STROKIN' (Or: Ooh Shit, Clarence Carter!)
pickwick33
8,946 Posts
"WHEN I START MAKING LOVE...I DON'T JUST MAKE LOVE...I BE STROKIN'! STROKIN' TO THE NORTH!STROKIN' TO THE SOUTH!I STROKE IT EVERYWHERE - I EVEN STROKE IT WITH MY...OOPS!"[/b]
Now how can you hate on Clarence Carter's 1985 song, "Strokin'"? Yeah, you got your "Candy Licker" and your "Stand Up In It" and "I Am A Streaker" and "Hoochie Mama" and "Stoop Down Baby" and "Sue," but this cut here is THE quintessential juke-joint soul-blues X-rated classic. There were answer records (like Gary "B.B." Coleman's "Watch Where You Stroke"), and even Carter tried to top himself with tracks like "Grandpa Can't Fly His Kite" ('cause Grandma won't give him no tail) and "Why Do I Stay Here And Take This Shit From You," but "Strokin'" set all the standards. It's even crossed over from the juke joints to the yuppie bars. I once passed by a karaoke bar in Chicago's Rush Street district, went in out of curiosity, for the hell of it decided to sing "Strokin'", and my mind was blown when all these would-be Jennifer Anistons started singing along like it was the new Dave Matthews hit. Yeah, "Strokin'" is the great social leveller.Clarence Carter's legacy doesn't begin or end with "Strokin'." Prior to this he recorded southern soul classics for days: "Slip Away," "Snatchin' It Back," "Sixty Minute Man," "Patches," "Getting The Bills But No Merchandise," "What Was I Supposed To Do," "I Stayed Away Too Long," and an extremely bizarre version of "Dark End Of The Street."Right now, I'm talking about getting SASSIFIED. Stroke on, Clarence...
Now how can you hate on Clarence Carter's 1985 song, "Strokin'"? Yeah, you got your "Candy Licker" and your "Stand Up In It" and "I Am A Streaker" and "Hoochie Mama" and "Stoop Down Baby" and "Sue," but this cut here is THE quintessential juke-joint soul-blues X-rated classic. There were answer records (like Gary "B.B." Coleman's "Watch Where You Stroke"), and even Carter tried to top himself with tracks like "Grandpa Can't Fly His Kite" ('cause Grandma won't give him no tail) and "Why Do I Stay Here And Take This Shit From You," but "Strokin'" set all the standards. It's even crossed over from the juke joints to the yuppie bars. I once passed by a karaoke bar in Chicago's Rush Street district, went in out of curiosity, for the hell of it decided to sing "Strokin'", and my mind was blown when all these would-be Jennifer Anistons started singing along like it was the new Dave Matthews hit. Yeah, "Strokin'" is the great social leveller.Clarence Carter's legacy doesn't begin or end with "Strokin'." Prior to this he recorded southern soul classics for days: "Slip Away," "Snatchin' It Back," "Sixty Minute Man," "Patches," "Getting The Bills But No Merchandise," "What Was I Supposed To Do," "I Stayed Away Too Long," and an extremely bizarre version of "Dark End Of The Street."Right now, I'm talking about getting SASSIFIED. Stroke on, Clarence...
Comments
Now I don't know this fine girl from Eve, but captioning it "Take It Off Him & Put It On Me" is probably the most appropriate thing you ever did!
...and I thought you didn't like Patches.
[truestory]Eric ModChicago was in town this weekend and while we were driving around Raleigh he uttered the words "I should have brought my Clarence Carter Strokin' 12" on Ichiban to play tonight." [/truestory]
*HEH HEH HEH RELATED
that definetly get you some points in authentic blackness.
Damn, Luck, who told you THAT lie?
The original version by the Chairmen Of The Board was cool too, but Clarence really knew how to milk the sentimental angle.
Yeah, the original version was by Roger Hatcher and was called "Caught Making Love," but Roger didn't have that crazed ad-libbed bit about the hospital - that was Clarence's doing!
Equally as good: "What Was I Supposed To Do" on Ronn (ca. 1977), this DEAD SERIOUS minor-key ballad that sends chills every time...going from memory, one line goes like: "Complimenting my woman, I don't really mind/BUT I COULDN'T STAND IT WHEN HE RUBBED ON YOUR BEHIND/Tell me, what was I supposed to do/When he disrespected me, and he disrespected you, yeah..." Those aren't the exact words, but that is the general gist...
Clarence is so on top of it, even his disco album was good. It turns up all the time, 'cause no one wants that bad boy, but it's actually kinda down home, considering the date ('80 or '81). It's called Let's Burn, on the Venture label, and basically sounds like a precursor to his later synth-heavy Ichiban albums. It even includes an early version of "Strokin'" called "Love Building."
My C.C. Top 10
- "Strokin'
- "Slip Away"
- "What Was I Supposed To Do"
- "I Stayed Away Too Long"
- "Between A Rock & A Hard Place"
- "Making Love At The Dark End Of The Street"
- "You've Been A Long Time Coming"
- "Light My Fire" (yeah, THAT "Light My Fire")
- "Till I Can't Take It Anymore"
- "Getting The Bills But No Merchandise"
...plus the entire Sixty Minutes With Clarence Carter elpee on Fame.
Cassandra Hightower?
YESSSSSSSSS!
Unfortunately, I cannot cosign your love for Strokin',
although I appreciate your words on it. That song just always sounded
like some Eddie Murphy parody of funky sex jams to me, I could
only laugh when I heard it ... it has been a few years, though -
maybe I'm grown 'n' sexy enough to "get it" now...
I think that was the point. If he made you laugh, then it accomplished its' purpose. That's the good thing about modern chitlin'-circuit soul; it can talk graphically about sex yet laugh at itself (also see: Bobby Rush).
He was playing on NCSU campus several years back and I could here him in my yard, it was bizarre
Um, excuse me, his current wife was my roommate for three months (*true story*)...How's that for authentic blackness?