With the exception of jazz trios, I’m not a big fan of live albums.  Nothing is more painful than hearing your favorite singer straining to bring a song to life that once seemed so effortless on the original record.  Concerts are meant to be seen (and heard) once, then confined to the warm, hazy depths of concertgoing memory. 

Leave it to Bill Withers to turn my world upside down with Bill Withers Live at Carnegie Hall.  This 1972 concert captures Withers at the top of his game, before “Just the Two of Us” become overly covered pop cheese and the inspiration for a lame Will Smith song.  From the opening number (his hit “Use Me”) Mr. Withers is warm, relaxed and loving every minute of the performance—the same goes for the enthusiastic audience.  His hilarious banter between songs (check out the riff before “Grandma’s Hands,” where he does a spontaneous impression of the “fat sisters in church” or before “Let Me In Your Life” where he gives some of the best relationship advice ever) reveals the charm and wit that make Withers such a talented lyricist: he is a constant observer of the human condition.

To that end, the standout track is “I Can’t Write Left-Handed”.  As Withers explains the inspiration for the song, meeting a Vietnam veteran not much younger than he who lost his right arm in the war, the chorus begins to hum softly in the background.  The song is part spoken-word, part protest and all soul.  It is quite possibly the best anti-war song ever written and still heartbreakingly relevant.  “I don’t believe I’m gonna live to get much older/ Strange little man over here in Vietnam / I ain’t never seen / Bless his heart I ain’t never done nothin’ to/ He done shot me in my shoulder!”  Withers is not interested in pointing fingers, he believes that if you capture the individual experience—a bewildered teenager fighting in the jungles of Vietnam in exchange for a few bucks from Uncle Sam—the rest is clear.

Maybe it’s because Withers has a large view of history and the way it continues to affect generations (his grandfather was born a slave) that his songwriting is instantly human and powerful.  All of his songs, even the romantic ones, come from a life lived in empathy.  He tells us, “I think about young guys who are like I was when I was young. I had no more idea about government or political things or anything.”  Withers knows that he could have just as easily been the one trying to write left-handed.  He ends the show with an epic, funky version of “Harlem” that morphs into a sing-along about eating cold baloney sandwiches while dreaming of filet mignon.  The entire audience participating, the band in high gear, the song captures the reason we go to concerts—to participate in the music we love with a bunch of strangers who have great taste.  This album is the next best thing.

*For more essential Bill Withers, check out the two SACD releases of Just As I Am and Still Bill.  Just As I Am has an excellent documentary featuring Elvis Mitchell interviewing Withers, who is just as passionate about his music in 2006 as he was in Carnegie Hall in 1972.
--Elizabeth Vitanza, March 2007

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