February 20, 2025 • 31 mins
We're taking a special look at one of the greatest singer-songwriters America ever produced: Bill Withers.
With ubiquitous hits like "Lean on Me," "Ain't No Sunshine," "Just the Two of Us" and "Lovely Day," so many of Bill's songs are taken for granted because of how ingrained they are in American culture. We take a special look at Bill's second studio album, Still Bill, explore his late start in music and his early retirement from it.
Subscribe so you don't miss an episode!
Follow us on Instagram @AtFirstListenPodcast!
(Episode 26.)
With ubiquitous hits like "Lean on Me," "Ain't No Sunshine," "Just the Two of Us" and "Lovely Day," so many of Bill's songs are taken for granted because of how ingrained they are in American culture. We take a special look at Bill's second studio album, Still Bill, explore his late start in music and his early retirement from it.
Subscribe so you don't miss an episode!
Follow us on Instagram @AtFirstListenPodcast!
(Episode 26.)
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Welcome to a first listen.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I'm Andrew, I'm Dominique, and.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
This is the music podcast for people who don't always
get the hype bot want to. And there is so
much hyper around Bill Withers right now.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Oh yeah, nobody will stop talking about him.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
He's all over the apps.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Okay, but he really does go viral every once in
a while, like the songs keep coming back.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Around, just like in real life. And that's why we
wanted to do this episode because I have personally for
several years been absolutely fascinated with Bill Withers. Not a
lot is known about his personal life. He was a
private guy despite being a gigantic star, a rock and
roll Hall of Famer. Everyone has Grammys, as you just said, Dominie.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yes, a lot of people have Grammys that and you
don't know who those people are. But rock and roll
hall of Fame is something only a select few people get.
And you got it before he passed away.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yeah, what a concept.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Right?
Speaker 1 (01:17):
So, if you don't know, Bill Withers is the singer
and songwriter behind lean On Me, just the two of us,
Lovely Day, Ain't no Sunshine? Use Me? Did I miss one?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Did you say lean on Me? Already.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
I think I said that one you did.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I think that that is all of them. Like Ain't
No Sunshine is one of those songs that's like, it's
just so good.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, I'm still searching for what to call these songs
like a term. It's like an immortal song. And lean
On Me is the same way, where it's a song
that you have heard your whole life and you know
it basically the whole way through, but you don't know
when you heard it the first time where you might
(02:08):
have heard it. It's just it's around, it's in the air,
and you know it. And He's he's one of those
people who has a song like that, but he also
has multiple.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
So I have a special relationship with this song. I
won't go into it, but I was supposed to sing
it one time, like with a jazz band, and it
was so stressful and I total stage right and I
totally butchered it. But I do think that the reason
that I was it too low for you, it was
(02:37):
there was a lot of problems. I think the key
was the least of the worries. Okay, but I think,
like you can, the songs are not that like challenging
sounding they're kind of in a in a range that
if you change the key, you know you can sing them.
(02:58):
But then he sings them so in like I mean
he has this, you know beautiful is it a baritone
for sure? And then he just like holds out notes forever.
I mean, you don't have to, you can sing it
without doing that, but he does. So it's like it's
like for everyone. But then he he's it's really his.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
His whole thing, his oubra is. He's very he seems
like he's very uncontroversial even in his time. There's no
controversy section on the Wikipedia page. Uncontroversial but accepted as
really good. So the music is thoughtful, it's uncontroversial, and
(03:46):
it's just done so impeccably well.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I'm not surprised like that these songs come back around.
There are also songs that your your parents will like
think like, oh, how do you know this? And it's
like it's in like commercials for cell phones, like it's
extremely ubiquitous. Some of these songs are very ubiquitous.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I'm also noticing, so I was trying to figure out
what Bill Withers songs are in commercials. I don't know
if ain't no Sunshine is one of them that'd be
kind of too bad, but just the two of us
for sure is in like this is chocolate for ladies
totally where there's like a lady she's dancing around her
house because she has the best kind of chocolate.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
If we look up the soundtrack for for rom coms,
many rom coms for sure have this song. You know,
Tyler Perry movies. I would I would bet so, I
would bet a lot of money that this riff is
in arrange of movies.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Yeah, this is one of those ones that's sort of
like Bad to the Bone by George Thoroughgood. That's maybe
a little bit overused, but it is still awesome.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
You can't deny it. Out of all these, I didn't
realize Grandma's Hands was one I hadn't heard of, and
I think I had heard it, but I think it's
the only one where he's not like repeating the name
of it for the majority of the song, Like, if
you don't know the name of Ain't No Sunshine, you're
(05:17):
kind of crazy. So if anyone recognizes that riff, no diggity,
you gotta bag it up. So I knew the song
by Blackstreet and Doctor Dre. I think that is a
song about it's you know what. I'm not going to
(05:39):
go into it because this is the this is the
non explicit episode. But it's a song that is also
like weirdly ubiquitous, like you would hear it. This would
be more like a roller skating rink maybe, or just
like a party, like it's a and so I think
that's such an important part of music, especially like Black music,
(06:04):
that really great songs like this, really great songwriters like
they are become immortal also because they get sampled.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Yeah, so you mentioned the party element. Probably his greatest
song is lean On Me, which is on this album
that we're going to talk about later. And this is
like a song that if Amazing Grace is in the
set list, lean on Me could also be in the
set list. No one would bad Andy if it was.
