I remember as a kid in 1972, my parents were getting divorced, and I remember catching my dad listening to this song, and crying quietly. He told me he could relate to the singer's emotions in this song. I was too young to really understand much, but I never forgot that moment, or this song. I really love this song too. One of the best, most soulful r&b songs ever made.
I knew Mr. Paul. Lived in a run down apartment complex in South Jersey and he used to frequent a deli I worked at. His go to was a turkey sub w mustard. When asked about condiments he would say, “I don’t eat that mayonnaise shit; just MUSTAHD!” Good guy. RIP sir.
Billy Paul was my girlfriend’s neighbor for the last stretch of his life. She’d always play his music super loud through the wall to kind of tease him about it. Weird to think about.
Wait, so Todd released this video just before he passed away? Todd said he was still singing at the end of the video...and then I read your comments and headed to Wikipedia. Aww...this video came out at a perfect time.
That's a really shitty thing to do on a few levels. Playing music loud in an apartment, for the purpose of making a neighbor hear it is obnoxious on its own. Your girlfriend is a shitty person. She probably didn't know that Billy was playing her published work music super loud too. The silence was palpable. "Riding on their armchairs, they dream of wealth and fame. Fear is their companion, Nintendo is their game. Never Done Jack and Two-Thumbs Don and side-kick Don't Say Dick will laugh at others failures though they have not done shit." -W. Shatner
@@joejoelesh1197 there was no mention of an apartment. It could be a house next door loud enough to hear it. Also it is implied to be lighthearted, not belligerent
@@Drogon7102 oh ya, because "always" playing music so loud that the neighboring building (s) can hear is so much better, and being able to hear it "through the wall" implies that it was within the same structure.
AM I Black Enough For You was actually used really effectively in the series Black Lightning. The more aggressive tone of the song worked for the fight song it was used in.
"Single stupidest, most meaningless song McCartney ever wrote." I'm a McCartney fan too, but that's a bold statement to make against the guy who wrote "Why Don't We Do It In The Road."
I am a huge McCartney Fan as well, and I would say that "Let em In' is not his stupidest song. Perhaps "So Bad" can check that box, and neither is it his worst (Temporary Secretary by a mile). But it is his most meaningless. As much dribble as he puts into his other songs, things like "Why Don't We Do It In The Road" are not meaningless. That song means exactly what the title says.
I haven't heard of that one before you, and I just listened to it and I must say mae, that I disagree. If you don't like the subject matter, I understand but like... musically, compare it to most of "Press To Play" "Out of the Blue" and like, half of "McCartney II," and it is clearly a better song. Like, "Meat-Free Mondays" is not unpleasant to listen to, as music, and I do think it's not quite as heavy handed as it could be, which is a plus. The only real big faults I have with it is what the fuck Paul thought he was doign with those drums. Listen to Temporary Secretary by Paul McCarntey if you dare. It is far worse, it is unpleasant to listen to. Or listen to "Wild Life" because, Meat-Free Mondays clearly was a constructed song, and Wild Life, the song and the album, is just so poorly writen. It feels like a series of first takes.
I actually really like "Let's Make A Baby." It's a little corny, but with all of the other songs out there that glorify sex, it's nice to have at least one that's about actually having children. It's certainly better than "You're Having My Baby."
Back in Louis Armstrong's day black musicians weren't allowed in the same clubs they performed in as patrons. They would only let them in if they were performing. I think that might be what he was referencing in the Let Em In cover.
Billy Paul’s version of “Let em In” is unambiguously about letting those referenced into heaven at the Gates of St. Peter. There’s no mystery. I don’t say this to preclude other ways in which a listener can interpret and relate to these lyrics. “Let em in” can be about a deeply personal acceptance, or about a prayer for the removal of barriers that divide people. I’m more interested in learning how people relate to something than I am in someone being objectively right or wrong. Anyway, that’s just my disposition.
Yeah. Louis Armstrong was actually an activist. He refused to perform to segregated audiences and would protest if blacks were forced to be atop the balcony.
