Bobby Womack, RIP

One of my favorite soul singers, Bobby Womack, has
just died at age 70. I wrote a fair amount about him in

this old piece for The University Bookman, so if you
want to see me try to put his work into a cultural context you
should look at that. If you’d rather just listen to the music—or if
you want a soundtrack while you read—here’s the Womack song that
modern audiences are most likely to recognize, since Quentin
Tarantino stuck it at the beginning of a movie:

That’s “Across 110th Street,” one of the best tracks ever
recorded for a blaxploitation
soundtrack; Tarantino showed good taste when he recycled it.
And here, less well-known, is an item from the other end of the
funk/twang spectrum: a duet with his dad on “Tarnished Rings,” from
Womack’s criminally underappreciated stab at a country record,

B.W. Goes C&W:

The All Music Guide gives that album just one
star. What the hell are you guys thinking?

Womack’s life was decadent even by pop-star standards, with
plenty of
sex, drugs, violence, and scandal. Amid all that, he managed to
make a lot of great music. He reportedly recorded one more album
before he died, and I can’t wait to hear it.