1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard‘s R&B Songs listing in 1972. But of course it was - and an exceedingly popular one at that becoming his first (and, improbably, his only) No. Like the earlier decade’s “Let It Be” or “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” Withers’ signature ballad has taken on such near-hymnal significance and transcendence over the decades that it’s almost impossible to imagine it ever being a contemporary pop song. Withers was a master of repetition, of finding the perfect phrase and not letting you forget it, and this song contains one of his toughest: “Maybe the lateness of the hour/Makes me seem bluer than I am.” Nope. Still, like the title says, he hopes she’ll be happier with her new guy. “ I never thought that she really would leave me/But she’s gone” - as concise a summary of post-relationship shock as anything in the English language. Jones), Withers sings with a stretched-thin voice about how his girl no longer wants to see him. Over guitar and organ (played by Booker T. One of the most devastating songs ever, made all the more vulnerable because of Withers’ conviction. “Hope She’ll Be Happier” ( Just As I Am, 1971) In a scant two minutes of acoustic blues reverie, Withers paints a detailed, nuanced portrait of a woman’s entire life – the quiet hardships, the tough benevolence – and how it fit into her community without ever describing anything other than her hands. It’s so gorgeously melancholy in its low-key wistfulness that you almost don’t realize he’s repeating the words “I know” over and over until he’s d–n near close to the 26th time. Like Withers himself, his debut single, 1971’s “Ain’t No Sunshine” was a gentle masterpiece that quietly pioneered a new breed of R&B, melding sparse blues-folk rhythms with lush, soulful strings.
“Ain’t No Sunshine” ( Just As I Am, 1971)
Withers doesn’t hold back either, detailing the best and worst the titular New York neighborhood has to offer - including brutal summers (“Too hot to sleep, too hot to eat/ I don’t care if I die or not!”) and bad politics (“Our crooked delegation/ Wants a donation”), but also some pretty happening Saturday nights (“You can really swing and shake your pretty thing”). The first track on Bill Withers’ first album comes out swinging, with a slow-build acoustic shuffle that builds into a string-laden, frenzied stomp by song’s end.
Here are our picks for Bill Withers’ 15 all-time greatest songs.