It's not it's a secular song, right, whereas Amazing Grace
(06:38):
is not.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
But you can hear that rivlke.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
It's very churchy.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
It's very churchy, and it's it's so recognizable.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Right and then so it has a hymnal quality. But
then you just move to like and we're partying, totally
have a good time. Though this is serious, this thing
our community is going through that we're singing Lean on Me,
but we're also gonna have like a funky bassline.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Right, No, I'm picturing like in that first part, it's
like a it's like the end of a movie, and
that we it's like people joining hands, Like people are
all kind.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Of start to ractly and maybe there's like an aerial
shot as we're zooming out exactly. Then screen goes black
for the credits, and then that part comes on and
we're in like there's like a post credit scene.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yes, it's like slideshow kind of montage thing people are
and it's like, yeah, people are just want to hug.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
It worked out, don't worry about them. After the handholding,
they were all good.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Yeah, everybody in the movie is friends now, Like whatever
conflict happened, Like the guy who was fighting the other
guy is, they're like they're like dapping each other up, exactly.
They're all at a cooking a.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Trick on each other and everyone's lap well, practical.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Joke, but you're not scaring anyone off. No.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
In the next segment, we're going to talk a little
bit about who Bill Withers was. Was he like some
child prodigy like Stevie Wonder. Was he like a folk
hero like Bob Dylan or one of those who Pete
Seeger is the other name I was trying to think of.
So not a lot is really out there about him
(08:25):
except what he gave in interviews, and he did a
lot of interviews for the first couple albums and told
the same stories over and over. I feel a little
bit bad for him about.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
That, don't we. You know, that's something that I wish
we could come back to. I don't need to know
everything about the artists that I like. Let's bring back.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Nine minute cliff notes of your life up to this
point exactly.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Then that's it. Just come out with music or don't
come out with it until you're done, and then just
hopefully Rake and Royalties for the rest of your life.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
And we're back on that first listen talking about Peel
Withers for our Black History Month episode and so many
You had a couple of questions when I brought up
the idea of covering Bill Withers on a show, and
you had a question about, like, well, what is his
relationship to the sort of black empowerment movement that was
(09:29):
going on in the sixties and seventies, and also what's
with all the references to a pretty young thing and
how many wives did he have and how old were they?
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Right? I feel like with historical figures, you always want
to check these things out because it's just good to know,
you know who you're talking about and who you're loving.
And I so I researched. Yeah, he talks about in
No Sunshine leave the young Thing alone. People told him
(10:04):
to leave the young thing alone, but he didn't. And
then there's other songs where he talks about someone being
young and so I was a little suspicious. But I
googled his wife, I googled about all about his personal life,
and I didn't find anything. So I was very relieved.
I also I was wondering because a lot of marginalized people,
(10:29):
but especially black people, are kind of given this title
of like being a revolutionary historical figure even though they
were just like living their lives and doing their thing
and they weren't trying to be revolutionary. Like Sidney Poitier,
for example, he was like just like doing his job.
But it's like he was a black guy. We love
(10:51):
him for that, and it was great he was doing
it but like he wasn't trying to speak on any issues.
And with Bo Withers, it's interesting because, as we spoke
about before, he doesn't say explicit stuff as we do
in music today, where you're like, say, exactly, you know
what you're talking about.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
That was another element of the controversy of Kendrick Lamar's
Super Bowl performances. He was suggestive, but not as explicit
as some people thought he could have been.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yeah, it's like, hello, you got to use your brain
a little bit, and I think that's great. It's but
as the more we listen to Bill Bill, my friend
mister Withers, it's really clear that he did have something
to say, but he knew he was an artist as well,
he wasn't.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
And he was speaking it to a broad audience that
was probably not going to accept any sort of radical,
any overtly radical views. You can it's pretty easy to
find his ties to some of the political movements that
were going on. I don't think he was a black
panther or anything like that, but there's a live album
(12:01):
on one of the streaming services where other people on
that particular program are speaking freely about the black empowerment movement,
how they're trying to just defeat Richard Nixon, and Bill
is there taking part in the show. He's not making
(12:23):
those statements himself, but he's allowing, you know, his name
to be tied to that program.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
He is remembered so fondly also because of that, Like
I think we wouldn't have so many classics from him
if they were like super explicitly talking about black empowerment,
like I don't the songs like I'm Black and I'm Proud,
Like I should know who that is by, but I don't.
(12:50):
And I you know, like he he came in smooth,
that was his style. He was easy listening, and then
it's like, oh I love this. Hmm, Now maybe I'm intrigued.
Now I'll ask more questions. Oh he's a black guy.
That's maybe my mom won't like that. I'm a white
(13:11):
person in the seventies, and I think there's definitely something
to be said for that line he wrote in his music,
not being too explicit, but in that time, it was
pretty clear what he was talking about, and he did
align himself with the.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Radicals talking about like our preconceived notions of who Bill
Weathers was as a musician. I guess anyone who is
who was old enough in the seventies to watch the
late night TV probably knows some of this information. But
this was all new to me. So he grew up
in a mining town, like a dead mining town in
(13:51):
West Virginia. He did not speak fondly of it. There
was one interview where he was asked if he ever
goes back there. This was like between the first and
second album, I think, and he's like, no, everyone I
knew there was dead.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Wow. Now I will say I drove through some small
towns in West Virginia and I did not enjoy it either.
I felt very weird and you see all type of
weird flags and it is very dark at night, and
you're like, let me get out of here.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
On the other side of that, so that was an
interview he did in the seventies. In his Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame Exceptance speech in twenty fifteen, he
shouts out his high school friends who were there. There's
like four people who I guess he went to high
school with who were actually at So hopefully they got
out of that town too. It doesn't seem like it
was awesome. But he enlisted in the Navy at seventeen
(14:44):
years old. I guess that's when he finished high school.
Times were different.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yeah, I don't understand, like did he was he drafted
or did he says he enlisted and.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Enlisted, which is different. Did not really have an interest
in music until like late his navy career. He was
in the Navy for nine years, so also if he
was drafted, he wouldn't have been in for nine years.
