A convoluted trail to the pain in my heart
I always love a juicy story of a misappropriated song. It’s terrible when someone else co-opts your writing and makes it their own, and it seems like back in the day there used to be more of it with less complainin’.
So I listened with great interest over on the excellent Grace Potter blog This Is Somewhere when they unearthed a forgotten tune by one Irma Thomas, a soul singer from New Orleans:
Ruler of My Heart – Irma Thomas
If you have an ounce of love in your soul for Mr. Otis Redding (as I do) then you might hear more than an echo of this:
Pain In My Heart – Otis Redding
He called it a “re-interpretation,” and to be sure, his undeniable soul-drenched stamp is all over that. But sounds to me like Irma laid down those original foundations (along with songwriter Allen Toussaint) and may be due a little more credit than just a footnote.
The reason I got started down this whole rabbit trail was because Grace Potter does a pretty smashing cover of it herself, and introduces it as being “actually written by a woman, but performed most famously by a man.”
Represent, fair Grace!
Pain In My Heart (live) – Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
And you must watch this live performance, she is ferociously rad:
Name: Heather Browne
I went to high school with her – she’s a wonderful singer.
Andrew — March 20, 2008 @ 2:49 pm
Thanks for the linkage/story Heather.
You turned me on to some great Otis stuff over a year ago so it’s a litle musical payback goodwill on my part.
Go Otis – Go Grace!
kcortez — March 20, 2008 @ 3:28 pm
I almost shot their show a week ago over in Chi.
well actually I had the show but I didn’t know so I didnt go..
ya forget me explaining
Anonymous — March 20, 2008 @ 6:16 pm
Grace Potter covers Pain In My Heart so well it makes Otis proud.
carrjo2 — March 20, 2008 @ 6:18 pm
Oh hell yeah! Thanks Heather … She sure does make it her own!
tipiboy — March 21, 2008 @ 12:52 pm
That story you just told is huge. What a dick move on Otis Reading’s part. Is it too late to take legal acoin against him. Seriously…and I like Otis’ singing. This story totally changes my opinion of him. I now want to see if I can perform the song, just so I can tell the story of how Otis f-ed over Irma.
Lebrescos — March 21, 2008 @ 5:20 pm
Irma Thomas is not forgotten! Have you seen the classic Jim Jarmusch film Down By Law? Then you’ll remember this scene where Roberto Benini dances with his wife…”Drip, drop/Drip, drop”…From “It’s Raining” by Irma Thomas. Look here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_tif-W6pyM
The Stones also ‘borrowed’ their version of “Time is On My Side” off her.
She’s well worth checking out.
David K–DOHARA50@HOTMAIL
Anonymous — March 24, 2008 @ 5:14 am
According to Wikipedia, Ruler of My Heart was written by one Naomi Neville, a pseudonym of Allen Toussaint. And according to secondhandsongs.com, Pain in My Heart, originally credited to Otis Redding, was later credited to Naomi Neville, following legal proceedings.
I also seem to remember an episode of Bob Dylan’s Theme Time Radio Hour in which he referred to a song called Rain in My Heart, which was an influence on Ruler of My Heart. I’ll try to check this out, as I may have imagined it
Pat — March 27, 2008 @ 11:40 am