Funny enough, i started digging and there's a reason one of Todd's sources had a watermark from a Brazillian blog: He was HUGE here in Brazil in the mid to late 80s, and held a special place in many local Soul and Funk fans' hearts to this day. Dude was close friends with local legends Tim Maia, Jorge Ben and even recorded with Sandra de Sá, also a local legend. Heck, he was touring around Brazil until like 2014, and from what i read in a 2007 interview, he and his wife were considering moving to Fortaleza.
This song is one of my first musical memories. It was all over the radio when I was about 4. I think what struck me, and still strikes me, was the HUGENESS of the production; it sounds like they're all performing in an airplane hangar. Big, echoey reverb washing over you, and yet all very distinct - there's no murk. Extremely crisp. Unusually excellent production for 1972. A beautiful song that people - no matter how talented they are or how talented they think they are - should probably not attempt to cover. Perfection was attained. Leave it.
It would appear that Todd agrees with you, because he practically always ends each show with a snip of a cover version of the One-Hit wonder in question, and this time he ended with Billy Paul's deathless original.
i was born in 1968 and i distinctly remember as a kid my mom had recently left my dad (they divorced shortly thereafter) and i was already suffering from insomina and everybody in the house would be sacked out except me and this song would be playing on the radio way the hell late at night. i had strange unpleasant associations with this tune for years afterward.
"Am I Black Enough for You?" is AMAZING! It sounds best in a crowd of people dancing to soul music, but it also sounds good during a road trip, or when getting pumped up to leave the house. Maybe you just haven't been listening to it loud enough.
1972. I was in high school. Our English teacher had a vinyl copy of this LP in her classroom. Whenever we had an essay to write or a test to take, she'd offer to put on a song, and EVERYONE, ALWAYS, voted for this one. I must have heard it a kajillion times. I looked up kajillion, and it's not a real word, but believe me, I heard it a LOT. The message was not lost on we horny high-schoolers; not at all. But mostly we just liked its R&B flow. Even on the 8-inch "full-range" speaker in the school's record player (built into the lid, of course), it sounded darned good.
Am I Dead Enough For You? (In my opinion, you're too dead for me, Billy Paul :/ ) I am deeply sorry to whoever I offend, and will probably take this down...
+fury I'm actually a pretty big fan of Buble, but I feel like he has the same problem as a lot of Frank Sinatra's weaker songs: he sounds WAY too happy to be singing about heartbreak.
I love this song! Even though I shouldn't.... I used to work in a call center, and whenever any woman with the last name Jones called in, this song would be stuck in my head all day!
I cant believe that this is a one hot wonder. This man had an incredible discography, your song, am I black enought?, bring family back amd a lot of songs more... This man has to be inmortalize for his legacy
Goddamn, what a great song. I have to try to sing along at the chorus. G&H made incredible music. I live in Philly, and I went and saw the Roots do their annnual Independence Day free show a few years ago, and they did a Gamble & Huff tribute. It was amazing. Earth, Wind & Fire headlined. Amazing.
Let em in is one of my favorite Paul McCartney songs. :( The lyrics are meaningless, but they don't have to be meaningful. The beauty of the song is in the melody and atmosphere and construction.
I'd have to agree. It isn't one of my favorites persay, but it is undeniably a song with quality. It's kind of like Steely Dan if Steely Dan wrote songs that meant nothing.
Man, I love this series. Always good for learning an interesting bit of obscure music history. For example, good to know who the actual man behind "Me & Mrs. Jones" is now.
Dude, I actually hadn't ever heard this song before this video. Let me just say, my entire NEIGHBORHOOD knows it now if they didnt before. I cant stop wailing along with him. It's just so freaking good.
gonna be honest with you, I get why it didn't take off in the 70s, but i think I like "Am I Black Enough For Ya" even more than I like "Me And Mrs. Jones."
I always thought they made Billy Paul change his name because of Paul Williams from the Temptations who was kicked out of the group in 1971. I thought they didn't want people think the ex-temp was putting out a song.
