Today is the 83rd anniversary of the birth of the late, great British pop/soul vocalist Dusty Springfield (1939-1999).
As the title suggests, this collection offers Dusty’s versions of classic American soul songs. The compiler, Tony Rounce, hesitates to call them “covers” as he claims that a “cover version” is a recording made in direct competition to an original version. Dusty never wanted to compete with the American versions. For one thing, she had way too much respect for the singers who recorded the original versions; she simply wanted to spread the word about the beauty of the music they’d crafted. Consequently, most of the 24 tracks that comprise Dusty Sings Soul originally appeared as album tracks or as B sides – never in direct competition to an original release.
Above: Dusty singing with Martha and the Vandellas on the April 1965 Ready, Steady, Go! Motown special. Dusty not only hosted this British TV special but was instrumental in devising it. (For Martha’s recollections of her friend Dusty Springfield, click here.)
My interest in and admiration for Dusty is well documented here at The Wild Reed, most notably in Soul Deep, one of my very first posts.
Other previous posts worth investigating, especially if you’re new to Dusty, are Dusty Springfield: Queer Icon, which features an excerpt from Laurence Cole’s book, Dusty Springfield: In the Middle of Nowhere; Celebrating Dusty (2017), which features an excerpt from Patricia Juliana Smith’s insightful article on Dusty’s “camp masquerades”; Celebrating Dusty (2013), which features excerpts from Annie J. Randall’s book, Dusty!: Queen of the Postmods; Remembering Dusty, my 2009 tribute to Dusty on the tenth anniversary of her death; and Remembering Dusty, 20 Years On, my 2019 tribute on the twentieth anniversary of her death.
My website’s name is derived from Dusty’s 1990 album Reputation, and as I explain in Soul Deep, it was this album that introduced me not only to Dusty’s music but also to her life and journey – much of which resonated deeply with me. Indeed, my identification with aspects of Dusty’s journey played an important role in my coming out as a gay man.
Above: Dusty, amidst the flowing streams, standing stones and picturesque Celtic ruins of County Clare and the Galway coast for the making of the music video for “Roll Away,” a track from her last album, 1995’s A Very Fine Love. The liner notes of the 2016 2-disc expanded collector’s edition of A Very Fine Love include my reflections on this beautiful song, reflections which are also shared in the previous Wild Reed post, Time and the River.
In honor of today’s 83rd anniversary of Dusty’s birth, I share “Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart,” a track featured on Dusty Sings Soul and which was first released on Dusty’s 1968 album, Dusty... Definitely. It’s followed by an excerpt from Paul Howe’s invaluable book, The Complete Dusty Springfield.
“Take Another Little Piece of My Heart” was developed by Jerry Ragovoy from an idea by Bert Berns. Berns came to his often-times partner Ragovoy with the title “Piece of My Heart” and a line for the chorus: “Take another little piece of my heart now, baby.” The song was completed in 1967 and first recorded by Erma Franklin, Aretha’s sister, whom Berns had signed to his Shout label.
Dusty’s treatment is very similar to Erma’s. It starts with a piano intro followed by Dusty’s cool and retrained vocals in the verses; the song then erupts in the chorus as a maltreated Dusty defiantly demands her lover to take another little piece of her heart. The track is notable for the great interaction between Dusty and her [background vocalists – Madeline Bell, Lesley Duncan, and Kay Garner].
Erma’s version failed to make any impact on the charts at the time (a re-release made the UK Top 10 in 1992) and it’s unlikely that Dusty ever considered releasing her version as a single. As she admitted in her sleeve notes for Dusty... Definitely, it was a song she had always loved but “. . . due to the fact that there were so many high notes I shirked the responsibility of actually singing it. However, with the help of several cups of Philips tea . . . I made it, and I hope the result is pleasing.”
For more of Dusty at The Wild Reed, see:
• Soul Deep
• Dusty Springfield: Queer Icon
• Remembering Dusty, 20 Years On
• Remembering and Celebrating Dusty (2021)
• Remembering and Celebrating Dusty (2020)
• Remembering and Celebrating Dusty (2019)
• Remembering Dusty (2018)
• Celebrating Dusty (2017)
• Celebrating Dusty (2013)
• Remembering Dusty (2009)
• Remembering Dusty – 14 Years On
• Remembering Dusty – 11 Years On
• The Other “Born This Way”
• Time and the River
• Remembering a Great Soul Singer
• A Song and Challenge for 2012
• The Sound of Two Decades Colliding
Opening image: Dusty on the popular British television show Top of the Pops performing her top 20 hit “Nothing Has Been Proved,” the theme song from the film Scandal – March, 1989.
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