Today we say farewell to Percy Sledge, who sang “When a Man Loves a Woman” and went to the top of every chart in 1966. 1966 was the year my parents had finally had enough of me and my music and for my birthday bought me a transistor radio with an earplug and a wire that got tangled the moment it came out of its paper wrapper. “When a Man Loves a Woman” was one of the songs I remember from that indelible summer, though of course I had no idea what it meant as I wasn’t much more than a tadpole. I had barely graduated from “The Battle of New Orleans.”
Let us also praise organist Andrew Wright and bassist Calvin Lewis, who co-wrote the song.
Goodbye, Percy. Thanks.
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