Tobi Lark?legend in UK national paper.

[ady_croasdell]

This was in the UK's best national newspaper The Guardian last Friday.

The final three records traditionally played at Wigan Casino's northern soul all-nighters were known as the Three Before Eight, and fittingly, for the closing notes of the night, all three were concerned with the passing of time. The sequence opened with Time Will Pass You By by Tobi Legend, followed with Long After Tonight Is All Over by Jimmy Radcliffe, and ended with I'm On My Way by Dean Parrish.

It's the Tobi Legend track I have always loved most. It is somehow undiluted by the schmaltz of Radcliffe's track, or the hey-ho-on-we-go of Parrish's number, and instead is simply a song about seeing the preciousness of life, about trying to live our lives better and brighter.

Legend was born Bessie Grace Upton in Alabama, the daughter of the gospel singer Emma Washington. She began her career in Detroit, more commonly recording as Tobi Lark, and singing backing vocals for artists such as BB King and Wilson Pickett, Duke Ellington, Ben E King and Cannonball Adderley. This track was released in 1968, and written by the English-born engineer John Rhys, but it did little commercially until it was picked up by northern soul clubs in Britain. Earlier this week, I found a podcast in which Rhys talks about writing the song. "I didn't even know it had been released until 1982," he laughs, detailing the history of Time Will Pass You By's composition and recording before it was seemingly lost. "After that, I don't know what happened," Rhys says, "but somehow it got to England … and it was successful. So thank you, mother country … Thank you northern soul, so much."

Its verses cut a melancholy figure, its opening lines reflecting on the steady turn of the world: "Passing seasons ever fade away/ Into misty clouds of autumn grey/ As I sit here looking at the street/ Little figures, quickly moving feet." And then in zaps the chorus, a remonstration of sorts, or a call to arms: "Life is just a precious minute baby," it yells. "Open up your eyes and see it baby/ Give yourself a better chance/ Because time will pass you/ Right on by."

Like many pop songs, there's something of the sonnet about Time Will Pass You By; it's there in the song's intention of course, but there is something about Legend's track that has always reminded me specifically of Shakespeare's Sonnet 60. Legend's second verse, "I'm just a pebble on the beach and I sit and wonder why/ Little people running around/ Never knowing why," for example, seems to echo Shakespeare's lines: "Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore/ So do our minutes hasten to their end;/ Each changing place with that which goes before,/ In sequent toil all forwards do contend."

Sonnet 60 is itself a song, of sorts, about life's "precious minute". Shakespeare was writing at the end of the 16th century, in an age when time had become increasingly mechanised, its measurements more accurate, and for the first time, clocks began to have minute hands – the sonnet's name is thought to reference the number of seconds in a minute. Time, perhaps, never seemed to pass by so keenly.

Legend's song also came at the end of a decade, written over a three-year stretch in which the magnitude of events meant that life perhaps seemed to gather speed – Vietnam, the assassinations of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, riots in LA, New York and, of course, Detroit. In 1968, the year of this song's release, ours was a world trying to reorder itself, the civil rights movement was under way in the US, there were protests across Europe, and Apollo 8 allowed us to see Earth in its entirety from space. "This big old world is spinning like a top," Legend sings, "Come on help me now and make it stop."

But Legend offers the sonneteer's age-old remedy: "All you have to do is live for now," she sings, "Come along with me I'll show you how." And how softly reassurance turns into seduction: "Take my hand I'll show you how to live/ Why wait until tomorrow?"
Laura Barton

[Kamasu_Jr]

This was in the UK's best national newspaper The Guardian last Friday.

The final three records traditionally played at Wigan Casino's northern soul all-nighters were known as the Three Before Eight, and fittingly, for the closing notes of the night, all three were concerned with the passing of time. The sequence opened with Time Will Pass You By by Tobi Legend, followed with Long After Tonight Is All Over by Jimmy Radcliffe, and ended with I'm On My Way by Dean Parrish.

It's the Tobi Legend track I have always loved most. It is somehow undiluted by the schmaltz of Radcliffe's track, or the hey-ho-on-we-go of Parrish's number, and instead is simply a song about seeing the preciousness of life, about trying to live our lives better and brighter.

Legend was born Bessie Grace Upton in Alabama, the daughter of the gospel singer Emma Washington. She began her career in Detroit, more commonly recording as Tobi Lark, and singing backing vocals for artists such as BB King and Wilson Pickett, Duke Ellington, Ben E King and Cannonball Adderley. This track was released in 1968, and written by the English-born engineer John Rhys, but it did little commercially until it was picked up by northern soul clubs in Britain. Earlier this week, I found a podcast in which Rhys talks about writing the song. "I didn't even know it had been released until 1982," he laughs, detailing the history of Time Will Pass You By's composition and recording before it was seemingly lost. "After that, I don't know what happened," Rhys says, "but somehow it got to England … and it was successful. So thank you, mother country … Thank you northern soul, so much."

Its verses cut a melancholy figure, its opening lines reflecting on the steady turn of the world: "Passing seasons ever fade away/ Into misty clouds of autumn grey/ As I sit here looking at the street/ Little figures, quickly moving feet." And then in zaps the chorus, a remonstration of sorts, or a call to arms: "Life is just a precious minute baby," it yells. "Open up your eyes and see it baby/ Give yourself a better chance/ Because time will pass you/ Right on by."

