Comments on: MATT LEMMLER featuring Leah Chase / “I Just Called To Say I Love You” http://www.kalamu.com/bol/2008/07/21/matt-lemmler-featuring-leah-chase-%e2%80%9ci-just-called-to-say-i-love-you%e2%80%9d/ a conversation about black music Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:28:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5 by: Big E http://www.kalamu.com/bol/2008/07/21/matt-lemmler-featuring-leah-chase-%e2%80%9ci-just-called-to-say-i-love-you%e2%80%9d/#comment-74716 Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:31:16 -0500 http://www.kalamu.com/bol/2008/07/21/matt-lemmler-featuring-leah-chase-%e2%80%9ci-just-called-to-say-i-love-you%e2%80%9d/#comment-74716 I have to agree with Mtume about "I Just Called to Say I Love You". This song came from an overlooked soundtrack "The Woman In Red" back in 1984 which featured vocals from Dionne Warwick. There were other songs on that soundtrack that could give "I Just Called..." a run for the money. I would always skip "I Just Called to..." to listen to the other gems. Don't know if Motown would re-release this forgotten soundtrack on CD. I have to agree with Mtume about “I Just Called to Say I Love You”. This song came from an overlooked soundtrack “The Woman In Red” back in 1984 which featured vocals from Dionne Warwick. There were other songs on that soundtrack that could give “I Just Called…” a run for the money. I would always skip “I Just Called to…” to listen to the other gems. Don’t know if Motown would re-release this forgotten soundtrack on CD.

]]> by: New Orleans Ladder http://www.kalamu.com/bol/2008/07/21/matt-lemmler-featuring-leah-chase-%e2%80%9ci-just-called-to-say-i-love-you%e2%80%9d/#comment-74766 Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:12:16 -0500 http://www.kalamu.com/bol/2008/07/21/matt-lemmler-featuring-leah-chase-%e2%80%9ci-just-called-to-say-i-love-you%e2%80%9d/#comment-74766 Such an excellent review! Really. World Class. I am so glad to have found this site and added you to our 2nd Line on da'Ladda. I have this feeling of having heard Kalamu at the Gold Mine? Hmmm...somewhere... Anyway, so sharp. I also hung this post onto today's Ladda (Monday). I put the music always on the bottom rungs, holds everything together. Thank you, Editilla~New Orleans Ladder Such an excellent review! Really. World Class. I am so glad to have found this site and added you to our 2nd Line on da’Ladda. I have this feeling of having heard Kalamu at the Gold Mine? Hmmm…somewhere…
Anyway, so sharp.

I also hung this post onto today’s Ladda (Monday). I put the music always on the bottom rungs, holds everything together.

Thank you,
Editilla~New Orleans Ladder

]]> by: Jarvis http://www.kalamu.com/bol/2008/07/21/matt-lemmler-featuring-leah-chase-%e2%80%9ci-just-called-to-say-i-love-you%e2%80%9d/#comment-74770 Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:28:01 -0500 http://www.kalamu.com/bol/2008/07/21/matt-lemmler-featuring-leah-chase-%e2%80%9ci-just-called-to-say-i-love-you%e2%80%9d/#comment-74770 Kalamu/Mtume, One day I'm gonna post a comment about somebody other than Stevie, I promise. Kalamu, I think I must have been at the same show as you back in 2001 -- at Snug Harbor, and like you, I had never thought of "I Just Called" as a sad song. Like Mtume, I have always been in the "detest" camp when it comes to that recording. But the interpretation forced me to think about the meaning behind that song and made me realize that Stevie is the master of a certain kind of deception. He is quite skilled at making a sad song sound happy. Think about it: "My Cherie Amour" with its la-la-laaa-la-la-la hook but its lyrics about being constantly overlooked, "Overjoyed" with its happy sounding title but lyrics about being overlooked, this feature track, if we are to accept that maybe it is about a lover on the outs, and the song "You and I" that has been sung at so many black weddings, but when listened to closely seems to be a "well, at least I tried / it was nice while it lasted" kind of song. I think it's quite a feat to be able to turn that trick once. The fact that he has done it repeatedly suggests a certain unappreciated mastery. It's that track record of Stevie's that makes me think that Lemmler was onto something hearing sadness where the superficial listener hears a sappy kind of joy. - Jarvis Kalamu/Mtume,

One day I’m gonna post a comment about somebody other than Stevie, I promise. Kalamu, I think I must have been at the same show as you back in 2001 — at Snug Harbor, and like you, I had never thought of “I Just Called” as a sad song. Like Mtume, I have always been in the “detest” camp when it comes to that recording. But the interpretation forced me to think about the meaning behind that song and made me realize that Stevie is the master of a certain kind of deception. He is quite skilled at making a sad song sound happy. Think about it: “My Cherie Amour” with its la-la-laaa-la-la-la hook but its lyrics about being constantly overlooked, “Overjoyed” with its happy sounding title but lyrics about being overlooked, this feature track, if we are to accept that maybe it is about a lover on the outs, and the song “You and I” that has been sung at so many black weddings, but when listened to closely seems to be a “well, at least I tried / it was nice while it lasted” kind of song.

I think it’s quite a feat to be able to turn that trick once. The fact that he has done it repeatedly suggests a certain unappreciated mastery. It’s that track record of Stevie’s that makes me think that Lemmler was onto something hearing sadness where the superficial listener hears a sappy kind of joy.

- Jarvis

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