@@janicebullard5774 yep!...bitter sweet for me when I listen to this beautiful album (brings back such great child/teenhood memories). My mother was and still is the cause of me respecting such great music when I was just a child. As a result I've become a self taught percussionist ECT ECT ECT... But...she never knew that this was one of the songs as I got older that resonated so so much about my own personal life... My dad passed away when I was 23 yrs old (on my birthday) and my mother died 12 yrs ago of a sudden brain aneurysm. Overall, this song/ album is the greatest...in fact I STILL HAVE IT as well as other vintage albums that were my parents; all in mint condition... Bitter sweet🥹
My Mom played this album along with her other jazz favorites, but the song On a Clear Day words came into my mind ther other day out of nowhere RIP to an ICON
get Lou! I heard this album when I was 5 my dad and uncles gave me the love and appreciation for mr.rawls even at 40 . my uncle Ken would recite the whole memory lane lol yeah....may they all rest in peace
May they all rest in peace.my old man is still going strong at 81 .thanks to him i got a musical education better than any university degree in music. Sounds like you did too. Lou rawls is a true legend. Some voice.adios
@@dc9856 AMEN!!! From a pastor who heard this when I needed it upon being released. It is memoy, assessment and direction rolled into 9+ minutes of pure musical 🎼 Mastery; to the virtuoso singer and the seamlessly knited orchestra, we applaud you in this "New Millennium". PEACE
I bought this album when I was just out of high school and also down here on the ground, two of the best Albums by Lou Rawls I still cherish and enjoy today. They are all great pieces, I love 💘 his works even more than ever. R I P Lou Rawls.
I FIRST HEARD THIS WHEN I WAS 14-15. I.M 65 NOW AND THIS ALBUM, ALONG WITH LR LIVE CONTINUE TO TOUCH MY SPIRIT. R.I.P. LOU RAWLS. UR VOICE STILL TOUCHES LIVES. EVERYONE KNOWS HIM AS OLD FOLKS.... WHEN I WAS 17.... BREAKING MY BACK INSTEAD OF USING MY MIND... THE ARRANGEMENTS ARE EXQUISITE. THE VOICE PERFECT. THE ORCHESTRA AMAZING!!!! ON A CLEAR DAY...
mdmoss120861 I agree I was not much younger than you when my sister introduced me to Lou Rawls and i have been capitivated by his voic e and music ever since. i"m 61 now and finiding this on youtube has my week!
Same here..I was 16 when I first this track playing outside of a bar in Atlantic City while on my way home from working a summer job. Payday after breaking my mother off as per our arrangement I rushed down to the record store and brought this LP. I must've played that thing until the grooves wore through the other side. Lou Rawls Live was the most incredible thing I ever heard. Two years later I enlisted in the ARMY on a three year hitch and all though those three years I played this LP so much cats took to calling me Lou Rawls Jr. As you pointed out. "The arrangements are exquisite. The voice perfect and the orchestra amazing" "Walking Cane has become almost a metaphor for my life. I'm 67 now and this LP still knocks off my feet whenever I hear and I can recall clear as a bell, standing outside that bar some fifty odd years ago on my way home from work, listening to Low Rawls for the first time and being captivated
Me too! Wow, In fact, I bought my first jazz concert ticket at 15 to go see Lou Rawls perform at Cincinnati Symphony Hall because of this Album. He didn't disappoint.
mdmoss120651 wow! I'm also 65 and I first heard this when I was about the same age as you were. Loved the entire album but "It was a very good year" was my favorite, especially now since I'm in "the Autumn of the year.
That's amazing your first time.. this is his greatest album LOU RAWLS LIVE..I was about 20 years old when I first heard it.. maybe 1971..I was up from Chicago visiting my sister in Kalamazoo Michigan. Her and her guy had a record player built into a big wooden cabinet.. I listened to this album all day my first day there.. over and over... for about 20 hours... by then I had learned out by hard...I LOVE LOU RAWLS.. I sing all his records.. mainly from this album.. I can see Washington Park from my window .. that's the park where he talked to the quiet kid...in A Very Good Year....I can also see 47th and South Parkway.. where the girl was jumping on her wannabe pimp boyfriend.. cutting up the top, kicking dents in the door of his Hog...
