"I've always loved War's Low Rider and Sly Stone's Thank You, and I just wanted to put my take on them"
About this Quote
Barry White’s charm was never that he reinvented the wheel; it’s that he could make the wheel feel like it was invented for you. When he says he’s always loved War’s “Low Rider” and Sly Stone’s “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” he’s placing himself inside a very specific lineage: West Coast funk as a language of cool, swagger, and community. These aren’t random favorites. They’re canonical grooves with instantly recognizable DNA - street-level attitude, tight rhythm sections, jokes in the pocket.
The key phrase is “my take.” It’s casual on the surface, but it’s a statement of artistic authority. White isn’t apologizing for borrowing; he’s describing the normal way Black popular music evolves: through revision, reinterpretation, and taste. He’s also hinting at something strategic. Covering (or reworking) beloved tracks lets an artist tap into a shared memory while shifting the emotional temperature. War and Sly are lean, sharp, and playful; Barry White is velvet and gravity. His “take” promises to slow the groove down, thicken it, romanticize it - less cruising the boulevard, more turning the car into a private room.
There’s cultural confidence here too. White is often boxed as the “lover-man” voice, but citing these songs signals he’s a funk head, not just a balladeer. It’s a reminder that his persona wasn’t separate from the era’s funk experimentation; it was one branch of it, built to travel farther on radio, in bedrooms, in the mainstream.
The key phrase is “my take.” It’s casual on the surface, but it’s a statement of artistic authority. White isn’t apologizing for borrowing; he’s describing the normal way Black popular music evolves: through revision, reinterpretation, and taste. He’s also hinting at something strategic. Covering (or reworking) beloved tracks lets an artist tap into a shared memory while shifting the emotional temperature. War and Sly are lean, sharp, and playful; Barry White is velvet and gravity. His “take” promises to slow the groove down, thicken it, romanticize it - less cruising the boulevard, more turning the car into a private room.
There’s cultural confidence here too. White is often boxed as the “lover-man” voice, but citing these songs signals he’s a funk head, not just a balladeer. It’s a reminder that his persona wasn’t separate from the era’s funk experimentation; it was one branch of it, built to travel farther on radio, in bedrooms, in the mainstream.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
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