You Started This Fire Down In My Soul
I still haven’t written about the Demi Lovato concert I attended earlier this week, but I promise I will. I’ve been writing other things today.
As you may have learned in yesterday’s post, I really enjoy comparing different versions of the same song. The wide differential between slightly different versions of one thing is a testament to human creativity and ingenuity. One of my absolute favorite instances of this is the classic song “Don’t Leave Me This Way” from the 1970s and 1980s.
There are three-and-a-half very notable versions of this song, by very different artists, with very different instrumentation, and very different vibes. Notably, the lyrics across all three versions are nearly identical. I’m actually going to go backwards in time with this one because the original is my absolute favorite, and probably the one you’re least likely to be familiar with.
The Communards with Sarah Jane Morris (1986)
When I searched for this version, the first thing that came up was a snippet of an interview on Bay Area public radio station KALW with my friend Gerard Koskovich, who named this version as his favorite song due to its meaningful reinterpretation of the lyrics during the height of the AIDS epidemic in the mid-80s. He referenced a piece of art displayed at a bus shelter right next to my office on Castro Street by artist Nayland Blake, that was a blank background with copperplate letters reading “Don’t Leave Me This Way.”
I can understand why someone might not like this version. Jimmy Somerville’s (of Bronski Beat fame) countertenor voice is not everyone’s cup of tea. The beat is maybe a little too fast. And it adds little to the previous two versions.
That all said, I still love this version of the song. While I wasn’t yet alive in 1986, the Communards’ version of this song’s impact on morale among gay and bisexual men who were dying of AIDS is nothing short of legendary. It became somewhat of a rallying cry. I also adore Jimmy Somerville’s voice, haters be damned. Do I like Bronski Beat’s earlier work more? Yes. But the cover of “Don’t Leave Me This Way” is fun, danceable in a different way from Thelma Houston’s version, and the contrast between Jimmy Somerville’s countertenor voice and guest singer Sarah Jane Morris’s deep contralto voice is fantastic.
Thelma Houston (1976)
This is undoubtedly the best-known version of “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” from Thelma Houston’s 1976 album Any Way You Like It, but is notably not the original. Before being recorded by Thelma Houston, the label had intended for Diana Ross to sing it instead—can you imagine?This version is officially known as “R&B” but it’s really a disco anthem with a full band. Thelma Houston’s voice is one of the best of all-time for someone known as a “one-hit wonder.” Ironically, her voice recording is heavily compressed in the original album version, but knowing this fact actually makes her vocal performance on this song more impressive.
This song was a massive success, reaching number one on several Billboard and global charts, winning Grammys, and being frequently ranked highly on retrospective “best of” lists. Even before the Communards’ version ten years later, this song became known as a queer anthem. It’s not an explicitly queer song, nor by an explicitly queer artist, but this song has always resonated deeply with our community.
Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes with Teddy Pendergrass (1975)
Now, this is the original. Why is this fact not better known? I have no clue. Thelma Houston’s release, only one year later, was so culturally dominant that I think this version was forgotten. But man oh man, is this a killer recording. I mean, first, Teddy Pendergrass’s voice is just pure sex. Always, in every recording, but especially this one. He’s easily one of the most underrated vocalists of all time. His voice has this raw power that is rare. I do think it’s a bit ironic that this version isn’t the one that became popular in gay clubs, for the aforementioned reason of Pendergrass’s voice making me quiver.
It is a bit slower paced, which I love. It starts out with these bongo drums that are so much fun to listen to, as Teddy Pendergrass’s voice builds. Similar to the Thelma Houston version, the chorus is much grander, much louder than the preceding verses. The post-chorus growl in the I-I-I-I is so incredible.
I mentioned at the beginning of this post that there were three-and-a-half notable versions of “Don’t Leave Me This Way.” The final one, and my favorite, is the Dimitri From Paris remix of the Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes/Teddy Pendergrass version. It was actually this recording that taught me who Dimitri From Paris was, and made me realize that he’s one of the greatest living record producers. He actually did an entire Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes and Teddy Pendergrass remix album, and the whole album is fantastic and posted at the bottom. This remix is notable because it is quite faithful to the original recording, with some modernization of the sound, some cutting of some of the slower, more boring parts, adding some interesting new vocal echoes and instrumental parts, and extraordinary mixing. It still sounds like the original and not some monstrous modern EDM version. He gets disco and is definitely the artist who exemplifies the disco sound who wasn’t actually recording music in the 1970s and 1980s.
I wrote far more than I intended to tonight, but I think this is a good one. Please, don’t go.