Yep. It’s embraced as one of the most progressive black statements in music but I can see why Billy, who was actually a civil rights activist, thought this was the wrong move to release as a single.
Todd's interpretation of a DJ is fucking hilarious. Judging by what he had said in past videos, it looks like he never had one of those backgrounds with a lot of exposure to the R&B/soul genre. As far as my concern, Todd has been thoroughly studying the type of music he'd missed out on when he got older, a situation similar to mine. It's interesting that he started as a session musician/backing vocalist in jazz. Another artist who should get more credit for her previous work in jazz as one of many child prodigies, Patrice Rushen, taking notes from Alice Coltrane (a big influence of her's...duh). You might know her for the song "Forget Me Nots" Her main instrument was piano. Paul is a jazz artist who does terrible contemporary pop covers: ("Mrs. Robinson", "Magic Carpet Ride") and Michael Buble is a contemporary pop artists who does horrendous renditions of jazz standards, indeed spitting on the greats of such legends out of the Cole Porter songbook and many of Antonio Carlos Jobim and Frank Sinatra. Hell, even covers outside of the realm of jazz prove to be an even worse asset. ("Who's Lovin' You", "Heartache Tonight") R.I.P. Billy Paul, an underrated gem.
First heard any part of this from Megan Thee Stallion’s sample on Simon Says…now I can only ever express being in a romantic entanglement by singing “we got a THIIIIIIIIIIIIINNGG GOIN OOOOOOOOON”
The Dramatics did a terrific cover version of "Me & Mrs. Jones", and that was from 1975, 3 years after this song came out. Never heard of Neptune Records, one of the smaller labels ran by Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff. Before that, it was Gamble, the label run by Kenny himself where they brought the Intruders to the label from 1967 through 1972 when Philadelphia International was formed in 1971. PIR was the label that brought the O'Jays, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, MFSB, Three Degrees and others. When Vincent Montana Jr. Joined Salsoul, he formed the Salsoul Orchestra, a carbon copy of MFSB. Salsoul did released a Christmas album called "Christmas Jollies", it sounded almost like MFSB or the Three Degrees. Salsoul was the label more like Philadelphia International to be exact. There was one song by Billy Paul was "Let's Make a Baby", a song about having a baby, more like Paul Anka's "You're Having My Baby".
Easy to remember Billy Paul. Just imagine him having an affair while his poor wife is at home making Pauls Fish Sticks. It was a popular brand at the time. Sounds dumb but it works
I really didn’t pay much attention to this song as a young kid, until many years later as adult, when Billy Pail was on the Howard Stern show. and and Howard went into the song detail by detail, it was really entertaining. Now whenever I hear the song I really appreciate so much more.
Love your series, dude. Rewatching this again, I gotta be honest I think Am I Black Enough For Ya is cool! Not a classic and of course it’s a clunker next to Mrs Jones, but I dig it…and I’m a pale white guy from illinois. Keep up the great work Todd!
i was told the song was about a man found out his wife was having an affair with "mr Jones" so he contact "mrs Jones" to sugeest they console each other in their arms.
Buble's cover sounds like it's from the perspective of a high school student with a fantasy crush on his math teacher.
Never really thought about it, but yeah, that's exactly the vibe I get from him.
I still haven't forgiven him for what he did to Ave Maria.
@@googyta no one should ever forgive him for that
@@babypurplebat2610 I know right? How is it possible to make such a powerful song so weak?
Funny you mention it like that; my 7th-8th grade math teacher's name is Mrs. Jones.
When "Me and Mrs. Jones" is your one hit, you don't need another hit.
EZ Writer
Damn straight, that song is a classic!