Like many pop songs, there's something of the sonnet about Time Will Pass You By; it's there in the song's intention of course, but there is something about Legend's track that has always reminded me specifically of Shakespeare's Sonnet 60. Legend's second verse, "I'm just a pebble on the beach and I sit and wonder why/ Little people running around/ Never knowing why," for example, seems to echo Shakespeare's lines: "Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore/ So do our minutes hasten to their end;/ Each changing place with that which goes before,/ In sequent toil all forwards do contend."

Sonnet 60 is itself a song, of sorts, about life's "precious minute". Shakespeare was writing at the end of the 16th century, in an age when time had become increasingly mechanised, its measurements more accurate, and for the first time, clocks began to have minute hands – the sonnet's name is thought to reference the number of seconds in a minute. Time, perhaps, never seemed to pass by so keenly.

Legend's song also came at the end of a decade, written over a three-year stretch in which the magnitude of events meant that life perhaps seemed to gather speed – Vietnam, the assassinations of Malcolm X, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, riots in LA, New York and, of course, Detroit. In 1968, the year of this song's release, ours was a world trying to reorder itself, the civil rights movement was under way in the US, there were protests across Europe, and Apollo 8 allowed us to see Earth in its entirety from space. "This big old world is spinning like a top," Legend sings, "Come on help me now and make it stop."

But Legend offers the sonneteer's age-old remedy: "All you have to do is live for now," she sings, "Come along with me I'll show you how." And how softly reassurance turns into seduction: "Take my hand I'll show you how to live/ Why wait until tomorrow?"
Laura Barton

After hearing northern soul fans talk about Time Will Pass You By. I discovered I had a copy, played it and could see why It didn't do well commercially in the US. I was not impressed, but the fans in the UK are loyal.

[ady_croasdell]

Did you sell it Kamasu or did you save it for me?

Ady

PS You may prefer her Topper recordings as Tobi Lark, her USD single is rather brilliant too.

[robb_k]

I much prefer Tobi's Topper, USD and Palmer cuts [[they not only have the better Detroit instrumentation and arrangements, but also are much better written songs. The Tobi Legend songs are both poorly structured and poorly arranged, in my opinion. I much prefer Dave Hamilton's and Joe Hunter's and Fred Brown's and Mike Hanks' work on those I listed above. There's much more to a song than the danceability of its beat.

[acooolcat]

Robb - I think the lyrics to this are great.

A really nice article - thanks for sharing, Ady.

[jsmith]

"Time Will Pass You By" is a classic, pure & simple.
I've loved the song since Dave Godin sold me a copy of the 45 in Soul City record shop [[London) back in the 60's.

[ady_croasdell]

I much prefer Tobi's Topper, USD and Palmer cuts [[they not only have the better Detroit instrumentation and arrangements, but also are much better written songs. The Tobi Legend songs are both poorly structured and poorly arranged, in my opinion. I much prefer Dave Hamilton's and Joe Hunter's and Fred Brown's and Mike Hanks' work on those I listed above. There's much more to a song than the danceability of its beat.

I can totally see that Robb, but for some who are more into the "Northern" qualities than the Detroit Soul qualities, it is one of the best ever records. I think you need to have a love of 60s pop music, have experienced an all nighter and ideally be a dancer to fully appreciate this one. Tobi told me how it was recorded and it was such an incredibly tough song to record they did it in a series of small segments and spliced it all together. She has never sung the song in its entirety, even when she recorded it. That was one of the reasons she declined to sing for me at Cleethorpes last year.

[robb_k]

I went to several all-nighters in the late '70s and early 1980s. I know the difference between hearing those stompers on the floor, and hearing them on a turntable in one's home. I'll take Jimmy Mack's "My World Is On Fire" over "Time Will Pass You By".

[ady_croasdell]

I didn't know that Robb; fascinating and I can see where you're coming from. I bet you didn't like Ten Miles High either.

[robb_k]

I didn't know that Robb; fascinating and I can see where you're coming from. I bet you didn't like Ten Miles High either.

I have no idea what "Ten Miles High" is. Is it a song? I've never heard it. I stopped listening seriously to the radio in 1966, and completely by the end of 1967. I stopped buying records in 1972 other than a handful or so. I own about 25 records from the '70s [[mostly 1970-71) with many thousands from the '60s and fifties [[and some hundreds from the '40s). I used to hang out in the Manchester area for some weeks each year, popping over from Holland. I swapped Northern Soul duplicate 45s and records from my collection that I liked least for rare records I liked better [[mostly Chicago and Detroit Soul). I used to stay a few days at John Anderson's place in King's Lynn, and buy a few records.

It was even a Brit [[Rod Shard) who turned me on to Soulful Detroit in 2001.

[acooolcat]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJYoetLuuNY

Take a listen, Robb

[robb_k]

You're right, Ady. I DON'T like it. It's about as far from "artistry" as it comes. Only 2 basic different musical phrases, and a really weak vocal. The song doesn't go anywhere. I could have written that in 5 minutes. [[bloody garbage). Yes, it DOES have a danceable beat. It takes A LOT more than that for me to like a song.

The Tobi Legend cut has it beat by a 1,000 times [[and I don't even like THAT). How can anyone compare that to George McGregor's & Tobi Lark's fantastic "Happiness is Here"??? - Or Mike Hanks' and Toby's "Lots of Heart", or her Jazzy rendition of "Cottage For Sale", for that matter?

[ady_croasdell]

You know I was being light-hearted don't you Robb? I'm sure Graham did!

I actually like them all [[though I've not heard Cottage For Sale, could anyone show me the way to that one?), but for very different reasons and facets of the records.

Ady