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"Me and Mrs. Jones" singer Billy Paul dies at age 81
Soul Tracks ^ | Chris Rizik

Posted on 04/24/2016 6:52:19 PM PDT by mojito

This year just keeps getting sadder in the world of music, and this one really hits us hard. Legendary Philadelphia soul singer, Billy Paul, has died at age 81. Paul actively performed for a half century, but was best known for this chart-topping 1972 hit, "Me and Mrs. Jones." It was without a doubt one of the most lauded soul songs ever -- after overcoming some inital controversy -- and Paul made it his own with an expressive delivery over pristine Gamble & Huff production.

(Excerpt) Read more at soultracks.com ...


TOPICS: Music/Entertainment
KEYWORDS: adultry; billypaul; cheatingsongs; gambleandhuff; liberalism; meandmrsjones; phillysoul
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Another talented artist passes, and with him another link to the great American popular music of the 20th century.

RIP Billy.

1 posted on 04/24/2016 6:52:19 PM PDT by mojito
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To: mojito

“Me and Mrs. Jones” is an ode to heroin taking.

Heroin addicts call a fix a “Jones.”


2 posted on 04/24/2016 6:54:25 PM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: mojito
Oh, thought this had something to do with "Mr. Jones" song by the Counting Crows.


3 posted on 04/24/2016 6:56:08 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist (Rafael Cruz: Canadian-born, Cuban ancestry, ineligible for POTUS)
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To: mojito; Olog-hai

Hmmmm....In the three minutes since Olog-hai posted about this, Mr Paul seems to have aged a year!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3424296/posts


4 posted on 04/24/2016 7:00:16 PM PDT by JoeDetweiler
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To: JoeDetweiler

If this is correct, it wouldn’t be the first screwup by AP.


5 posted on 04/24/2016 7:04:14 PM PDT by Olog-hai
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To: JoeDetweiler; Olog-hai
I noticed that too. Thanks Olog for remembering Billy.
6 posted on 04/24/2016 7:04:51 PM PDT by mojito (Zero, our Nero.)
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To: mojito

“He had a thing......going on...”


7 posted on 04/24/2016 7:05:12 PM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously-you won't live through it anyway - "Enjoy Yourself" ala Louis Prima)
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To: JoeDetweiler

I saw it, too. It was amazing!


8 posted on 04/24/2016 7:06:31 PM PDT by SaveFerris (Be a blessing to a stranger today for some have entertained angels unaware)
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To: MarvinStinson

Before that, there was The Association:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD7SvXmjf3U


9 posted on 04/24/2016 7:08:05 PM PDT by SaveFerris (Be a blessing to a stranger today for some have entertained angels unaware)
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To: MarvinStinson

I never realized that. But I’m slow at times. I didn’t realize what “dancing with Mr. Brownstone” was until I looked it up.


10 posted on 04/24/2016 7:08:17 PM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: MarvinStinson

This sounds like an affair, not like a heroin habit. Unless of course heroin has it’s obligations to attend to.

Me and Mrs Jones, we got a thing going on
We both know that it’s wrong
But it’s much too strong to let it cool down now

We meet ev’ry day at the same cafe
Six-thirty I know she’ll be there
Holding hands, making all kinds of plans
While the jukebox plays our favorite song

Me and Mrs, Mrs Jones, Mrs Jones, Mrs Jones
Mrs. Jones got a thing going on
We both know that it’s wrong
But it’s much too strong to let it cool down now

We gotta be extra careful
That we don’t build our hopes too high
Cause she’s got her own obligations and so do I
Me, me and Mrs, Mrs Jones, Mrs Jones, Mrs Jones
Mrs Jones got a thing going on
We both know that it’s wrong
But it’s much too strong to let it cool down now

Well, it’s time for us to be leaving
Iit hurts so much, it hurts so much inside
Now she’ll go her way and I’ll go mine
But tomorrow we’ll meet the same place, the same time
Me and Mrs Jones, Mrs Jones, Mrs Jones


11 posted on 04/24/2016 7:11:56 PM PDT by DesertRhino ("I want those feeble minded asses overthrown,,,)
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To: DesertRhino

It’s a code for heroin.


12 posted on 04/24/2016 7:17:51 PM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: MarvinStinson

It’s also code for the hotel register. Snow and horse also is. But I doubt Jingle Bells was about a massive heroin story.

Here’s the real story from the guys who wrote it, not the artist who sang it.

“A hint about this song’s subject matter is cleverly “hidden” in its intro: the saxophone is playing the first line from a 1953 Doris Day hit entitled “Secret Love,” which won the Oscar for Best Original Song (Day sang it in the movie Calamity Jane). (thanks, Robin - Birmingham, AL) ...

Kenny Gamble explained to National Public Radio in 2008 that he and Huff got the idea for the song from trips to a little bar downstairs in the Schubert Building, which was where their record company was located. Said Gamble: “This guy used to come into the bar every day - little guy that looked like a judge. We’re songwriters, so we’re always thinking about a song. The next day he came in again, and every day after he’d come in, this girl would come in 10-15 minutes after he’d get there, and they’d sit in the same booth, then go to the jukebox and play the same songs. We said, ‘That’s me and Mrs. Jones.’ Then, when they’d get ready to leave, he would go his way and she would go hers. It could have been his daughter, his niece, anybody, but we created a story that there was some kind of romantic connection between these people, so we went upstairs to our office and wrote the song.””


13 posted on 04/24/2016 7:21:49 PM PDT by DesertRhino ("I want those feeble minded asses overthrown,,,)
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To: MarvinStinson

I can see you’ve never been Mr Jones or Smith. Proud of you :)


14 posted on 04/24/2016 7:22:44 PM PDT by DesertRhino ("I want those feeble minded asses overthrown,,,)
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To: DesertRhino
I just watched the youtube and I agree with you.

It's a stretch to figure this Mrs. Jones as heroin.

But maybe it hasn't touched you, or it hasn't yet. I've felt the sting of this devastating addiction inside my inner circle, and it hurts. It kills and destroys and I'm sick of hearing about it.

15 posted on 04/24/2016 7:26:16 PM PDT by WhoisAlanGreenspan?
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To: Larry Lucido

That old man, he’s a real mutha for ya gonna kick him on down the line.


16 posted on 04/24/2016 7:27:42 PM PDT by Rastus (The next president will be Trump or Hillary. Vote accordingly.)
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To: mojito

WHOA! Condolences to family and friends of Billy Paul. R.I.P.


17 posted on 04/24/2016 7:27:46 PM PDT by PGalt
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To: MarvinStinson

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
—Sigmund Freud


18 posted on 04/24/2016 7:38:00 PM PDT by Alas Babylon!
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To: PGalt; All

Song parody aired on Rush Limbaugh or maybe Don Imus

by “Bill Clinton”:
Me and, Paula, Corbin-Jones, Corbin-Jones, Corbin-Jones,
Corbin-Jones
We had a thinnnnng...goin’ on...


19 posted on 04/24/2016 7:38:55 PM PDT by raccoonradio
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To: MarvinStinson

Really? I thought it was a love song.


20 posted on 04/24/2016 7:43:17 PM PDT by funfan
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