After he got out, got a good paying job. The
talk shows in the seventies thought it was hilarious that
(15:14):
he manufactured toilets for aircraft. There's about a million interviews
of him telling that story and trying to make jokes
out of well, you know, they were being assembled, so
no one had used them yet, and everyone laughs. The
whole studio alliance just goes up. So he was doing
(15:35):
that job. Seems like a union gig. Probably kind of good.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah, and he was probably still taken. He's back then,
like being in the Navy was kind of good financially. Yeah,
he probably had a pension and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
So he was like a and a totally adult guy,
and he had this hobby where he was like learning
to play the guitar and writing songs.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Wow, that does that type of adult even assist anymore? Guy?
And I can't imagine doing all of that by thirty Seriously.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
It's also a time when like all pop stars are
like twenty five at the most. By like twenty five,
it's like time to find another career. Dude, you're old,
is that right? Yeah? It wasn't until the eighties that
pop stars could be like forty okay, and then there
were so many forty year old pop stars in the eighties.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Was crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
So he started writing songs, started making demos. I don't
know how he got connected to the person who helped
him make his demos, but that happened.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
I feel like he was just like talking and someone
heard his voice and they just like followed it. Yeah,
and like started recording it. And he he was like,
I do actually play a little guitar.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Yeah, sing a little bit, singing some songs. Yeah, I
lot to sing a song for you? Is this like
aw shucks? Thing? That is normally like other people doing it,
it would be annoying, but with him, it's like, yeah,
this is a this is a cool guy.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
He's just a cool guy, and it does it makes sense.
He was a humble guy, like everything you're saying, you know,
he's from humble beginnings. But then he was like he
was never too good for anything. Yeah, he was never
like you gotta have some confidence to manufacture toilets and
(17:29):
talk about that.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
And also this is something that he cited when it
was time for him to leave the music industry after
like nineteen eighty six, he didn't put out any music,
he didn't tour anymore, and he was like, you know,
I got into this when I was like thirty three
years old. Was my first record came out. I was
a full blown person at that point. I had my
(17:51):
own life. I had lots of interests. I know that
life includes music, but it is it is not music,
and I can do other things and spend time with
my family and my two kids and not tour.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
I think like I was trying to figure out that
sort of thing. It's kind of hard to pin down
like what the tours exactly that people did. But he
was touring for a while. And nobody can really wants
to tour forever usually, but they'll do it anyway for
(18:24):
whatever the fame, adoration, the money. But he was a
well rounded guy with a family and he wanted to
do that really cool.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
I thought that maybe he was this professional songwriter, this prodigy.
Carol King is the example that was in my head
of someone who started off writing songs for over the
people and then began just doing it themselves. That was
not Bill Withers. And as you get into his music
you realize he actually had a really unconventional style of writing.
(18:53):
So I want to play this song from his It's
the I think first track from his first record called Harlem.
And I put this on the other day when I
had a bass in my hand and I was like
trying to play along to it, and it occurred to
me that this whole song is just from I think
(19:13):
it's G to C and it goes up a half
step at a time, And this is not a song
the type of song that someone who had a background
in writing hits whatever right or certainly put as the
first track on their record. And there's no there's no
(19:37):
repetition of the chord progression. It's just like literally changing
keys over and over and over again until it is done.
And I thought that was so cool, Like there's this
thing that you disability you have when you're learning a
new instrument. When you don't know how anything works, you
don't know any music, you come up with these ideas
(19:59):
that someone who is more schooled in that instrument or
in music in general won't come up because it seems
wrong or it's too like it's too out there. But
as someone who's new to it, especially if you're one
of the rare people who immediately starts writing songs, they
(20:19):
don't think like, oh, I need to get to a
certain benchmark, I need to be able to play this
many chords. It's just like, oh, I can play one chord.
I'm going to make a song out of this, and
eventually I'm going to keep making songs and making songs
and some of them will be good.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Yeah, he like learned a scale. I mean I remember, Yeah,
you like learn a scale. You're like, this sound's really good. Actually,
and then everyone is like, yeah, it's a scale, and
you're like, okay, I guess that's not cool. But he was.
He just like went went in that direction.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
It goes back to that confidence he had. So in
the next segment, we'll talk about this record still Bill.
It's about time we get to the record itself that
we listen to and that's next time at First Listen,
(21:14):
and we're back on that First Listen, the music podcast
for people who don't always get the hype but want to.
And so now we're talking about Still Bill. This is
Bill Withers's second studio album. This is the one that
includes lean On Me, which is probably his most immortal song,
but also has used me on It, which was another hit.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Who Is He and What Is He to You? Is
another pretty big hit, right.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
I don't know if that's a hit, but I do
like it a lot. I love a strong parenthetical statement
in a song title.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Oh I love it too.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
It's who is he? And in parentheses? And what is
he to You?
Speaker 2 (21:52):
It gives such a vibe. You're like, I'm I'm asking
who is he?
Speaker 1 (21:56):
But I really the answer I want, Yeah, don't.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Tell me it's Jared. I need to know why do
you know Jared?
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (22:04):
And why are you looking at him like that? Which
is basically what he says in the song this album
it was I was. I was really contextualizing it in,
you know, in the context of like listening to it
on a record, and it was so different than records
these days. Like these days, the first song is always
(22:28):
if it's not their biggest hit, it's like something they
want to be their biggest hit. It's like you come
in really strong. They're trying to hook you in. And
these first two songs, they're kinda they're great songs, but
he's actually like saying saying some stuff he wants to say.
And he's like, I know, I know my listeners, they're
(22:48):
gonna listen to it. They're gonna listen to these first
two songs. So I'm gonna take this opportunity to kind
of talk a little bit about my feelings.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Oh and he mentions this in his Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame speech. Ain't No Sunshine, which was his
breakthrough hit song with that, As we said, we all
know that was a B side on his first record.
