs were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Withers, the youngest of six children, was born in the small coal-mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia, on July 4, 1938. He was the son of Mattie (Galloway), a maid, and William Withers, a miner. He was born with a stutter and later said he had a hard time fitting in. His parents divorced when he was three, and he was raised by his mother's family in nearby Beckley, West Virginia. He was 13 years old when his father died. Withers enlisted in the United States Navy at the age of 17, and served for nine years, during which time he became interested in singing and writing songs.
He left the Navy in 1965, relocating to Los Angeles in 1967 to start a music career. His debut release was "Three Nights and a Morning" in 1967. Arranged by Mort Garson, the song went unnoticed at the time but was later reworked by Withers as the track "Harlem".
Withers worked as an assembler for several different companies, including Douglas Aircraft Corporation, IBM and Ford, while recording demo tapes with his own money, shopping them around and performing in clubs at night. When he returned with the song "Ain't No Sunshine" in 1971, he refused to resign from his job because he believed the music business was a fickle industry. In early 1970, Withers's demonstration tape was auditioned favorably by Clarence Avant, owner of Sussex Records. Avant signed Withers to a record deal and assigned former Stax Records stalwart Booker T. Jones to produce Withers' first album. Four three-hour recording sessions were planned for the album, but funding caused the album to be recorded in three sessions with a six-month break between the second and final sessions. Just as I Am was released in 1971 with the tracks, "Ain't No Sunshine" and "Grandma's Hands" as singles. The album features Stephen Stills playing lead guitar. On the cover of the album, Withers is pictured at his job at Weber Aircraft in Burbank, California, holding his lunch box.
Withers was known for his "smooth" baritone vocals and "sumptuous" soul arrangements. He wrote some of the most covered songs of the 1970s, including "Lean on Me" and "Ain't No Sunshine". The former entered the Hot 100 chart through multiple versions, including Club Nouveau's 1987 cover, which made the composition one of nine songs to have led the chart via different acts. With "Lovely Day", he set the record for the longest sustained note on a chart hit on American charts, holding a high E for 18 seconds. Editors from The Guardian considered that Withers' songs are "some of the most beloved in the American songbook," citing, "'Ain't No Sunshine' is regarded as one of the all-time great breakup tracks, while 'Lean on Me', an ode to the supportive power of friendship ..." For the same newspaper, Alex Petridis noticed "[he] laid pain and paranoia under his deceptively gentle songs, and retired early having conquered gospel, funk, blues, disco and more." In Rolling Stone, writer Andy Greene noted that several of his songs "are embedded in the culture and have been covered countless times."
Writing for The New York Times, Giovanni Russonello considered Withers "[a] soulful singer with a gift for writing understated classics", adding, "the ultimate homespun hitmaker, he had an innate sense of what might make a song memorable, and little interest in excess attitude or accoutrements. Ultimately Withers reminded us that it’s the everyday that is the most meaningful: work, family, love, loss." A Billboard article considered that Withers "stands as one of R&B/soul music's most revered singer-songwriters." In the same magazine, writer Gail Mitchell acknowledged "Withers' legacy has flourished in the decades since, thanks to a cross-section of artists who have covered/sampled his songs or cited him as a major influence." Musician and music journalist Questlove referred to Withers' post-breakup 1974 album +'Justments as "a diary [...] [it] was a pre-reality-show look at his life. Keep in mind this was years before Marvin Gaye did it with Here, My Dear." The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson deemed him "a songwriter's songwriter". Musicians Sade, D'Angelo, Justin Timberlake, John Legend and Ed Sheeran have credited Withers as a music inspiration.
Withers died from heart complications in Los Angeles on March 30, 2020, at age 81; his family announced his death four days later. He is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills).
Withers, the youngest of six children, was born in the small coal-mining town of Slab Fork, West Virginia, on July 4, 1938. He was the son of Mattie (Galloway), a maid, and William Withers, a miner. He was born with a stutter and later said he had a hard time fitting in. His parents divorced when he was three, and he was raised by his mother's family in nearby Beckley, West Virginia. He was 13 years old when his father died. Withers enlisted in the United States Navy at the age of 17, and served for nine years, during which time he became interested in singing and writing songs.
