{"id":8487,"date":"2017-02-15T16:41:56","date_gmt":"2017-02-15T16:41:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=8487"},"modified":"2017-03-01T16:28:40","modified_gmt":"2017-03-01T16:28:40","slug":"al-jarreau-1940-2017-he-got-by-and-then-some","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=8487","title":{"rendered":"Al Jarreau (1940-2017): He “got by” and then some"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The great singer Al Jarreau grew up not far from where I live, just south of Riverwest on Reservoir Avenue, west of Holton Street. Right up the street, an expansive view of Milwaukee’s picturesque skyline unfolded, which might’ve inspired him as a young man to greater heights in life and music, and to retain some precious memories of his hometown, which he captured in at least two different originals — the title song of his first album We Got By<\/em> and “Milwaukee,” from his second album Glow.<\/em><\/p>\n

You can imagine Al walking down the nearby Holton Street Bridge, singing and practicing by himself (as saxophonist Sonny Rollins famously had done on the Williamsburg Bridge in New York). The bridge carries you to the East \u00a0Side’s hippest sector, Brady Street, and to downtown beyond.<\/p>\n

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A view of downtown Milwaukee overlooking the Holton Street Bridge from Reservoir Avenue, where Al Jarreau grew up. Photo by Kevin Lynch<\/em><\/p>\n

When Jarreau released that debut album I was working at Radio Doctors “Soul Shop” at 3rd St. (now Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr.) and North Avenue. I fell hard for the album as did other “Soul Shop” workers and customers, including the store’s assistant manager Mark Olson, whom I remember a exclaiming, “This guy’s gonna make it, big!”<\/p>\n

I had never heard of Al at the time, but he did not have a real long career paying his dues on Milwaukee music scene. His family migrated out to California and so he was still quite young when he started his recording career.<\/p>\n

But even then, he didn’t sound like anyone else but Al. There was plenty of jazzy nuance and suppleness was singing and reflective moods. But he could also crank it up into a funky R&B groove and reach deep down for gospel depths. And that’s that was the combination and range is I’m sure what got him signed to a big label like Warner Bros. There were also tunes, like “Spirit,” that deftly juggled the stylistic differences.There were also songs in which he seemed to unlock his heart while declaring it was time to\u00a0“lock all the gates,” knowing the harsh realities of the real world on the street.
\nBut nothing of his ever beguiled me like that album’s title song, “We Got By,” a tender, ardent story of young life in Milwaukee:<\/p>\n

I hardly had a bellyful<\/em>
\nNever knew a new bicycle<\/em>
\nHand-me-down books and shoes<\/em>
\nThey brought the yule tides in July<\/em><\/p>\n

I rode a bus, a train and sometimes<\/em>
\nStrolling for miles to a movie show<\/em>
\nSinging a song “Shoobedoo<\/em>
\n“While birds and rich folks flew<\/em>
\nRight on by<\/em><\/p>\n

But we got by<\/em>
\nLord knows we got by<\/em><\/p>\n

Winter wishes wait till June<\/em>
\nWe brightened July with<\/em>
\nThat hot dog fun<\/em>
\nTell your mama you’re with Sue<\/em>
\nYou bring the beans and I’ll<\/em>
\nFind the wine<\/em>
\nThem neon lights were bright<\/em>
\nTill 2:00<\/em>
\nAnd sneaking back home with<\/em>
\nThis girl named Jo<\/em>
\nI hurried down to say do”<\/em>
\nAnd stared my first man-child<\/em>
\nIn the eye<\/em><\/p>\n

But we got by<\/em>
\nLord knows we got by<\/em><\/p>\n

And now baby’s got his bellyful<\/em>
\nAnd finally here’s that new bicycle<\/em>
\nWorking, praying, June to June<\/em>
\nAnd mama’s got LA gleaming<\/em>
\nIn her eye<\/em><\/p>\n

And we got by<\/em>
\nLord knows we got by<\/em><\/p>\n

You see we kept on walking<\/em>
\nAnd talking, hawking<\/em>
\nOoing, cooing, wooing<\/em>
\nLoving, tugging, hugging, rubbing<\/em>
\nSugging, fugging, laying, praying, swaying<\/em>
\nLetting, fretting, begetting, lying<\/em>
\nFlying, trying, sighing, dying.<\/em><\/p>\n