It was a week or two before Opening Day 1992. My car was still new as was my fascination with having my very own built-in cassette deck. I had just bought Rhino’s Soul Hits of the ’70s: Didn’t It Blow Your Mind Vol. 6. Playing Side B, driving home from work after midnight, I came across a song that was vaguely familiar.
Before it was over, the chorus had become mine.
‘Cause I want to be happy and free
Livin’ and loving for me
I want to be happy and free
Livin’ and loving for me
Like a natural man (like a natural man)
A natural man (like a natural man)
It was written by Bobby Hebb and Sandy Baron, but the emotion was purely that of Mr. Lou Rawls, the transcendent vocalist who died yesterday from cancer at the age of 72.
This 1971 classic, in fact, belonged to Lou Rawls, but he was kind enough to let me borrow it that night and I got a lot of use out of it. I kept rewinding the tape and singing along with it. By the time I got to my dark suburban street, I saw no point in parking until the song was over. I drove around the block a couple of times so I could absorb every drop of “A Natural Man”.
Fourteen years later, it’s a part of me still. Voices through a Toyota speaker, whether they belong to baseball announcers or silky soul singers, can have that kind of long-term effect on you.
Amazin’.
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