Still Bill, 50 Years On

This month marks the 50th anniversary of one of the greatest soul albums of all time — the second album from the great Bill Withers, Still Bill.

Bill Withers is one of those songwriters and artists for whom it’s really difficult to pick a favorite album — he didn’t make very many, and they’re all classics. But song to song, second to second, it really doesn’t get much better than Still Bill. It’s not just bolstered by his undeniable back-to-back smash hits Lean On Me & Use Me or the album’s pair of crate-digging faves Kissin’ My Love & Who Is He (And What Is He To You)?, though those four songs are why most people buy the album. It’s really about the smaller songs for me — he wrote two of his most delicate and gentle love songs with Let Me In Your Life & I Don’t Know, and three of his very best “gritty” philosophical funk songs with Lonely Town, Lonely Street, Another Day To Run, & Take It All In And Check It All Out.

It’s those smaller songs of less stature and reputation that remind you of the whole mission statement behind the album as a title and a concept — that Bill Withers was one of the very VERY few human beings on this earth to grapple with becoming famous and privileged in a compelling and believable way. There are many songwriters of past and present who fancy themselves “populists” or “humanists” in a way that’s truly laughable (someone with a backing band named after a one letter street comes to mind). But Bill Withers was a rare man — someone whose vulnerability and mental health always came through honestly in song, in interview, in whatever. I think about how he signed off the liner notes of the 2003 CD reissue for this album: “Do you still love me? I am 64.”

Happy 50th to a masterpiece, and sending out love to the Withers family and the spirit of my favorite songwriter, who is dearly missed.

We still love you, Bill.