Ruth Brown
When I heard this weekend that Ruth Brown passed away, joining Gerald Levert as the second musical legend in as many weeks to join the ancestors, I was noticeably touched. I was a late arrival to Ms. Brown’s music, and may not have gotten put on were it not for the fact that I once dated a woman by the same name.
“You don’t know who Ruth Brown is,” I remember her as me as she cocked her head to the side, giving me her trademark, “negro what,” look. She had a habit of furrowing her brow, her cheeks practically enveloping her nose. When she broke this look her gold leaf nose ring would sparkle out from beneath her cheeks.
I left her apartment that afternoon to find out who Ruth Brown was–or at least her music. What I heard, I definitely liked. Ms. Brown’s renditions of; “If I can sell it, I’ll Keep sittin on it,” “Mambo Baby,” “I’ll Wait for you” and “Good ship lollipop” as well as her versions of classics “When I fall in love” and “God Bless the Child,” showcase one of the finest voices of the twentieth century. Her casmere soft vocals are as comforting as the fabric they evoke memories of and the feeling of your girl’s head resting on your shoulder, or the two of you walking arm in arm late at night through Rockefeller center during the holidays long after the crowds have dissipated. Ms. Brown’s voice brings to mind memories of long nights on the couch or at the Blue Note when the music says everything you ever wanted to.
With Ms. Brown in mind and “I’ll Wait for You” playing in the background I sat down on Saturday to write this elegy for her. “I’ll Wait for You” is one of the few songs that I can remember where a baritone sax plays the lead in the horn section. The trumpets and trombones trail the big daddy of saxophones like a pack of cubs following the chief of their pride. The song itself is about a woman proclaiming her desire to wait for her man, if he’s so inclined to ask her.
Before I started writing I knew some of the basic info about Ms. Brown, she was born in Virginia and like most soul sirens she grew up singing in the church. And I remember that later on in her career she became a activist to help older musicians recover lost royalties from their unfair contracts. She was instrumental in starting the Rythm and Blues Foundation, the organization that acted on behalf of these elder statesmen and women of the music industry, and which one day will undoubtedly be helping some our rap legends pay their bills.
But little did I know that when I slid over to Wikipedia to check out their stub on Ms. Brown I’d discover this golden nugget about Ms. Brown, she’s Rakim’s aunt. Now when the “god” said he had soul, I didn’t realize he had it like that. I guess that’s people mean when they say it runs in the family.
Ms. Brown, I pray that you rest in peace, and that your soul keeps running.
One,
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