Nowhere to Run

Recently, I got out my battered copy of Nowhere to Run: The Story of Soul Music (1984+) by Rolling Stone writer Gerri Hirshey. Haven't seen the 1985 paperback cover anywhere else since finding it in Chapel Hill in 1986, so here's a scan shot for all the world to see. There have been at least two newer editions put out in the last twenty years with totally different ones. It's a fun book, fascinating and a lot to absorb about soul music stars ranging from the Deep South to Detroit. One catches glimpses of the migrations and connections between rural and urban that still go on in every which way.

There are a lot of cool interview snippets, and also there's a lot about the early departed like Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson. (Marvin Gaye was killed by his father around the time the book first came out.) Martha Reeves has a strong place worth noting, too, as do James Brown, Motown, the Girl Groups and all that jive.

Here's a brief sample from Wilson Pickett:

Me and a million other dudes said "later" to pickin' cotton. Moved North. Learned how to live in the city. Detroit, my Lord, what a place. Singin' in the streets, doggin' some clubs. You want some romance, some sweetness, you scrape together some change for a quart of chow mein, And a pint of Thunderbird or maybe somethin' weird like cactus wine. You and the lady finish it all up. Got to be chow mein or the magic don't work. Lean the lady up on one of them big Pontiacs -- we in the fifties now -- be sweet, and she slide right down the tailfin and into your arms. Lord bless and keep them automotive engineers. Gave a country boy a reason to sing in that dirty old city. [p. 65]

Today's Rune: Wholeness.