The B side aint too shabby either.
t vo
Here it is!
ruclips.net/video/LeLINE6uUHs/видео.html
Is pretty accurate. Like, What to do? you can't get the grill hotter than this
still would’ve been nice if he got more exposure. war of the gods is a fantastic album
I remember as a kid in 1972, my parents were getting divorced, and I remember catching my dad listening to this song, and crying quietly. He told me he could relate to the singer's emotions in this song. I was too young to really understand much, but I never forgot that moment, or this song. I really love this song too. One of the best, most soulful r&b songs ever made.
I knew Mr. Paul. Lived in a run down apartment complex in South Jersey and he used to frequent a deli I worked at. His go to was a turkey sub w mustard. When asked about condiments he would say, “I don’t eat that mayonnaise shit; just MUSTAHD!” Good guy. RIP sir.
Billy sounded cool. I saw his Unsung documentary, he probably had the most interesting career of any “one hit wonder” in music history.
Too bad that just 9 months after Todd made this video on him, he died in April 2016.
RIP Billy Paul
Rest In Peace to him 😔
Actually this was a reupload from 2013. But the timing is still sad.
That moment you realize that Todd is now 2 years older than Billy Paul was when he had his hit.
Fuck me it’s probably 3 now. Time is a helluva thing.
his voice adds so much pain to the song. it makes it sound passionate and yet sad and heartbreaking.
Duke00x is that... your political compass in your profile pic?
@@Truthmane1 heaps of people do it
And that's why Buble's version doesn't work, Buble's voice has all the pain of a stubbed toe in comparison.
Cringe pfp
Todd: 37 is pretty old to have your first hit:
Me: well thanks for crushing that last dream Todd.
I write Checks at the grocery store. So? Charles Bradley was 62 when he released his first album, and Sharon Jones hit it big at a late age too.
Kenny Rogers didn't hit big till 37
Christopher Lee broke into Heavy Metal at age 89
and scatmanjohn was in his 50's
colonel sanders started kfc at 65
Billy Paul was my girlfriend’s neighbor for the last stretch of his life. She’d always play his music super loud through the wall to kind of tease him about it. Weird to think about.
Wait, so Todd released this video just before he passed away? Todd said he was still singing at the end of the video...and then I read your comments and headed to Wikipedia. Aww...this video came out at a perfect time.
That's a really shitty thing to do on a few levels. Playing music loud in an apartment, for the purpose of making a neighbor hear it is obnoxious on its own. Your girlfriend is a shitty person.
She probably didn't know that Billy was playing her published work music super loud too. The silence was palpable.
"Riding on their armchairs, they dream of wealth and fame. Fear is their companion, Nintendo is their game. Never Done Jack and Two-Thumbs Don and side-kick Don't Say Dick will laugh at others failures though they have not done shit." -W. Shatner
@@joejoelesh1197 Bit extreme of a reaction, no?
@@joejoelesh1197 there was no mention of an apartment. It could be a house next door loud enough to hear it. Also it is implied to be lighthearted, not belligerent
@@Drogon7102 oh ya, because "always" playing music so loud that the neighboring building (s) can hear is so much better, and being able to hear it "through the wall" implies that it was within the same structure.
I actually really like "Am I Black Enough For You," but woooow that shouldn't have been his follow-up single.
Jane Recluse me too
@@sapiensursus3034 It hit the Billboard Top 100, so more than a few people liked it.
SAME SAME. I've been listneing to 360º since the day todd dropped this video, but yeah, great song... it should have been just a fan favorite tbh
I mean shit, I'm a white boy but I have no problem jamming to "Am I Black Enough For You". A good song is a good song.
My Dad played it a lot growing up. Felt personally attacked when he shit talked the album cover.
AM I Black Enough For You was actually used really effectively in the series Black Lightning. The more aggressive tone of the song worked for the fight song it was used in.
It was on the Cleveland show as well..I thought it was a joke 😂
@@LdotHdot A joke? In the Cleveland Show?
@@xXxzAAa0aAAzxXx 🤣🤣
"Single stupidest, most meaningless song McCartney ever wrote."
I'm a McCartney fan too, but that's a bold statement to make against the guy who wrote "Why Don't We Do It In The Road."
