Sure, I could have chosen any track from Love And Rockets, and especially any they'd written themselves, but I wanted to pick Ball Of Confusion because of its history particularly. Written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for The Temptations, the song sends a strong political message while never really taking a definite stance on specific issues, because the last song Whitfield had written at the time, War (which became Edwin Starr's lone #1 hit) had been censored by the label.
Years later, Tina Turner made her own version of this song for the British market, which may explain why such acts as L&R and Duran Duran have covered it, and U.N.K.L.E. sampled it. In the U.S., it was covered by acts ranging from Widespread Panic to Tesla and The Neville Brothers.
Recently, I went to a Public Enemy show and they played the riff to back one of their own songs.
I've been listening to it a lot lately, at a rate of once per day.
No comments:
Post a Comment