So the single went out and for whatever reason, and
you hear about this in the stories of some huge
pop stars, for whatever reason, the DJ turned the record
(23:19):
over and played the B side, and the B side
was Ain't No Sunshine. So on this record, his second one,
he cuts use me and just goes straight to his
A and R guy's office, barges in. He's in a
meeting with the the president of Stax Records, which is
Bill Withers was on Sussex Records, so this is another label,
(23:39):
another guy. They're having a meeting. Bill says, I don't care,
I'm playing you this song. Tell me this is not
a hit. The guy from Bill's label is like, I
don't know, this is okay, this is okay. The guy
from Stax is like, let this man make his record
and just lay off him. When it came time to
(24:02):
choose a single, Bill was pushing news me and the
label wanted lean on me. So they took it back
out to some radio DJ and they were like, no,
it's lean on me for the first single, and so
he was like, you know what, I just went with it.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
That is so funny. Yeah, it occurred to me that
it's like such a slower process coming out with music.
It's not you know, now, they'll make single, they'll come
out with singles and music videos and all these things,
and then once they've tested all of it, then they
come out with the album and you're kind of like, okay,
(24:43):
is any of this even new music? Yeah? I mean
you have to listen to him again, he's not doing
crazy dramatics very often. In the end, they said lean.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
On me lean on Me was going to be the
first single. Hich who can blame them but use me
as a great song?
Speaker 2 (24:59):
It is, it's so opposite vibe.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Yeah. No, he probably also didn't want to be the
ballad guy totally.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
And that's why it's interesting. So I was like when
I was listening to this, this album, it definitely has
a bit of his, like his songwriting style I think
shows in the kind of arc of the of the album.
It's like lonely Town, Lonely Street. He's like, whatever, it
starts out like a middle tempo and then let Me
(25:30):
into Your Life is slower and then who is He?
And what is Like? There's like this kind of like
it starts out kind of medium and then it slows
down a lot and then it starts to speed up again.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
It's this like, so this is who is he? And
what is he? To you? Yeah, it's like it's a
little funkier but.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Funky but pretty like slow temper.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
If you're going for a walk, Oh, this is a
good album to listen to this and use me. You're
gonna feel great if you're at walking your dog at
like six am and it's cold like today, wherein it's
twenty degrees. It's good confident walking music.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
It is it is, and it's like, yeah, I want
to know what it was like for his wife to
hear these songs, like a lot of a lot of
intrigue and drama going on. Use me. It's like, you
got who is he? And what is what is he
to you? And then you got use me. He's like,
(26:32):
I'm here for whatever you exactly. He's like, yeah, okay,
she's using me whatever. Do you see her? She's the best? Yeah,
And he's like, yeah, lean on me, baby, and anyone else,
my brother whoever?
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Yeah, he says brother in that song pretty prominently.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
He does. He's implying that it's about everyone, And I
think Lonely Town Lonely Street is kind of in that
same vein that it's talking to everyone. It's like, not
it's not a love song either, but every song that's
like it's either a love song. There's like half love songs,
if not more than half, and then the other ones
(27:11):
are kind of social commentary.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yeah, what from the second half of the record do
you want to talk about?
Speaker 2 (27:18):
My favorite one was the last song, So if you
had another one before.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
That to the the love song thread that you were
pulling on here. Side two of the album starts with
Kissing My Love, which is I don't think I necessarily
like it because it is such a it's it's got
a lot of the cliches that you would expect of
(27:42):
a love song, but it has a groove to it,
so it's wow yeah, okay, we have the wow wap
pedal on cool.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
This is perfect. Like this song would have been really
fun to listen to when it came out, like a
party song thing.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
I can't feel the heart.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Yeah, like I can just picture like myself at the
roller rank. You know.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
There's like a juvenile sort of quality totally just a Skipham.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Yeah. It's not a deep love. It's not dramatic like
his other songs. It's like I just love you baby.
This could be a first date, like this is a
exactly yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
So then the other the other song that was really
interesting to us was take it All In and Check
it Out. That's the final track on the album. And
actually let me look up when Still Bill came out,
what month? Because this is one of those songs which
(28:45):
is like the ideal civic responsibility song. So this came
out in May of seventy two, and history buffs out
there will know that in November of seventy two, America
had a decision to make and America, it might surprise
you to know, made the wrong choice. They re elected
(29:07):
Richard Nixon in a landslide.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
So unlike us.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Yeah, crazy, that's very odd. So Bill is talking in
this song about taking all the information in you can,
doing a lot of reading, checking it out, is it true,
Do you like what they're saying, and then make a decision,
and whatever that decision is, that's fine with me because
you took it in and you checked it out.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Yeah, this was the song that really kind of like
solidified to me. He was really he had something to say.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
He knew where the line was, and he was walking
along it. He wasn't gonna step on it, but he
was looking at it.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
And he was kind of saying, like, are y'all seeing
what I'm seeing? Like, because it's like, if you are,
then it seems like it's obvious what you should think.
But I'm not going to tell you what to think.
I'm I'm just a singer. And like the fact that
he put it on the end of his album, I
think it's a little genius because he's also I feel
(30:08):
like it's also gonna say and like, listen to it again,
turn it back over, take the whole album in and
check it out. Check me out.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
I'm Bill Withers, and that's exactly what we've done on
this episode of that First Listen.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Take you know, take us in, check us out. This
has been our first listen. Follow us on Instagram and
tell us about yours at First Listen podcast. Tell us
what you think. Is this my moment?
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Yeah, this is your moment. Okay, plug your show.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
I'm plugging my show. So for Black History Month, we're
gonna have a Black History Month show to hear more
from me the Great Talent. Justin Catchin's and Shim Pennant
are co hosting co producing an all black comedy show
at Upright Citizens Brigade like February twenty eighth, ten thirty pm.
