You Don't Work, You Don't Eat Posted by Junior

Marva Whitney: You Got to Have a Job and I'm Tired I'm Tired I'm Tired From: It's My Thing [King, 1969] It seems the perfect time for some funk sorbet to refresh your listening palette after the heavy duty nature of the last couple of posts. Part of the legendary triplet of James Brown divas with Lyn Collins and Vicki Anderson, Marva is possibly my favourite of the lot and comes across on record like a blast of raw soul. It's hard to believe that her 1969 debut longplayer, It's My Thing, isn't in fact a best off, the consistent quality of the output astoundingly high. In fact, Marva's original debut album, a more mellow affair, was shelved after the label decided they wanted to present her in all her houseshaking glory. While I'd still love to hear the other album (rumours are circulating of it being issued) I can't say that I'm not thankful that this album got made. Full to bursting with classic cuts I've decided to avoid posting up her most heavily sampled songs from the album and focus on some of the more lesser known gems on offer. Confession time, I tend to avoid listening to much of the JBs output these days. James Brown's greatest hits are always on the radio, adverts etc so I've never felt much of a need to revisit most of his 60s catalogue. However, revisiting his duet with Marva on You've Got To Have A Job (If You Don't Work, You Can't Eat) reminded me just how good this music is. Starting off in the most innocuous fashion the track's groove slowly works itself under your skin and before you know it you're entirely caught up in the power of the piece. I love the call and response aspect with Brown instructing Marva to call to Maceo and when she does it's shivers time as the horns and her voice blend together. You wouldn't believe it to look at her but this woman's voice is pure dynamite. I'm Tired I'm Tired I'm Tired (Things Better Change Before It's Too Late) displays a more carefully controlled vocal performance by Marva over a downtempo but still resolutely funky backing. However, more controlled isn't to say Marva doesn't deliver the works, hitting high notes, low notes and everywhere in between as the band bring the trademark horns and percussion to the mix, JB shouting out in appreciation as Marva straight out kills it. Listening back to both tracks I've just noticed the companion nature of them, the former laying down the facts about working life, the latter not so much looking forward to change as praying that some thing's going to happen. Guess it's not so easy to avoid deep as I thought. Anyway, the "Soulsister No. 1" is still performing today and you can catch up on what she's doing at her Official Website