RR: And right after that opening track, there is another significant song in many ways called “Family Reunion,” which has its own story.

GB: That’s a great one because it was written by Rod Temperton who writes great songs. I was after him for about two years to get that song. He played it for me one year. I said, “Well, when am I going to get it?” He said, “Well, I’m tweakin’ it. I’m only in Los Angeles in September every year,” so I remembered that. And when he came back the next year, I said, “Where’s that song, man? I just remembered that it had the word “family” in it.” He said, “Yeah, it’s called “Family Reunion”.” I said, “Where is it?” (laughter) And he sent it over, and I was sure glad that he hadn’t given it away because, you know, he records a lot of people, he produces records, and writes songs for many different artists.

RR: Sure, but you’re not someone that he is going to easily forget.

GB: No. No. Rod is a very intense fellow and he’s very…_emotional_ about his material. I think he likes to get involved. His most successful tunes are ones where he’s involved in the production of it. That’s why it stays on track, and his original concept doesn’t get lost; so I stayed pretty much in the groove even though he wasn’t there. I tried to pretend that he was there, and do something that he would be proud of. Working with him with Quincy Jones was pretty tough because he’s a demanding fellow just like Quincy is—a perfectionist (laughs)—so it was pretty tough.

RR: The duet “A Telephone Call Away” is a wonderful song by Bill Withers.

GB: Yeah, he’s a great composer. I keep thinking about all of those songs, significant titles, and stories that he has in his songs like “Grandma’s Hand” and things like that. “Ain’t No Sunshine.” (laughter) “Just the Two of Us.” He’s been a real important part of American music over the last 30 years. And he’s also my friend. We went on the road together a few years ago. When he stopped touring, it was a drag because I enjoyed him. He’s a different kind of fellow. He’s intense and an honest, straight-ahead kind of guy. He’s a no nonsense kind of guy so when we went to him to ask him to write something for us, he said, “You know I don’t do no writing anymore, George. I wouldn’t even know how to begin to write anything now.” I said to myself, “What?”

We had a nice brunch and we laughed a lot and that was the end of that. He said, “If something happens, I’ll give you a call.” And then he called a few months later, and came up with this different song. I knew it was going to be different, but I didn’t know it was going to be this different. (laughter) It was great.

RR: Lalah Hathaway is great, as well, on co-lead vocals with you on that song.

GB: Oh, yeah. She really put a number on that song. She added a color and flavor to it that really made it, I think, so interesting. It took it to another place. I’m so grateful that we were able to get her. We were thinking of a lot of different people to do that. We finally settled on her, and we knew we made the right choice when we heard her sing. She’s got just an incredible approach.

RR: A duet of a different texture is found on “Nuthin’ But a Party,” which featured a guitar duet with Norman Brown.

GB: Oh, yeah, man. That young fellow is always giving me credit for sparking his career. He’s one of those rare birds that does that because not everybody will. Not everybody will say, “Hey, man, I learned to play listening to your music.” That’s just the way it is.
Anybody asking him, he’ll tell them the same thing. “Yep, I learned to play listening to George Benson’s music.”

When I met him, I met a genuine fellow—a great musician who don’t need to take a back seat to anybody, but he always takes the lower road. He comes very humble until he picks up that guitar and the boldness comes out. (laughs) I enjoyed making this record with him. I knew it was something that people probably wanted to hear because there was so much controversy about the two of us—him coming in and making his statement loud and clear on the guitar: “I’m coming through here, people! Check me out!” He’s made quite a mark for himself.

And he did the same thing on this record. Without turning it into a contest, we had fun with it. And yet, we got a chance to show that we weren’t just throwin’ some notes on a record. We were turning into a nice jam session. It worked really nicely.

RR: I have to say that “Someday We’ll All Be Free” may be my favorite cut. It’s a very emotional experience for me when I hear the words and music on that track.

GB: Yeah. Thank you very very much. Well, I got a chance to play some and sing some. Donny Hathaway and I used to try writing songs together. As a matter of fact, he recorded one of my songs. It never came out on an album because he passed away before they got around to that. Yeah, I used to go down to his apartment and just be mesmerized at how effortlessly he would approach a song. This was before my career got off the ground as a vocalist. Even though I had been a singer all my life, as a kid, I had not done a lot of that up to that time. Just watching and listening to him sing was like going to school for vocalism—you know, a special school. (laughs) He was my buddy, man, and I was one of his biggest fans. It was quite an experience to do this song. It’s difficult because people think that song is easy, but it is not an easy song to do.

RR: Speaking of difficulty, “Living in High Definition” takes the listener (well, at least me) to many different locations via a multi-textured song.

GB: (laughs) Well, when we were looking for songs, and they sent me this song by Lamont Dozier, I heard it and I said, “Uhh…what is this? What kind of song is this? I’ve never heard anything like this in my life. What am I supposed to do with it?” (laughter) Because, you know, there was nothing hard about it—the melodies are pretty straightforward—but it’s almost like a march of some kind, an anthem. [Benson sings the melody] I thought, “O.K.—it sounds like he was practicing for a minute and said, “I’m going to hang with this melody and see what I can get out of it.”

But then, it went to another place. The second part of the tune that I call the B section really makes a statement, and goes through some wonderful cascades of colors and harmonies and raises it to another level.

I’ll tell you the guy who made all the difference in the world on that: Wah Wah Watson. He begged me to let him have that song. He said, “Man, if you give me that song, you’re gonna like what you hear when I bring it back.” I said, “_Well_…cause if it don’t sound like nothin’, I’m erasing it. I’ll erase all your stuff off. (laughter) With that, as long as you know that, and you’ve got that understanding, you’ve got it.” When it came back, it was so tastefully done, and so lighthearted that I said, “Wow—that’s pretty interesting. Let me go back and re-examine what I put on it.” So I added a little vocal section where I just come in and do those little ad-libs. We only did it one time for an effect more than anything else [Benson scats the part to the writer which is like Shakespeare reciting one of his sonnets if one has grown up listening to the man’s legendary records.].That thing at the end—you’ve got the album version, right?

RR: Yeah.

GB: That thing at the end, which all my guys call “the Cookie Monster rap,” that I do on the very end of it? (laughter) That scratchy sound way up (laughs), and I’m playing my guitar underneath—that was an experiment. I mean—it wasn’t great, but what happened with it was it’s different, and I said, “For that reason alone, let’s leave it on there.”

They didn’t want to do it at first. They said, “George, I know you’re just kidding around.” I said, “Well, I am, but I’m experimenting. If it ain’t hurtin’ nothin’…” After we listened to it two or three times, we got used to it, and said, “It ain’t hurtin’ nothin’, let’s try it.” (laughter)

RR: Indeed. You’ve been at an artistic peak for so long that I was wondering what continues to inspire you at this point of your career?

GB: I keep checking back with young people, man, because they’re the ones who are benefiting by what’s going on. They have their own concept of what the world is going to be like tomorrow. And every time I check with them, they come up with something different. (laughs) I thought we had covered everything. These kids, man…these young people keep reinventing music. They take all of our old stuff and sample it and put some curly cues on it, back it up, and play it backwards…you know…(laughter)…I think that’s quite interesting, man. They keep reminding us of two great elements: feel good and sound good are still in effect. It’s got to feel good and sound good and then, you’ve got the makings of an interesting record. The rest of it depends on what that story is. You put a story with that that they like, and you’re on your way.

_- Randy Ray stores his work at www.rmrcompany.blogspot.com

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