(31:00):
You can find us at UCBLK show at Instagram to
get tickets, and if you don't live in New York,
it is also live stream, so bring your friends. It's
a great time and come say hi.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Be back with you next week on a First Listen.
Thanks
Welcome to a first listen.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
I'm Andrew, I'm Dominique, and.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
This is the music podcast for people who don't always
get the hype bot want to. And there is so
much hyper around Bill Withers right now.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Oh yeah, nobody will stop talking about him.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
He's all over the apps.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Okay, but he really does go viral every once in
a while, like the songs keep coming back.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Around, just like in real life. And that's why we
wanted to do this episode because I have personally for
several years been absolutely fascinated with Bill Withers. Not a
lot is known about his personal life. He was a
private guy despite being a gigantic star, a rock and
roll Hall of Famer. Everyone has Grammys, as you just said, Dominie.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yes, a lot of people have Grammys that and you
don't know who those people are. But rock and roll
hall of Fame is something only a select few people get.
And you got it before he passed away.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Yeah, what a concept.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Right?
Speaker 1 (01:17):
So, if you don't know, Bill Withers is the singer
and songwriter behind lean On Me, just the two of us,
Lovely Day, Ain't no Sunshine? Use Me? Did I miss one?
Speaker 2 (01:32):
Did you say lean on Me? Already.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
I think I said that one you did.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
I think that that is all of them. Like Ain't
No Sunshine is one of those songs that's like, it's
just so good.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, I'm still searching for what to call these songs
like a term. It's like an immortal song. And lean
On Me is the same way, where it's a song
that you have heard your whole life and you know
it basically the whole way through, but you don't know
when you heard it the first time where you might
(02:08):
have heard it. It's just it's around, it's in the air,
and you know it. And He's he's one of those
people who has a song like that, but he also
has multiple.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
So I have a special relationship with this song. I
won't go into it, but I was supposed to sing
it one time, like with a jazz band, and it
was so stressful and I total stage right and I
totally butchered it. But I do think that the reason
that I was it too low for you, it was
(02:37):
there was a lot of problems. I think the key
was the least of the worries. Okay, but I think,
like you can, the songs are not that like challenging
sounding they're kind of in a in a range that
if you change the key, you know you can sing them.
(02:58):
But then he sings them so in like I mean
he has this, you know beautiful is it a baritone
for sure? And then he just like holds out notes forever.
I mean, you don't have to, you can sing it
without doing that, but he does. So it's like it's
like for everyone. But then he he's it's really his.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
His whole thing, his oubra is. He's very he seems
like he's very uncontroversial even in his time. There's no
controversy section on the Wikipedia page. Uncontroversial but accepted as
really good. So the music is thoughtful, it's uncontroversial, and
(03:46):
it's just done so impeccably well.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I'm not surprised like that these songs come back around.
There are also songs that your your parents will like
think like, oh, how do you know this? And it's
like it's in like commercials for cell phones, like it's
extremely ubiquitous. Some of these songs are very ubiquitous.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
I'm also noticing, so I was trying to figure out
what Bill Withers songs are in commercials. I don't know
if ain't no Sunshine is one of them that'd be
kind of too bad, but just the two of us
for sure is in like this is chocolate for ladies
totally where there's like a lady she's dancing around her
house because she has the best kind of chocolate.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
If we look up the soundtrack for for rom coms,
many rom coms for sure have this song. You know,
Tyler Perry movies. I would I would bet so, I
would bet a lot of money that this riff is
in arrange of movies.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Yeah, this is one of those ones that's sort of
like Bad to the Bone by George Thoroughgood. That's maybe
a little bit overused, but it is still awesome.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
You can't deny it. Out of all these, I didn't
realize Grandma's Hands was one I hadn't heard of, and
I think I had heard it, but I think it's
the only one where he's not like repeating the name
of it for the majority of the song, Like, if
you don't know the name of Ain't No Sunshine, you're
(05:17):
kind of crazy. So if anyone recognizes that riff, no diggity,
you gotta bag it up. So I knew the song
by Blackstreet and Doctor Dre. I think that is a
song about it's you know what. I'm not going to
(05:39):
go into it because this is the this is the
non explicit episode. But it's a song that is also
like weirdly ubiquitous, like you would hear it. This would
be more like a roller skating rink maybe, or just
like a party, like it's a and so I think
that's such an important part of music, especially like Black music,
(06:04):
that really great songs like this, really great songwriters like
they are become immortal also because they get sampled.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
Yeah, so you mentioned the party element. Probably his greatest
song is lean On Me, which is on this album
that we're going to talk about later. And this is
like a song that if Amazing Grace is in the
set list, lean on Me could also be in the
set list. No one would bad Andy if it was.
It's not it's a secular song, right, whereas Amazing Grace
(06:38):
is not.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
But you can hear that rivlke.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
It's very churchy.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
It's very churchy, and it's it's so recognizable.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Right and then so it has a hymnal quality. But
then you just move to like and we're partying, totally
have a good time. Though this is serious, this thing
our community is going through that we're singing Lean on Me,
but we're also gonna have like a funky bassline.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Right, No, I'm picturing like in that first part, it's
like a it's like the end of a movie, and
that we it's like people joining hands, Like people are
all kind.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Of start to ractly and maybe there's like an aerial
shot as we're zooming out exactly. Then screen goes black
for the credits, and then that part comes on and
we're in like there's like a post credit scene.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yes, it's like slideshow kind of montage thing people are
and it's like, yeah, people are just want to hug.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
It worked out, don't worry about them. After the handholding,
they were all good.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Yeah, everybody in the movie is friends now, Like whatever
conflict happened, Like the guy who was fighting the other
guy is, they're like they're like dapping each other up, exactly.
