sounds of Chicago
Willie Rogers, “When the Gates Swing Open” (T. A. Dorsey), live, 2015
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lagniappe
random sights
yesterday, Oak Park, Ill.
*****
reading table
For all of life is really recoil and leap, leap and recoil.
—Lucy Ellman, Ducks, Newburyport
sounds of Chicago
Otis Clay (1942-2016) and Willie Rogers, “When the Gates Swing Open,” “A Change Is Gonna Come,” live, Indianola, Miss. (B.B. King’s funeral service), 2015
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lagniappe
reading table
whatever the day brings
the nightingale’s alone
I’m alone—Kobayashi Issa, 1763-1828 (translated from Japanese by David G. Lanoue)
sounds of Chicago
Soul Stirrers (feat. Willie Rogers), “A Change Is Gonna Come” (S. Cooke)
Live, 1989
testify!
This old world is not my home. I’m just passing through. But while I’m down here, I’ve got a job to do. . . . I’m just working—singing—for my train fare back home.
—Willie Rogers
Willie Rogers (Soul Stirrers), “When the Gates Swing Open,” live
If you’re a gospel singer, any time—even (especially?) a sister’s funeral—is a time to sing.
Gene Stewart (of the Soul Stirrers) with Willie Rogers (also of the Soul Stirrers), “The Last Mile of the Way” (recorded by the Soul Stirrers, with Sam Cooke, in 1955), live
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lagniappe
Once you are a Soul Stirrer you are always a Soul Stirrer. Sam Cooke will always be known as a Soul Stirrer regardless of what he did in the world.—Willie Rogers
*****
Want more of the Soul Stirrers? Here (with Sam Cooke [10/4/09]).
music clip of the day 