Was just listening to this Stevie song, one of my favorites of all time, from 1972's Talking Book. Not only does he do Jacko's famous "hee" vocalization, there's also a spoken part in the middle of the song which suddenly is sounding a lot like Camille to me. Maybe a little lower, but definitely the roots of that sound and style.

Man was so ahead of his time it's not even funny.

George Clinton did that before Stevie Wonder or David Bowie.

Harlepolis said:

Yeah, sure, but it's different. George's was much more cartoony. Really listen to Stevie's style on this track, sort of half-singing, speaking, with a build that sounds right out of "Scarlet Pussy."

Harlepolis said:

And, SLY STONE did it before GEORGE.
And, JIMI did it before SLY.
There's a rich history of slowing down/speeding up the tape

stopHATING said:

Well, there you go

MendesCity said:

I thought the exact same thing first time I heard that song in the late 80's. I understand Harl's reasoning, but I think you're right, if only because Prince has covered that song often over the years and has even performed it with Stevie.

Harlepolis said:

Aiiiight ?!?! btw I'm a huge fan of your post Ms.Harlepolis
you're definitely one of the reasons I stopped lurking.

MendesCity said:

Stevie IMHO was the one who could've took it out-there and made a whole alter ego extravaganza but sadly he didn't. If I'm not mistaken I heard most of this Camille-is sounds from Stevie in:

Living For The City(@ the end)
Jesus Children Of America

Harlepolis said:

And that much is true too.

namepeace said:

All good points. I just can't believe it took me so long to realize how deeply funky "Maybe Your Baby" is!
[Edited 10/10/06 13:22pm]

It was indeed the birth of MJ's hee hee hees. Listen to it on headphones.

That's Ray Parker Jr. doing the guitar solo.

P and Stevie did a killer live version from 94.

[Edited 10/10/06 12:21pm]

1 of my fav Stevie cuts, "Maybe Your Baby" is most definately 1 of the funkiest things Stevie ever did.

I wore that song out on my 'Talking Book' album. In fact, it was my fav from that album.

Peace.

G.

I was playing Maybe Your Baby in the living room a few nights back and my wife said "how did Prince get on the stereo?" (she's not a big Prince fan). This is one of those tracks that pre-dates Prince but sounds like Prince, rather than Prince sounding like Stevie.

It's clearly obvious that Michael and P were hugely influenced by this song. And rightly so. The song is off the fucking hook. Has got to be the funkiest and stankiest thang Stevie has ever done. The bass line and more crucial, the bass sound, has been "borrowed" by Parliament on "Flashlight". It was the blueprint of damn near all of The Isley Brothers jams. Roger and Zapp fucked with it. "Maybe Your Baby" gave birth to a lot of things. Sly's album "There's A Riot Goin' On" I think, influenced not only the music, but the way it was recorded and mixed. Sly's electronic, dark, slightly slowed down grooves and dark murky mix was a new thing in funk. And it's effect can be seen in many places.

Here's a little live SW with a friend.

http://www.youtube.com/wa...ONu-pOMlsQ

blackguitaristz said:

I was gonna comment on this song,but you said everything I was thinking.

I see I need to school y'all.

the inspiration for Camille preceded all of the aforementioned, venerable artists.


It all started here:
































The Lollipop Guild from the Land of Oz

In the sixties these guys took it further. Before there was Camille and Kayne there was:


[Edited 10/11/06 14:28pm]