He left the Navy in 1965, relocating to Los Angeles in 1967 to start a music career. His debut release was "Three Nights and a Morning" in 1967. Arranged by Mort Garson, the song went unnoticed at the time but was later reworked by Withers as the track "Harlem".
Withers worked as an assembler for several different companies, including Douglas Aircraft Corporation, IBM and Ford, while recording demo tapes with his own money, shopping them around and performing in clubs at night. When he returned with the song "Ain't No Sunshine" in 1971, he refused to resign from his job because he believed the music business was a fickle industry. In early 1970, Withers's demonstration tape was auditioned favorably by Clarence Avant, owner of Sussex Records. Avant signed Withers to a record deal and assigned former Stax Records stalwart Booker T. Jones to produce Withers' first album. Four three-hour recording sessions were planned for the album, but funding caused the album to be recorded in three sessions with a six-month break between the second and final sessions. Just as I Am was released in 1971 with the tracks, "Ain't No Sunshine" and "Grandma's Hands" as singles. The album features Stephen Stills playing lead guitar. On the cover of the album, Withers is pictured at his job at Weber Aircraft in Burbank, California, holding his lunch box.
Withers was known for his "smooth" baritone vocals and "sumptuous" soul arrangements. He wrote some of the most covered songs of the 1970s, including "Lean on Me" and "Ain't No Sunshine". The former entered the Hot 100 chart through multiple versions, including Club Nouveau's 1987 cover, which made the composition one of nine songs to have led the chart via different acts. With "Lovely Day", he set the record for the longest sustained note on a chart hit on American charts, holding a high E for 18 seconds. Editors from The Guardian considered that Withers' songs are "some of the most beloved in the American songbook," citing, "'Ain't No Sunshine' is regarded as one of the all-time great breakup tracks, while 'Lean on Me', an ode to the supportive power of friendship ..." For the same newspaper, Alex Petridis noticed "[he] laid pain and paranoia under his deceptively gentle songs, and retired early having conquered gospel, funk, blues, disco and more." In Rolling Stone, writer Andy Greene noted that several of his songs "are embedded in the culture and have been covered countless times."
Writing for The New York Times, Giovanni Russonello considered Withers "[a] soulful singer with a gift for writing understated classics", adding, "the ultimate homespun hitmaker, he had an innate sense of what might make a song memorable, and little interest in excess attitude or accoutrements. Ultimately Withers reminded us that it’s the everyday that is the most meaningful: work, family, love, loss." A Billboard article considered that Withers "stands as one of R&B/soul music's most revered singer-songwriters." In the same magazine, writer Gail Mitchell acknowledged "Withers' legacy has flourished in the decades since, thanks to a cross-section of artists who have covered/sampled his songs or cited him as a major influence." Musician and music journalist Questlove referred to Withers' post-breakup 1974 album +'Justments as "a diary [...] [it] was a pre-reality-show look at his life. Keep in mind this was years before Marvin Gaye did it with Here, My Dear." The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson deemed him "a songwriter's songwriter". Musicians Sade, D'Angelo, Justin Timberlake, John Legend and Ed Sheeran have credited Withers as a music inspiration.
Withers died from heart complications in Los Angeles on March 30, 2020, at age 81; his family announced his death four days later. He is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills).
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Harlem
Bill Withers Lyrics
Summer night in Harlem
Man, it's a really hot
Well, it's too hot to sleep
I'm too cold to heat
I don't care if I die or not
Winter night in Harlem
Oh, oh, radiator won't get hot
Well, the mean old landlord
He don't care if I freeze to death or not
Saturday night in Harlem, everything's alright
You can really swing and shake your pretty thing
The parties are out of sight
Sunday morning here in Harlem
Now everybody's all dressed up
All the hip folks gettin' a home from the party
And the good folks just got up
Our crooked delegation wants a donation
To send the preacher to the holy land
Hey, hey, Lord
Honey don't give your money to that lying, cheating man
Saturday night in Harlem, everything's alright
You can really swing and shake your pretty thing
The parties are out of sight
Sunday morning here in Harlem
Now everybody's all dressed up
All the hip folks gettin' a home from the party
And the good folks just got up
Our crooked delegation wants a donation
To send the preacher to the holy land
Hey, hey, Lord
Honey don't give your money to that lying, cheating man, hey, hey
Ha ha, ha ha
Hey, hey, hey yeah
Ha, ha ha ha, hey
Hey, hey hey hey
Ha ha, ha ha, ha ha
Ha ha, ha ha, ha ha
Ha ha, ha ha, ha
Ha, ha, ha
Ha, ha ha ha
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Bill Withers
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
To comment on specific lyrics, highlight them
outofthebox
My favorite Bill Withers song. The level of musical detail (with the witty lyrics, orchestra background and key changes of course) is amazing to say the least. And if I didn't know any better (and this is purely conjecture), I'd say this is Bill Withers' favorite song.