I am a huge McCartney Fan as well, and I would say that "Let em In' is not his stupidest song. Perhaps "So Bad" can check that box, and neither is it his worst (Temporary Secretary by a mile). But it is his most meaningless. As much dribble as he puts into his other songs, things like "Why Don't We Do It In The Road" are not meaningless.
That song means exactly what the title says.
Aron puma i think meat-free mondays is his worst song by far
I haven't heard of that one before you, and I just listened to it and I must say mae, that I disagree. If you don't like the subject matter, I understand but like... musically, compare it to most of "Press To Play" "Out of the Blue" and like, half of "McCartney II," and it is clearly a better song.
Like, "Meat-Free Mondays" is not unpleasant to listen to, as music, and I do think it's not quite as heavy handed as it could be, which is a plus. The only real big faults I have with it is what the fuck Paul thought he was doign with those drums.
Listen to Temporary Secretary by Paul McCarntey if you dare. It is far worse, it is unpleasant to listen to. Or listen to "Wild Life" because, Meat-Free Mondays clearly was a constructed song, and Wild Life, the song and the album, is just so poorly writen. It feels like a series of first takes.
"I am the walrus"
*cough* "We All Stand Together"?
People who feel it glorifies adultery must only be listening to the chorus.
The only part of any song that matters.i
That was the general thought at the time.
I actually really like "Let's Make A Baby." It's a little corny, but with all of the other songs out there that glorify sex, it's nice to have at least one that's about actually having children. It's certainly better than "You're Having My Baby."
I really like it. However it does make your parents look at you weird it comes on.
Did you know Jesse Jackson had the song pulled from playing in Chicago because he felt it was too raunchy??? 🤨
That's a low bar. Boot canal is better than "You're Having My Baby".
RIP Billy Paul. 1 Dec 1934 - 24 apr 2016
Has anyone else noticed that Billy Paul looks like Rick Ross's dad?
Mychael Darklighter The rapper
+HipsterShiningArmor Actually... holy cow. XD
Google it, Expedia.
HUH
Back in Louis Armstrong's day black musicians weren't allowed in the same clubs they performed in as patrons. They would only let them in if they were performing. I think that might be what he was referencing in the Let Em In cover.
Yeah, segregation, "Let them in". Such as the sit-ins staged in protest of this.
Billy Paul’s version of “Let em In” is unambiguously about letting those referenced into heaven at the Gates of St. Peter. There’s no mystery.
I don’t say this to preclude other ways in which a listener can interpret and relate to these lyrics. “Let em in” can be about a deeply personal acceptance, or about a prayer for the removal of barriers that divide people. I’m more interested in learning how people relate to something than I am in someone being objectively right or wrong. Anyway, that’s just my disposition.
Yeah. Louis Armstrong was actually an activist. He refused to perform to segregated audiences and would protest if blacks were forced to be atop the balcony.
Funny enough, i started digging and there's a reason one of Todd's sources had a watermark from a Brazillian blog: He was HUGE here in Brazil in the mid to late 80s, and held a special place in many local Soul and Funk fans' hearts to this day. Dude was close friends with local legends Tim Maia, Jorge Ben and even recorded with Sandra de Sá, also a local legend. Heck, he was touring around Brazil until like 2014, and from what i read in a 2007 interview, he and his wife were considering moving to Fortaleza.
Paul Williams was also one of the lead singers of the Temptations. That Paul Williams may have been the more apt reason he picked a new name.
Yeah I think I read he changed his name cause he didn’t want to get confused with the Temptations singer.
This song is one of my first musical memories. It was all over the radio when I was about 4. I think what struck me, and still strikes me, was the HUGENESS of the production; it sounds like they're all performing in an airplane hangar. Big, echoey reverb washing over you, and yet all very distinct - there's no murk. Extremely crisp. Unusually excellent production for 1972. A beautiful song that people - no matter how talented they are or how talented they think they are - should probably not attempt to cover. Perfection was attained. Leave it.
