T.C.B. or T.Y.A. to Tainted Love

"T.C.B. or T.Y.A."  Bobby Patterson  Beg, Scream, & Shout: The Big Ol' Box of '60s Soul
"Ta Det Lugnt"  Dungen  Ta Det Lugnt
"Taal Zaman"  Transglobal Underground  International Times
"Table Tennis"  Flying Lotus  Cosmogramma
"Tack Ska Ni Ha"  Dungen  Ta Det Lugnt
"Taco Wagon"  Dick Dale & the Del-Tones  The King of the Surf Guitar: The Best of Dick Dale
"Tailspin"  Walter "Wolfman" Washington  Doctors, Professors, Kings & Queens: The Big Ol' Box of New Orleans
"'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do"  Bessie Smith  The Collection
"'Tain't Nobody's Bizness If I Do"  Billie Holiday  Billy Holiday's Greatest Hits
"Tainted Love"  Gloria Jones  Beg, Scream & Shout: The Big Ol' Box of '60s Soul

  In addition to one of the truly great screams in music to open the track, "T.C.B. or T.Y.A." always reminds me of Charles and some of the less stable periods in our relationship.  I have not always been the portrait of professionalism and responsibility I am now, and sometimes this would . . . strain our relationship.  Starting in October 2001, I had an extended period of unemployment.  This is a time I describe as "sorting myself out," and Charles considers "clinical depression."  Regardless, by 2003 it was clear that I either "Take Care of Business or Turn Myself Around."  So . . . law school, and here we are now.

  Dungen was Charles' find.  I like these tracks a great deal, and apparently it is 1969 in Sweden.

  I am trying to sort out if the title of the Dick Dale track, given the song's Mexican influences, is blatantly racist or simply echos a particular image.  Probably the former.

  Bessie Smith's version of "'Tain't Nobody's Business . . ."  is a mono recording of just her and piano accompaniment.  Considerably less produced than Billie Holiday's.  It is all the more impressive for it.  Her voice just carries the song.  She simply seizes the listener and pushes them into the song.  Despite the almost casual quality of the recording, her voice comes through as an instrument that simply cannot be ignored.  I am saying this in the context of one of my favorite Billie Holiday songs, and I have the same experience comparing her version of "Gimme A Pig Foot . . . " to Nina Simone's, and that is a quintessential Nina track for me.  Bessie Smith might be from a different world.

  I had a house party once, and "Tainted Love" came on.  I overheard a discussion among some of my friends that made it clear that they had no idea that Soft Cell's version (it'll be there when we get back around to the T's) was not the original.  Given my self-imposed criteria, that might make that the perfect cover song.  A song that was not well known to the public, an interpretation that brought the song back into the popular lexicon, and an interpretation that made it the covering artists' "own."  It fits this criteria in abundance.  (Gloria Jones, among other things, was Marc Bolan's girlfriend - I have no way to fit this in elementally, but find it a fun fact I want to share).