I had an interesting moment earlier. Timmy Thomas (great name!) came on my iPod. I know the song “Why Can’t We Live Together” like the back of my hand, having heard it probably about 5,000 times in my life. But, as happens with a lot of things in life, I assumed I knew it so well that it no longer had the capacity to surprise me.
I was wrong.
I listened to it, really listened, today – and all of the goosebumps that I got from the sparse sound of drum machine and organ when I heard it the first 300 times came back twofold.
It’s shocking that it became such a huge hit (in 1972) if you think about it. Not that it didn’t deserve to, mind you. It’s just that it seems so jazz-like, so bold, so strange a sound to be coming out of little AM Top 40 Radio speakers.
Timmy Thomas never had another hit. And I still don’t know why we can’t live together.
margauxville 