Singles I Love, Part I: “Nothing Takes The Place of You”

Posted: May 25th, 2009 | Filed under: Culture, Music, Personalities | 2 Comments »

Spend a weekend at home alone, with my sweetie away, and here’s where my mind wanders:

Now I guess I could riff on and on about the abject soulfullness of this incredible song — Toussaint McCall’s “Nothing Takes The Place of You.” The funereal organ, so simple but so rich. The elemental piano trills for counterpoint. The essential rhythms of the muted drums.

Or the lyrics, understated, but enough to rip your heart out.

So, after listening to McCall’s one shot classic more than a few times, I began to wonder: Is this the most soulful tune ever recorded?

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McCall, from Monroe, Louisiana, was thirty three when he recorded this and it became a hit in 1967. He recorded a few more numbers, but then, as with many others, faded into his own parade. He is a Southern University grad. He has been a school teacher, or so it is reported.

I know this beyond peradventure. He feels the spirit. He knows how much organ and piano to play, and what not to play. He doesn’t need to shout to mine the depths of emotion. He is the paradigm of soul.

What I don’t understand — another rock & roll mystery — is how? And why? And why nothing more?

This song was recorded in McCall’s living room. He took it to Stan Lewis in Shreveport. Lewis, as is often the case, is a story unto himself. Started with a record store, developed a mail order record business, then launched Jewel/ Paula Records. Dale Hawkins “Suzie Q” with teen pal James Burton on guitar was released on the label. So too, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Joe Turner, John Lee Hooker, Roosevelt Sykes, Fontella Bass . . . you get the picture.

As Lewis relates the story, Toussaint McCall brings him the demo of “Nothing Takes The Place of You.” Lewis says it sounds like it “was recorded in a barrel.” He tells McCall to get him a better recording. Instead, McCall takes it to a radio station where a DJ named Bird Brain, plays it over and over. Sound familiar? It’s the mythos and the reality of rock & roll.

Soon the phone lines to Lewis’s office are jammed. He grabs his checkbook and skedaddles to Shreveport to pen McCall to a contract.

I know the song gets to John Waters as much as it does me. McCall had a cameo in Waters’ 1988 movie “Hairspray.” In the film, McCall does the song on the Corny Collins Dance Show, lip syncing, of course.

There are other versions. Feel free to track them down on YouTube, if you desire. Timi Yuro, one of the underrated greats, gives it a go. So too, Al Green, whose version is most respectful and understated. But, ya know, Toussaint McCall’s, the original, is the only one.

Which brings us back to the question at hand: Is this the most soulful song ever?

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