On The Poor, Poor Knees Of The Hardest Working Man In Show Business
Oct 2, 2007
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Words by Sean Moeller // Illustration by Brendan Kiefer
The land of love that Sharon Jones knows best is an evergreen one, one that is never too old or ever out-of-touch. It's a land that has been chronicled and presented in song for 70 years or more, by Aretha, James Brown, The Temptations, and on and on and the predicaments are always the same. They always will be - now, tomorrow and even into the future when the human race has to wear space suits at all times, the result of the available air being too boiling and too contaminated to breathe without filtering it. Man and woman will always fall for the same confusions, for the same ploys that the one craftily pulls every time the other is involved. If it's love, then it's not easy, we know that, and if it's a man, he probably needs constant supervision. Women just don't put up with shit. They deserve better and they're usually right. They're capable of putting their foot down and demanding some respect for all that unconditional love. They're capable of forgiving the terrible, rotten misdeeds that those stupid men do. They're capable of stirring up storms and in neutralizing the negativity, though they're best at bringing the hell when it needs to be brought. Sharon Jones, the former jailhouse guard, has said that she might be a few decades late - through no fault of her own - but we'd argue that she's just in time. Her latest album with the Dap-Kings, 100 Days 100 Nights, is the real deal. It's not a throwback or a stab at the old tones. It's just another masterpiece to add to the list of other soul masterpieces - all of which were recorded way back when James Brown just began fathered children. Here Jones reads from "Douglas Wolk's 33 1/3 series book about James Brown's Live at the Apollo":http://lacunae.com run of dates. She reads about his poor, poor knees, breaks into song and does an ace imitation of the way Brown said that he was the hardest working man in show business.
"Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings MySpace Page":http://www.myspace.com/sharonjonesandthedapkings
"Daptone Records":http://www.daptonerecords.com
"33 1/3 Blog":http://33third.blogspot.com/
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