On a ride through paradise

Phew - another week is drawing to its close, and we need to get into the mood for a party!

On the great George Benson's 76th birthday, what better excuse do we have but to play his legendary and uber-cool floor-filler? But first, a word from our strippers:

Xavier - Give Me The Night

Not exactly the image Mr Benson and his producer Mr Quincy Jones wanted to cultivate, I would suggest.

Here's the original (and far superior) version - Thank Disco It's Friday!

George Benson - Give Me The Night

Whenever dark has fallen
You know the spirit of the party
Starts to come alive
Until the day is dawning
You can throw out all your blues
And hit the city lights
'Cause there's music in the air
And lots of lovin' everywhere
So gimme the night
Gimme the night

You need the evening action
A place to dine, a glass of wine
A little late romance
It's a chain reaction
You'll see the people of the world
Coming out to dance
'Cause there's music in the air
And lots of lovin' everywhere
So gimme the night
Gimme the night

So come on out tonight
And we'll lead the others
On a ride through paradise
And if you feel all right
Then we can be lovers
'Cause I see that starlight
Look in your eyes
Don't you know we can fly
Just gimme the night
Gimme the night

'Cause there's music in the air
And lots of lovin' everywhere
So gimme the night
Gimme the night

So come on out tonight
And we'll lead the others
On a ride through paradise
And if you feel all right
Then we can be lovers
'Cause I see that starlight
Look in your eyes
Don't you know we can fly

And if we stay together
We'll feel the rhythm of the evening
Taking us up high
Never mind the weather
We'll be dancing in the street
Until the morning light
'Cause there's music in the air
And lots of lovin' everywhere

So gimme the night
Gimme the night
Gimme the night
Gimme the night
Gimme the night
Gimme the night
Gimme the night
So, gimme the night

Indeed.

Have a great weekend, peeps!

Many happy returns, George Benson (born 22nd March 1943)

From Grimsby to the Grammys

"He had a very small flat, so everything had to be done within one room and he had piles of washing, with the TV on top of the organ. It was a nightmare... he had trams running outside... but he made it, he just absorbed himself in the music and Rod seemed to come up with these amazing songs."

We bade a sad farewell this week to one of the most successful - yet largely unpublicised [or probably more likely "not a seeker of publicity"] - songwriters of the latter part of the 20th century, Mr Rod Temperton [probably the most famous person ever to have come from the Lincolnshire seaside town of Cleethorpes!].

Originally a full-time member of the archetypal 70s groove band Heatwave [and prior to joining them, employed in a frozen fish-packing factory in Grimsby], Mr Temperton's writing and arranging skills soon came to the notice of the big music producers in the USA, and he was "air-lifted" into the big time by none other than Quincy Jones. The result of that fortuitous collaboration? Michael Jackson's much-lauded "comeback" album Off The Wall. Mr Temperton and Mr Jones went on to produce Jacko's biggest-selling-in-the-world-ever album Thriller, and by then neither of them probably ever needed to work again.

During his long career, Rod Temperton wrote or co-wrote myriad funky, soulful and dancefloor classics [several featured here, usually at the climax of the week], including: for Heatwave - Boogie Nights, The Groove Line, Always and Forever, Gangsters of the Groove, and many more; The Brothers Johnson - Stomp!; James Ingram and Michael McDonald's Yah Mo B There; The Manhattan Transfer - The Spice of Life; and Donna Summer's Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger). He also worked with Lionel Richie, Rufus and Chaka Khan, Mica Paris, Patti Austin, Herbie Hancock, Stephanie Mills, Karen Carpenter and Aretha Franklin...

...and found the time to write these two!

George Benson - Give Me the Night

Legs & Co - Quincy Jones - Razzamatazz

Thank Disco It's Friday - and thank Rod for the music!

Rodney Lynn Temperton (9th October 1949; death announced 5th October 2016)