Dee Dee Sharp (Happy Birthday & a Message)
BLACK MEN WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO START GETTING YOUR SH*T TOGETHER BY STARTING TO LISTEN, I MEAN REALLY LISTEN TO THE ONE ENTITY WHO TRULY HAS YOUR BEST INTERSTS AT HEART?
BLACK MEN WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO START GETTING YOUR SH*T TOGETHER BY STARTING TO LISTEN, I MEAN REALLY LISTEN TO THE ONE ENTITY WHO TRULY HAS YOUR BEST INTERSTS AT HEART?
Happy Birthday Dee Dee Sharp.
(A badd mamma jamma)
Please indulge me for just a few moments. This song is really off the hook. And Ms. Dee Dee Sharp is really a badd mamma jamma! Doesn’t she look like she could “launch 1,000 ships?” And best of all, she’s not “just another pretty face.” Not only can she sing in that sultry teenage vixen style, but she also plays her azz off!
I know this for a fact. I’ve seen her live. She’s truly a great/underrated performer (and yes, I am smitten :))
Check out this “extended version” of “I REALLY LOVE YOU,” (bottom) written by her ex-husband Kenny Gamble on YouTube (talk about “The Sound of Philadelphia!”)
“SUGA SUGA
WOULD YOU WOULD YOU
WOULD YOU TELL ME WHERE I MADE MY MISTAKE?”
Lyrics designed to lull me into thinking that I am in control, when very clearly the opposite is the reality!
It’s all in their voices. Yes it’s sexy & sultry in a PG manner, that can quickly matriculate to the X-rated version. I have now hit the rewind button on this song about 5 times. It’s quite addictive. Her voice totally & completely renders me numb and under her complete control & command.
There is a very special combination of POWER & VUNERABILITY that hits me in a place that isn’t easy for me to describe. Consider the sheer irony of the young Black woman between say 15 – 25. Also consider the turmoil of the mid to late 1960’s. You see, this is the reality for young Black women. It is their voice that is somehow the most powerful on earth and yet at the same time, it is young Black women who are the most oppressed beings on the planet. If that sounds like a contradiction, you go to the head of the class.
Although I’d love to say that it’s only Dee Dee Sharp’s voice from this timeframe. That is far from the case. The list is almost endless and at the risk of omitting more than a few names here are some other examples: Dionne Warwick, Dee Dee Warwick, The Emotions, Brenda Holloway, The Royalettes, Brenda Payton (of the Tabulations), Barbara Mason, Betty Wright, Mary Wells, Marylin McCoo and many others.
Take a good strong listen to this young sistas and you (along with everyone else) will find the answers to many of the issues facing Black men, whether its 1960 or its 2022.
“SWEETY SWEETY
TELL ME TELL ME
WHERE DID I GO WRONG”