It would appear that Todd agrees with you, because he practically always ends each show with a snip of a cover version of the One-Hit wonder in question, and this time he ended with Billy Paul's deathless original.
His cover of someone's knocking at the door is currently being used in a lottery advert in the UK.
Still is mate.
i was born in 1968 and i distinctly remember as a kid my mom had recently left my dad (they divorced shortly thereafter) and i was already suffering from insomina and everybody in the house would be sacked out except me and this song would be playing on the radio way the hell late at night. i had strange unpleasant associations with this tune for years afterward.
"Am I Black Enough for You?" is AMAZING! It sounds best in a crowd of people dancing to soul music, but it also sounds good during a road trip, or when getting pumped up to leave the house. Maybe you just haven't been listening to it loud enough.
I wouldn’t say it’s a bad song but maybe not the one to use as a follow up single
it would have been the perfect hidden track on one of his albums, noticed and enjoyed by the dedicated fans, away from the radio listening public
rest in power billy paul.
1972. I was in high school. Our English teacher had a vinyl copy of this LP in her classroom. Whenever we had an essay to write or a test to take, she'd offer to put on a song, and EVERYONE, ALWAYS, voted for this one. I must have heard it a kajillion times. I looked up kajillion, and it's not a real word, but believe me, I heard it a LOT. The message was not lost on we horny high-schoolers; not at all. But mostly we just liked its R&B flow. Even on the 8-inch "full-range" speaker in the school's record player (built into the lid, of course), it sounded darned good.
The Billy Paul version of Let Em In can still be found on most jukeboxes here in the UK.
And contrary to what Todd says, his version is excellent.
2016: Do I Suck Enough For You?
#RIPBillyPaul.
+Zice033 And now, the most tasteless joke ever:
Are you sure you want to keep going?
No really, you probably shouldn't.
Last warning.
And here it is:
Am I Dead Enough For You? (In my opinion, you're too dead for me, Billy Paul :/ )
I am deeply sorry to whoever I offend, and will probably take this down...
+RobotSnake Yep. Much too dead.
The only offensive thing about that joke was how unfunny and predictable it was.
2020 : Pfft, move over 2016.
Nah 2016 was lit
Pens won the Cup
Black enough for you is a great song.
Fun fact: I only know this guy from the ”Your Song” cover. It was used in a travel agency’s adverts for years in my country
RIP Billy!!!!
Another one..... GONE!!!!!!
Hozonkai a
Between Billy Paul and Amy Winehouse.... it seems the Jones couple aren’t doing well
I was looking for this comment!
psst, what if I told you Me and Mr Jones was a reference to this song
Anon Ymous thank you but I kinda figured
what kind of fuckery is this
@@heartfulcry you made me miss the Slick Rick gig 😡
This song always put a tear in my eye when I was younger. So much emotion and passion, I love it.
+fury That Michael buble cover was souless af
+fury I'm actually a pretty big fan of Buble, but I feel like he has the same problem as a lot of Frank Sinatra's weaker songs: he sounds WAY too happy to be singing about heartbreak.
Rest in peace, Billy.
Buble is if missionary position had an audio form.
I love this song! Even though I shouldn't....
I used to work in a call center, and whenever any woman with the last name Jones called in, this song would be stuck in my head all day!
As someone who loves good smooth soul, I like this song and Todd's review very much.
RIP Billy Paul. One of my Dad's favorites.
I cant believe that this is a one hot wonder. This man had an incredible discography, your song, am I black enought?, bring family back amd a lot of songs more... This man has to be inmortalize for his legacy
I love these videos. I get some music and a history lesson.
Paul Williams is also the name of one the original members of the Temptations.
Damn I just feel bad, he was so good and we didn't get to hear the gems as singles
Possibly one of the most beautiful and emotional songs ever written
"Baby making music" is actually a phrase associated with certain types of 70s R&B slow jams.
Oddly enough people play Me & Mrs. Jones to “make a baby”. Weird but it’s true.