They're all at a cooking a.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Trick on each other and everyone's lap well, practical.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Joke, but you're not scaring anyone off. No.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
In the next segment, we're going to talk a little
bit about who Bill Withers was. Was he like some
child prodigy like Stevie Wonder. Was he like a folk
hero like Bob Dylan or one of those who Pete
Seeger is the other name I was trying to think of.
So not a lot is really out there about him
(08:25):
except what he gave in interviews, and he did a
lot of interviews for the first couple albums and told
the same stories over and over. I feel a little
bit bad for him about.
Speaker 2 (08:33):
That, don't we. You know, that's something that I wish
we could come back to. I don't need to know
everything about the artists that I like. Let's bring back.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Nine minute cliff notes of your life up to this
point exactly.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
Then that's it. Just come out with music or don't
come out with it until you're done, and then just
hopefully Rake and Royalties for the rest of your life.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
And we're back on that first listen talking about Peel
Withers for our Black History Month episode and so many
You had a couple of questions when I brought up
the idea of covering Bill Withers on a show, and
you had a question about, like, well, what is his
relationship to the sort of black empowerment movement that was
(09:29):
going on in the sixties and seventies, and also what's
with all the references to a pretty young thing and
how many wives did he have and how old were they?
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Right? I feel like with historical figures, you always want
to check these things out because it's just good to know,
you know who you're talking about and who you're loving.
And I so I researched. Yeah, he talks about in
No Sunshine leave the young Thing alone. People told him
(10:04):
to leave the young thing alone, but he didn't. And
then there's other songs where he talks about someone being
young and so I was a little suspicious. But I
googled his wife, I googled about all about his personal life,
and I didn't find anything. So I was very relieved.
I also I was wondering because a lot of marginalized people,
(10:29):
but especially black people, are kind of given this title
of like being a revolutionary historical figure even though they
were just like living their lives and doing their thing
and they weren't trying to be revolutionary. Like Sidney Poitier,
for example, he was like just like doing his job.
But it's like he was a black guy. We love
(10:51):
him for that, and it was great he was doing
it but like he wasn't trying to speak on any issues.
And with Bo Withers, it's interesting because, as we spoke
about before, he doesn't say explicit stuff as we do
in music today, where you're like, say, exactly, you know
what you're talking about.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
That was another element of the controversy of Kendrick Lamar's
Super Bowl performances. He was suggestive, but not as explicit
as some people thought he could have been.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Yeah, it's like, hello, you got to use your brain
a little bit, and I think that's great. It's but
as the more we listen to Bill Bill, my friend
mister Withers, it's really clear that he did have something
to say, but he knew he was an artist as well,
he wasn't.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
And he was speaking it to a broad audience that
was probably not going to accept any sort of radical,
any overtly radical views. You can it's pretty easy to
find his ties to some of the political movements that
were going on. I don't think he was a black
panther or anything like that, but there's a live album
(12:01):
on one of the streaming services where other people on
that particular program are speaking freely about the black empowerment movement,
how they're trying to just defeat Richard Nixon, and Bill
is there taking part in the show. He's not making
(12:23):
those statements himself, but he's allowing, you know, his name
to be tied to that program.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
He is remembered so fondly also because of that, Like
I think we wouldn't have so many classics from him
if they were like super explicitly talking about black empowerment,
like I don't the songs like I'm Black and I'm Proud,
Like I should know who that is by, but I don't.
(12:50):
And I you know, like he he came in smooth,
that was his style. He was easy listening, and then
it's like, oh I love this. Hmm, Now maybe I'm intrigued.
Now I'll ask more questions. Oh he's a black guy.
That's maybe my mom won't like that. I'm a white
(13:11):
person in the seventies, and I think there's definitely something
to be said for that line he wrote in his music,
not being too explicit, but in that time, it was
pretty clear what he was talking about, and he did
align himself with the.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Radicals talking about like our preconceived notions of who Bill
Weathers was as a musician. I guess anyone who is
who was old enough in the seventies to watch the
late night TV probably knows some of this information. But
this was all new to me. So he grew up
in a mining town, like a dead mining town in
(13:51):
West Virginia. He did not speak fondly of it. There
was one interview where he was asked if he ever
goes back there. This was like between the first and
second album, I think, and he's like, no, everyone I
knew there was dead.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Wow. Now I will say I drove through some small
towns in West Virginia and I did not enjoy it either.
I felt very weird and you see all type of
weird flags and it is very dark at night, and
you're like, let me get out of here.
Speaker 1 (14:23):
On the other side of that, so that was an
interview he did in the seventies. In his Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame Exceptance speech in twenty fifteen, he
shouts out his high school friends who were there. There's
like four people who I guess he went to high
school with who were actually at So hopefully they got
out of that town too. It doesn't seem like it
was awesome. But he enlisted in the Navy at seventeen
(14:44):
years old. I guess that's when he finished high school.
Times were different.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yeah, I don't understand, like did he was he drafted
or did he says he enlisted and.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
Enlisted, which is different. Did not really have an interest
in music until like late his navy career. He was
in the Navy for nine years, so also if he
was drafted, he wouldn't have been in for nine years.
After he got out, got a good paying job. The
talk shows in the seventies thought it was hilarious that
(15:14):
he manufactured toilets for aircraft. There's about a million interviews
of him telling that story and trying to make jokes
out of well, you know, they were being assembled, so
no one had used them yet, and everyone laughs. The
whole studio alliance just goes up. So he was doing
(15:35):
that job. Seems like a union gig. Probably kind of good.
Speaker 2 (15:37):
Yeah, and he was probably still taken. He's back then,
like being in the Navy was kind of good financially. Yeah,
he probably had a pension and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
So he was like a and a totally adult guy,
and he had this hobby where he was like learning
to play the guitar and writing songs.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Wow, that does that type of adult even assist anymore? Guy?