1. This was the first song he ever recorded (first as Three Nights and a Morning)
2. This was the A side to Ain't No Sunshine (which was therefore the B side), which means he must have been more fond of it, and thought it might be a more of a hit as well.
3. The Live at Carnegie Hall ends with a 15 minute jam on this song, enough to fill almost an entire side of one of the records.
4. He released this song three times (all three are slightly different but the same song overall). More than any other of his songs in his entire career.
One thing we know already is that this is quite a jam and one of the best soul records of all time.
R.I.P.
Yan Zak
Summer night in Harlem,
Man it's really hot!
Well it's too hot to sleep
And too hot to eat.
I don't care if I die or not!
Winter night in Harlem,
Oh oh radiator won't get hot,
And that mean ole landlord
He don't care if I freeze to death or not!
Saturday night in Harlem,
Ahh every thing's alright.
You can really swing and shake your pretty thing,
The parties are out of sight.
Sunday morning here in Harlem
Now every body's all dressed up.
The heathen folk just getting home from the party
And the good folk just got up.
Our crooked delegation
Wants a donation
To send the preacher to the holy land
Hey hey lord honey don't give your money
To that lying, cheating man..
Saturday night in Harlem,
Ahh every thing's alright.
You can really swing and shake your pretty thing,
The parties are out of sight.
outofthebox
My favorite Bill Withers song. The level of musical detail (with the witty lyrics, orchestra background and key changes of course) is amazing to say the least. And if I didn't know any better (and this is purely conjecture), I'd say this is Bill Withers' favorite song.
1. This was the first song he ever recorded (first as Three Nights and a Morning)
2. This was the A side to Ain't No Sunshine (which was therefore the B side), which means he must have been more fond of it, and thought it might be a more of a hit as well.
3. The Live at Carnegie Hall ends with a 15 minute jam on this song, enough to fill almost an entire side of one of the records.
4. He released this song three times (all three are slightly different but the same song overall). More than any other of his songs in his entire career.
One thing we know already is that this is quite a jam and one of the best soul records of all time.
R.I.P.
Neil Iacovetta
“Ain’t No Sunshine” was originally released as the B-side of his debut single, “Harlem.” But radio DJs flipped the disc and the song climbed to No. 3 on the Billboard charts and spent a total of 16 weeks in the top 40.
BŁOŹOWSKI-CHALHOUB IGOR
Thanks for the info, I was only nine when it was released...
K.C. Willis
Musically, there’s a reason why it was the A side. I’ve long considered it the best of the album. Nothing quite like it.
Brian Bunn
Awesome. Never heard this until Richard Searling played it on his Northern Soul B sides show recently. Incredible how it gets louder and faster throughout. Absolute masterpiece, pure class. Far too good for mainstream radio !
Ger MSLEV
K.T.F.✊✊
Brian Bunn
K.C. Willis Wow, that is incredible, thanks for your reply and info. Yes, I understand what you mean. I heard that Bill died yesterday, the loss of a true music legend.
K.C. Willis
Brian Bunn Here’s the amazing thing. You aren’t the only one who has thought the song is getting faster. It’s an illusion. The 5 key changes trick your brain. This track is nearly dead nuts throughout. ~114BPM
StopBeingAKeyBoardKiller&MousePadMobster!
Your spirit lives on legend. My whole family on my Daddy's side, is from Harlem. I remember hearing this at our family reunions, great memories!
Terry West
@Joshua LaMere i wanna visit Harlem