ERROR.... AFTER LISTENING TO THIS SAME ALBUM FOR ABOUT 20 HOURS...I LEARNED IT ALL TO WONDERFUL RECORDINGS... EVERY SONG.. TODAY I STILL SING THE COMPLETE ALBUM JUST LIKE HE DID IT. .. IN THIS SONG HE MENTIONS COTTAGE GROVE.. I LIVE A BLOCK OFF COTTAGE... THIS WAS AND STILL IS TOBACCO ROAD. THIS IS CHICAGO
Lou Rawls had one of the most distinguishable infectious voices. I love it and this album along with "Tobacco Road" influenced my interest in the vocal Maestro. I bought my first jazz concert ticket at 15 to go see Lou Rawls perform at Cincinnati Symphony Hall because of this Album. He didn't disappoint.
In 1974 I began playing blues harmonica and that Lou Rawls harmonica player I'm for sure will be practicing I played by ear this tradition jams on Old bumper sticker from the mutual musician foundation Kansas City Missouri home of who count Basie the elder statesman was a big band it was awesome God bless you
Agreed! In 72 my great uncle Jacob Leo Townsend introduced Lou Rawls music to Us when we came to live with he and our Great Aunt his wife. They loved each other till their deaths in Detroit, we go on road trips all over America seeing everything do things we’d had never done until we got with them. They’d play Lou Rawls music among other music but Lou was there favorite it took me years to understand why and when it did the light came on and it’s been on ever since, I’ve done my children the same way and their Lou fans our grand of 7 & 9 are now enjoying the wonderful music of yesteryear. I tell y’all play this music for your children as you ride and remember those ancestors and tell your children your memories it your personal family history for your children to remember those great times with you or when you die! Your just a picture on the wall or in someone’s cell phone or just forgotten period, we live in a time where our ancestors memory were kept in a photo album now I ask y’all young folks who’s gonna remember y’all and point you out to your children or tell your stories to your grand children by the music they’d remember you by. Think about it
lucky you - i finally saw him many years later in london on a double bill with nancy wilson - always loved both of them. Lou did a great set and i was happy - then nancy came on and sounded wonderful - unfortunately there was a bomb scare half way through her set and e all had to run for our lives.
Thank you SO much for posting this! I saw Lou Rawls perform this medley in the lounge at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu in 1969. It was the matinee show in the afternoon, and I just walked in and sat down. There couldn't have been more than a couple dozen people in the lounge - but Rawls was the pro's pro - he gave it his all, and the show was thrilling! I have carried the warmest memories of that time and the utmost respect for Rawls ever since that sweet afternoon. I was 17 - it was a very good year...
chuckbirth - The thanks are all for you. That show also marked my first legal drink. When I sat down at my little round cocktail table in the lounge, about 20 feet from the stage, a waitress came right over and asked me what I'd like. Being a kid, I thought she couldn't mean a drink drink - but I decided to push my luck and ordered a rum and coke. She nodded efficiently and brought it straight away - no ID, no fuss. You know I was lovin' it. Lou was a great singer and performer, but he didn't usually ad lib, so the performance I saw was well-rehearsed and almost identical to the recording, including patter. I'm guessing he performed the same show everywhere he went until his next release. Like I said, a pro's pro...
If another person has experienced the minting of a precious gem - and few were there to enjoy the perfection - you/we tasted rarity...by the grace of God Himself...
My deceased Brother in law introduced me to Tobacco Road as a young girl. I've remained a fervent Lou Rawls fan every since. Like Luther, Aretha, Michael, & Prince, his voice is immediately distinguishable and will eternally sound good inspiring young people to be their best when attempting to duplicate their greatness.
Boy, hand me down my walking cane Boy, hand me down my walking cane Hand me down my walking cane I'm gonna take me a stroll down memory lane Many a girl, I changed to love and woo Many a girl, I changed to love and woo Many a girl, I changed to love and woo But a lot of woman quite like my Lana Lou She had eyes that shine like stars above I said, she had eyes, shine like stars above She had eyes that shine like stars above And a face as sweet as a mothers love Ah, then I caught your hand, hand me down my walking cane I want you to hand me down my walking cane Oh, hand me down my walking cane I'm gonna take me a stroll down memory lane
I heard this as a child (5 or 6) the only version of It Was A Very Good Year that I knew. My definitive version, although Frank Sinatra's is very good as well. Swinging baby!
Remastered post pandemic clean and sober blues and jazz is about soul and in Westport there's a record label disc jockey named soul I was on crutches Lou Rawls tobacco road remastered with harmonica and saxophone thank you God holy Spirit in Jesus for Lou Rawls and Tommy Flanagan and whoever is on that tobacco road album impressive
I'm almost certain, the drummer is the late great Earl Palmer, whom I had the pleasure of meeting once at PAS in New Orleans. I grew up listening to this album before I was old enough to drive and I'm now 70. It was then and still is now, a great album.