And I can't imagine doing all of that by thirty Seriously.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
It's also a time when like all pop stars are
like twenty five at the most. By like twenty five,
it's like time to find another career. Dude, you're old,
is that right? Yeah? It wasn't until the eighties that
pop stars could be like forty okay, and then there
were so many forty year old pop stars in the eighties.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Was crazy.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
So he started writing songs, started making demos. I don't
know how he got connected to the person who helped
him make his demos, but that happened.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
I feel like he was just like talking and someone
heard his voice and they just like followed it. Yeah,
and like started recording it. And he he was like,
I do actually play a little guitar.
Speaker 1 (16:53):
Yeah, sing a little bit, singing some songs. Yeah, I
lot to sing a song for you? Is this like
aw shucks? Thing? That is normally like other people doing it,
it would be annoying, but with him, it's like, yeah,
this is a this is a cool guy.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
He's just a cool guy, and it does it makes sense.
He was a humble guy, like everything you're saying, you know,
he's from humble beginnings. But then he was like he
was never too good for anything. Yeah, he was never
like you gotta have some confidence to manufacture toilets and
(17:29):
talk about that.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
And also this is something that he cited when it
was time for him to leave the music industry after
like nineteen eighty six, he didn't put out any music,
he didn't tour anymore, and he was like, you know,
I got into this when I was like thirty three
years old. Was my first record came out. I was
a full blown person at that point. I had my
(17:51):
own life. I had lots of interests. I know that
life includes music, but it is it is not music,
and I can do other things and spend time with
my family and my two kids and not tour.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
I think like I was trying to figure out that
sort of thing. It's kind of hard to pin down
like what the tours exactly that people did. But he
was touring for a while. And nobody can really wants
to tour forever usually, but they'll do it anyway for
(18:24):
whatever the fame, adoration, the money. But he was a
well rounded guy with a family and he wanted to
do that really cool.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
I thought that maybe he was this professional songwriter, this prodigy.
Carol King is the example that was in my head
of someone who started off writing songs for over the
people and then began just doing it themselves. That was
not Bill Withers. And as you get into his music
you realize he actually had a really unconventional style of writing.
(18:53):
So I want to play this song from his It's
the I think first track from his first record called Harlem.
And I put this on the other day when I
had a bass in my hand and I was like
trying to play along to it, and it occurred to
me that this whole song is just from I think
(19:13):
it's G to C and it goes up a half
step at a time, And this is not a song
the type of song that someone who had a background
in writing hits whatever right or certainly put as the
first track on their record. And there's no there's no
(19:37):
repetition of the chord progression. It's just like literally changing
keys over and over and over again until it is done.
And I thought that was so cool, Like there's this
thing that you disability you have when you're learning a
new instrument. When you don't know how anything works, you
don't know any music, you come up with these ideas
(19:59):
that someone who is more schooled in that instrument or
in music in general won't come up because it seems
wrong or it's too like it's too out there. But
as someone who's new to it, especially if you're one
of the rare people who immediately starts writing songs, they
(20:19):
don't think like, oh, I need to get to a
certain benchmark, I need to be able to play this
many chords. It's just like, oh, I can play one chord.
I'm going to make a song out of this, and
eventually I'm going to keep making songs and making songs
and some of them will be good.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
Yeah, he like learned a scale. I mean I remember, Yeah,
you like learn a scale. You're like, this sound's really good. Actually,
and then everyone is like, yeah, it's a scale, and
you're like, okay, I guess that's not cool. But he was.
He just like went went in that direction.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
It goes back to that confidence he had. So in
the next segment, we'll talk about this record still Bill.
It's about time we get to the record itself that
we listen to and that's next time at First Listen,
(21:14):
and we're back on that First Listen, the music podcast
for people who don't always get the hype but want to.
And so now we're talking about Still Bill. This is
Bill Withers's second studio album. This is the one that
includes lean On Me, which is probably his most immortal song,
but also has used me on It, which was another hit.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Who Is He and What Is He to You? Is
another pretty big hit, right.
Speaker 1 (21:41):
I don't know if that's a hit, but I do
like it a lot. I love a strong parenthetical statement
in a song title.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Oh I love it too.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
It's who is he? And in parentheses? And what is
he to You?
Speaker 2 (21:52):
It gives such a vibe. You're like, I'm I'm asking
who is he?
Speaker 1 (21:56):
But I really the answer I want, Yeah, don't.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Tell me it's Jared. I need to know why do
you know Jared?
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (22:04):
And why are you looking at him like that? Which
is basically what he says in the song this album
it was I was. I was really contextualizing it in,
you know, in the context of like listening to it
on a record, and it was so different than records
these days. Like these days, the first song is always
(22:28):
if it's not their biggest hit, it's like something they
want to be their biggest hit. It's like you come
in really strong. They're trying to hook you in. And
these first two songs, they're kinda they're great songs, but
he's actually like saying saying some stuff he wants to say.
And he's like, I know, I know my listeners, they're
(22:48):
gonna listen to it. They're gonna listen to these first
two songs. So I'm gonna take this opportunity to kind
of talk a little bit about my feelings.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Oh and he mentions this in his Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame speech. Ain't No Sunshine, which was his
breakthrough hit song with that, As we said, we all
know that was a B side on his first record.
