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Donny Hathaway sings "Yesterday"

Yeah, I have that album. It's tremendous. Such a great keyboardist and singer. There's an interview with him at the end where he talks about broadening his musical talents. When you see kids shilling their records on the street (where you know the entire album was produced with a single synth and Fruity Loops or something similar) and it just pales in comparison. Donny was studying MUSIC. He went to school and he learned to play. He said he was listening to classical music and great composers. It's no wonder music sucks. I really hate the fact that great artists cannot push the same amount of records as the crappy ones.
 
Donny wanted to conduct operas and classical music-styled instrumentals. His mind went far because he was genuinely a talented artist and was truly a genius at what he did. Plus the way he sung was enough to move mountains. More than anything his beautiful eldest daughter Lalah is carrying on his beautiful legacy.
 
His voice, beautiful :clapping:eek:ne of my favorites


Thanks for posting this troubleman84 :)
 
Yesterday is the most covered song in history, with over 3,000 versions. Not bad for a song originally titled "Scrambled Eggs" by McCartney, lol.
 
Paul said the melody came to him in a dream, but he had no lyrics so he just hummed it into a tape recorder before he forgot it. Then he called it Scrambled Eggs until he had ideas for the lyrics, because that was what he had for breakfast. The title "Scrambled Eggs" reminds me of instumental jazz songs, which sometimes have random song titles. I sometimes wonder where the names come from, lol. Interestingly enough, on the TV show "Fraiser", the theme song is about scrambled eggs.
 
DuranDuran said:
Paul said the melody came to him in a dream, but he had no lyrics so he just hummed it into a tape recorder before he forgot it. Then he called it Scrambled Eggs until he had ideas for the lyrics, because that was what he had for breakfast. The title "Scrambled Eggs" reminds me of instumental jazz songs, which sometimes have random song titles. I sometimes wonder where the names come from, lol. Interestingly enough, on the TV show "Fraiser", the theme song is about scrambled eggs.
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Interesting... lol

I wonder if Paul had no idea the song would be so loved by so many.
 
I too have the album. I gotta confess....with all due respect for the original version by Stevie, I love Donny's Superwoman better. So deep and dramatic... I dig Yesterday of course, and I Love You More Than You'll Ever know, Little Ghetto Boy, You've Got A Friend, and Song For You.
 
Stevie actually did more soulful versions of "Superwoman" in the 80's and 90's, as well as today. I wonder if he didn't hear Donny's version and like it better. The original version was more James Taylor-esque in my book. Donny's was way more soul-ified. I really dig his version, as well as the other songs you mention. "Little Ghetto Boy" and the keyboard runs on "The Ghetto" are my favorite parts of the album.

Man, I wish he could have lived on and I could see him live.
 
Superstition, Stevie was actually influenced by Donny's vocal style and smoother approach to his production, he took the tempo of his songs down to match with Donny. Donny did a jazzy live version of Marvin's "What's Going On" that was pretty cool.

His daughter Lalah sounds just like him...in a sense!
 
Superstition, I've too always wondered about that. I mean, if he's ever heard Donny Hathaway's version (it's very likely, tho) and if so, how much he digs it. Not that I've wanted to know if he changed up the original when doing it live becuz of Donny Hathaway's influence, tho. I hope we can get some interview quotes where Stevie himself talks about Donny's version.
 
Yeah, I love that song (You Are My Heaven).

Stevie did two Donny covers on his recent tour, both of which I have. He did "The Ghetto" and "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know".

I also have a version Alicia Keys did of "Someday We'll All Be Free". It's nowhere close to the original though, although that's more of a testament to Donny than it is a knock on Alicia.

Man, I really miss him, I just wish he could have had a larger body of work. He may very well have turned out to be my favorite artist ever had he been around longer, he was every bit a genius as I think Stevie, MJ and others were.
 
Superstition said:
Yeah, I love that song (You Are My Heaven).

Stevie did two Donny covers on his recent tour, both of which I have. He did "The Ghetto" and "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know".

I also have a version Alicia Keys did of "Someday We'll All Be Free". It's nowhere close to the original though, although that's more of a testament to Donny than it is a knock on Alicia.

Man, I really miss him, I just wish he could have had a larger body of work. He may very well have turned out to be my favorite artist ever had he been around longer, he was every bit a genius as I think Stevie, MJ and others were.
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I wished Donny had gotten help for his problems too. Obviously he was deeply tormented by his choice to do secular music because he was a devout Christian and his grandmother, who was raising him, said if he sung outside secular music that he'll "won't be accepted to Heaven" but I do think his psyche was deeper than that. He always tried to merge the gospel in all of his recordings. Much like Marvin Gaye, Little Richard and Ray Charles did. And yes, Stevie too.
 
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