Paul Williams (the other one) wrote Rainbow Connection (my favorite song ever) and a really great song 'Old Fashioned Love Song' for Three Dog Night.
Goddamn, what a great song. I have to try to sing along at the chorus.
G&H made incredible music. I live in Philly, and I went and saw the Roots do their annnual Independence Day free show a few years ago, and they did a Gamble & Huff tribute. It was amazing. Earth, Wind & Fire headlined. Amazing.
Rest in Peace, Billy Paul
Let em in is one of my favorite Paul McCartney songs. :( The lyrics are meaningless, but they don't have to be meaningful. The beauty of the song is in the melody and atmosphere and construction.
I'd have to agree. It isn't one of my favorites persay, but it is undeniably a song with quality. It's kind of like Steely Dan if Steely Dan wrote songs that meant nothing.
His worst song btmy far is "I wanna fuh you"
i haven’t even heard the song but i agree with the sentiment that a song can be good through the music alone even if the lyrics are whatever
wow he only played a few seconds of it but the uble version, but i liturally started to fall asleep when he played it.
This Song is like Fine wine...it gets better every year.
Man, I love this series. Always good for learning an interesting bit of obscure music history.
For example, good to know who the actual man behind "Me & Mrs. Jones" is now.
I was 11 when this came out, had the 45. It's my favorite song of all time.
This and Saving All My Love For You are my favorite songs about adultery/infidelity.
Both songs are quite sad to me. Cause you know it doesn’t end on a good note in either. Which could explain why audiences ate it up and still do.
Black Enough For You is the most strut worthy song out there, no matter your color.
One of the great classics...
This song is fantastic. So damn smooth!
Dude, I actually hadn't ever heard this song before this video. Let me just say, my entire NEIGHBORHOOD knows it now if they didnt before. I cant stop wailing along with him. It's just so freaking good.
Billy Paul RIP
Billy Paul looks kinda like Lawrence Fishburne.
Perhaps they are related?
My Uncle's last name is Jones. Guess what he sings to my aunt to mess with her?
Adorable
Love Paul Williams music.
gonna be honest with you, I get why it didn't take off in the 70s, but i think I like "Am I Black Enough For Ya" even more than I like "Me And Mrs. Jones."
Reminder that Michael Buble should stick to Christmas songs. There's a reason why he's most famous for them.
RIP Mr. Williams
Paul Williams was also the voice of the Penguin in the DCAU.
He's to the Penguin what Kevin Conroy is to Batman and Mark Hamill is to the Joker.
Greetings from Memphis - MY FAVE SONG.
This definitely one of my all time favorite songs.
People think this is a Marvin Gaye song? Style is similar, but the voice is more Otis Redding that Marvin Gaye.
I always thought they made Billy Paul change his name because of Paul Williams from the Temptations who was kicked out of the group in 1971. I thought they didn't want people think the ex-temp was putting out a song.
Am I Black Enough For You is a big tune in retrospect. It has had a life beyond what it's chart success would suggest.
Yep. It’s embraced as one of the most progressive black statements in music but I can see why Billy, who was actually a civil rights activist, thought this was the wrong move to release as a single.
RIP BILLY PAUL
Todd's interpretation of a DJ is fucking hilarious. Judging by what he had said in past videos, it looks like he never had one of those backgrounds with a lot of exposure to the R&B/soul genre. As far as my concern, Todd has been thoroughly studying the type of music he'd missed out on when he got older, a situation similar to mine. It's interesting that he started as a session musician/backing vocalist in jazz. Another artist who should get more credit for her previous work in jazz as one of many child prodigies, Patrice Rushen, taking notes from Alice Coltrane (a big influence of her's...duh). You might know her for the song "Forget Me Nots" Her main instrument was piano. Paul is a jazz artist who does terrible contemporary pop covers: ("Mrs. Robinson", "Magic Carpet Ride") and Michael Buble is a contemporary pop artists who does horrendous renditions of jazz standards, indeed spitting on the greats of such legends out of the Cole Porter songbook and many of Antonio Carlos Jobim and Frank Sinatra. Hell, even covers outside of the realm of jazz prove to be an even worse asset. ("Who's Lovin' You", "Heartache Tonight") R.I.P. Billy Paul, an underrated gem.