So the single went out and for whatever reason, and
you hear about this in the stories of some huge
pop stars, for whatever reason, the DJ turned the record
(23:19):
over and played the B side, and the B side
was Ain't No Sunshine. So on this record, his second one,
he cuts use me and just goes straight to his
A and R guy's office, barges in. He's in a
meeting with the the president of Stax Records, which is
Bill Withers was on Sussex Records, so this is another label,
(23:39):
another guy. They're having a meeting. Bill says, I don't care,
I'm playing you this song. Tell me this is not
a hit. The guy from Bill's label is like, I
don't know, this is okay, this is okay. The guy
from Stax is like, let this man make his record
and just lay off him. When it came time to
(24:02):
choose a single, Bill was pushing news me and the
label wanted lean on me. So they took it back
out to some radio DJ and they were like, no,
it's lean on me for the first single, and so
he was like, you know what, I just went with it.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
That is so funny. Yeah, it occurred to me that
it's like such a slower process coming out with music.
It's not you know, now, they'll make single, they'll come
out with singles and music videos and all these things,
and then once they've tested all of it, then they
come out with the album and you're kind of like, okay,
(24:43):
is any of this even new music? Yeah? I mean
you have to listen to him again, he's not doing
crazy dramatics very often. In the end, they said lean.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
On me lean on Me was going to be the
first single. Hich who can blame them but use me
as a great song?
Speaker 2 (24:59):
It is, it's so opposite vibe.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Yeah. No, he probably also didn't want to be the
ballad guy totally.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
And that's why it's interesting. So I was like when
I was listening to this, this album, it definitely has
a bit of his, like his songwriting style I think
shows in the kind of arc of the of the album.
It's like lonely Town, Lonely Street. He's like, whatever, it
starts out like a middle tempo and then let Me
(25:30):
into Your Life is slower and then who is He?
And what is Like? There's like this kind of like
it starts out kind of medium and then it slows
down a lot and then it starts to speed up again.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
It's this like, so this is who is he? And
what is he? To you? Yeah, it's like it's a
little funkier but.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Funky but pretty like slow temper.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
If you're going for a walk, Oh, this is a
good album to listen to this and use me. You're
gonna feel great if you're at walking your dog at
like six am and it's cold like today, wherein it's
twenty degrees. It's good confident walking music.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
It is it is, and it's like, yeah, I want
to know what it was like for his wife to
hear these songs, like a lot of a lot of
intrigue and drama going on. Use me. It's like, you
got who is he? And what is what is he
to you? And then you got use me. He's like,
(26:32):
I'm here for whatever you exactly. He's like, yeah, okay,
she's using me whatever. Do you see her? She's the best? Yeah,
And he's like, yeah, lean on me, baby, and anyone else,
my brother whoever?
Speaker 1 (26:46):
Yeah, he says brother in that song pretty prominently.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
He does. He's implying that it's about everyone, And I
think Lonely Town Lonely Street is kind of in that
same vein that it's talking to everyone. It's like, not
it's not a love song either, but every song that's
like it's either a love song. There's like half love songs,
if not more than half, and then the other ones
(27:11):
are kind of social commentary.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Yeah, what from the second half of the record do
you want to talk about?
Speaker 2 (27:18):
My favorite one was the last song, So if you
had another one before.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
That to the the love song thread that you were
pulling on here. Side two of the album starts with
Kissing My Love, which is I don't think I necessarily
like it because it is such a it's it's got
a lot of the cliches that you would expect of
(27:42):
a love song, but it has a groove to it,
so it's wow yeah, okay, we have the wow wap
pedal on cool.
Speaker 2 (27:50):
This is perfect. Like this song would have been really
fun to listen to when it came out, like a
party song thing.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
I can't feel the heart.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Yeah, like I can just picture like myself at the
roller rank. You know.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
There's like a juvenile sort of quality totally just a Skipham.
Speaker 2 (28:14):
Yeah. It's not a deep love. It's not dramatic like
his other songs. It's like I just love you baby.
This could be a first date, like this is a
exactly yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:25):
So then the other the other song that was really
interesting to us was take it All In and Check
it Out. That's the final track on the album. And
actually let me look up when Still Bill came out,
what month? Because this is one of those songs which
(28:45):
is like the ideal civic responsibility song. So this came
out in May of seventy two, and history buffs out
there will know that in November of seventy two, America
had a decision to make and America, it might surprise
you to know, made the wrong choice. They re elected
(29:07):
Richard Nixon in a landslide.
Speaker 2 (29:09):
So unlike us.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
Yeah, crazy, that's very odd. So Bill is talking in
this song about taking all the information in you can,
doing a lot of reading, checking it out, is it true,
Do you like what they're saying, and then make a decision,
and whatever that decision is, that's fine with me because
you took it in and you checked it out.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
Yeah, this was the song that really kind of like
solidified to me. He was really he had something to say.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
He knew where the line was, and he was walking
along it. He wasn't gonna step on it, but he
was looking at it.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
And he was kind of saying, like, are y'all seeing
what I'm seeing? Like, because it's like, if you are,
then it seems like it's obvious what you should think.
But I'm not going to tell you what to think.
I'm I'm just a singer. And like the fact that
he put it on the end of his album, I
think it's a little genius because he's also I feel
(30:08):
like it's also gonna say and like, listen to it again,
turn it back over, take the whole album in and
check it out. Check me out.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
I'm Bill Withers, and that's exactly what we've done on
this episode of that First Listen.
Speaker 2 (30:21):
Take you know, take us in, check us out. This
has been our first listen. Follow us on Instagram and
tell us about yours at First Listen podcast. Tell us
what you think. Is this my moment?
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Yeah, this is your moment. Okay, plug your show.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
I'm plugging my show. So for Black History Month, we're
gonna have a Black History Month show to hear more
from me the Great Talent. Justin Catchin's and Shim Pennant
are co hosting co producing an all black comedy show
at Upright Citizens Brigade like February twenty eighth, ten thirty pm.
(31:00):
You can find us at UCBLK show at Instagram to
get tickets, and if you don't live in New York,
it is also live stream, so bring your friends. It's
a great time and come say hi.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Be back with you next week on a First Listen.
Thanks
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com