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Thursday, October 11, 2012

PERCY MAYFIELD - LONG AS YOU'RE MINE

Born in 1920, the career of Percy Mayfield was almost completely derailed in 1952 when the man was severely injured in a serious automobile accident (two years after his big hit, the self-penned "Please Send Me Someone to Love", which deservedly became a standard of the genre and beyond).

Percy grew up in both Louisiana and Texas, but settled as a young adult in Los Angeles where his career in music began in the early '40's. Post-accident, Percy mostly made a name for himself as a songwriter, and in the early 60's began a very fruitful relationship with Ray Charles, which resulted not only in Ray recording several of his songs (including "Hit The Road Jack" and "Hide Nor Hair") but also a contract with Ray's Tangerine label.

On this incredible track, Percy lends his smooth vocal stylings to an uptempo r&b stormer with a fantastic, sophisticated horn arrangement that all but shouts out RAY CHARLES (who I would guess produced this record). Add to that a drummer that is seemingly intent on destroying his snare drum, and a guitar break starting at 1:42 that sounds as if the guitarist has a vendetta against his instrument and we're left with one hot record!

from 1967...

PERCY MAYFIELD - LONG AS YOU'RE MINE

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Love this 45. That guitar solo borders on Garage, an interesting touch on a Ray Charles styled R&B uptempo record. This one is on my want list. Thanks for turning me on to quality 45 singles. Seek out his wonderful horn driven Tangerine outing on "It's Time To Make A Change".