Well he did say he didn't start to listen to contemporary music until his teens and the only music allowed at the time was country music lol
Todd doesn’t understand A LOT of genres.
Remind Me by her is a song I like to go back to from time to time. I really love the sound of the song
This is a fantastic song.
Still one of my all time favourite songs but ONLY when Billy did it.
I knew this one as sung by Amy Winehouse and Tower of Power. Good to know where it actually originates from.
I loved this song when it came out. I was 5. I still sing it at karaoke, though I couldn't do Billy Paul justice.
Philly and Motown had a huge feud for so long
Motown ended up the victor in the end but PIR put up a good fight.
You gotta hear let the dollar circulate and how good is your game by billy paul both amazing songs
My family listens to so much Billy Paul I didn’t even know this was a one hit wonder
7:33 and I’m immediately flaccid
love train is one of my favorite songs
First heard any part of this from Megan Thee Stallion’s sample on Simon Says…now I can only ever express being in a romantic entanglement by singing “we got a THIIIIIIIIIIIIINNGG GOIN OOOOOOOOON”
Rip Billy Paul ! Great Song !
The Dramatics did a terrific cover version of "Me & Mrs. Jones", and that was from 1975, 3 years after this song came out. Never heard of Neptune Records, one of the smaller labels ran by Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff. Before that, it was Gamble, the label run by Kenny himself where they brought the Intruders to the label from 1967 through 1972 when Philadelphia International was formed in 1971. PIR was the label that brought the O'Jays, Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, MFSB, Three Degrees and others. When Vincent Montana Jr. Joined Salsoul, he formed the Salsoul Orchestra, a carbon copy of MFSB. Salsoul did released a Christmas album called "Christmas Jollies", it sounded almost like MFSB or the Three Degrees. Salsoul was the label more like Philadelphia International to be exact. There was one song by Billy Paul was "Let's Make a Baby", a song about having a baby, more like Paul Anka's "You're Having My Baby".
War of the gods is a pretty dope song, and album, i love it
I feel like there's a Counting Crows joke here, but I don't have it :( RIP Billy Paul
Easy to remember Billy Paul. Just imagine him having an affair while his poor wife is at home making Pauls Fish Sticks. It was a popular brand at the time. Sounds dumb but it works
As a white guy, I love _Am I Black enough for you?_ It's just a damn bop. Definitely shouldn't of been the follow up though.
Yea, that's... a surefire way to kill an artist's career in only one song.
I really didn’t pay much attention to this song as a young kid, until many years later as adult, when Billy Pail was on the Howard Stern show.
and and Howard went into the song detail by detail, it was really entertaining.
Now whenever I hear the song I really appreciate so much more.
Thanks for this one. This is such a great song.
RIP Billy Paul.
"I guess the world wasn't ready for a soul/jazz cover of Mrs. Robinson."
Dear World: WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!?!?!?!?!?
R.I.P. Mr. Paul
Loved the voice in the opening. Spot-on!
Jazzy magic carpet ride is awesome
Wow, he sampled The Sound of Philadelphia by MFSB while talking about the sound of philadelphia.
I love you Todd, I really do.
Beautiful song, beautifully sung.
great song thanks for video.
Love your series, dude. Rewatching this again, I gotta be honest I think Am I Black Enough For Ya is cool! Not a classic and of course it’s a clunker next to Mrs Jones, but I dig it…and I’m a pale white guy from illinois. Keep up the great work Todd!
Y’know my hero, Sandra Bernhard, covered this SO beautifully 😎❤️🤘😘😘
Please RUclips that you’ll SO thank me!
i was told the song was about a man found out his wife was having an affair with "mr Jones" so he contact "mrs Jones" to sugeest they console each other in their arms.