Two Tunes For Tuesday – Sly & The Family Stone
Yesterday – June 9, 2025 – “Sly Stone of Sly and the Family Stone, dead at 82“
A sample of some obscure – and some maybe not obscure – tunes from my strange and off-the-wall collection.
Today’s selection: Sly and the Family Stone “I Want To Take You Higher“, “Everybody Is A Star” 1969
Both cuts were B sides; both cuts ranked high on the Billboard charts.
Woodstock: “What we would like to do … is sing a song together …“
” “I Want to Take You Higher” is not a message song; instead, it is simply dedicated to music and the feeling one gets from music.”
The performance at Woodstock – about 3AM – was considered one of the best of the festival.
“Everybody Is A Star” wasn’t released on an LP until a Greatest Hits compilation was released.
Sly & The Family Stone put on a good show – when they decided to show up, something not always certain.
When we were first married my husband was in a band. It was the 70’s and a club circuit that no longer exists. We were in Chicago which was where their agent’s office was. Apparently one of his favorite songs was “Everybody is a Star” and he was known to shout to his bands “PLAY WE’RE ALLSTARS” at the top of his lungs.I can’t hear the song today without thinking of the guy.
In the early-mid 80’s that dood was doing a concert in Ft Myers, FL (my home town at the time) and he OD’d and got slammed in the shitcan for a few days til he could bail out.
Coincidently, I was on a jet with him and his entourage from Charleston to Nashville in Nov 78. Very flashy.
Now this was weerd. My wife brought me a set of computer speakers that stopped working and asked if I could get them working again for her. Wanting to take a break from the AutoCAD I took the speakers out to the work bench. I also took a small portable Sony AM-FM radio to test the speakers.
I connected everything up, turned on the radio and adjusted the station and wouldn’t you know it?
It was an NPR station out of Bloomington, IN playing a 2 hour documentary thing on that Sly and the Family Stone. I guess it was a tribute to his passing or sumfink.
I almost NEVER listen to the radio unless the power goes out, but today I did.