I think I mentioned the night in 1967 when some high school friends and I went to the Howard Theater in D.C. to see The Temptations. There were two acts and a standup comedy interlude by the masterful Jimmy Pelham before The Temptations appeared. Jimmy Ruffin was the second musical act of the night -- the first was a Motown girl group my friends and I had never heard before -- and he didn’t disappoint. It was a short set, though; and right after singing the magnificent “Brokenhearted,” which was a huge favorite among my friends and me, there was a delay by the band as they struggled to get their shit together for the next song.
Ruffin seemed a little troubled by the delay, glancing toward the band for some indication that there would be an end to the disturbance; so he faced the audience again with composure and just started to speak in what my friends and I later called “soul quotes.”
“Brokenhearted” and other soul favorites of ours at the time were mined by myself and my buddies for “soul quotes” -- fragments of songs that we’d use in everyday conversations.
“Hey, how’d you do on that test?”
“Not good. All that’s left is an unhappy ending. You?”
“I’ve been singin' that sad, sad song.”
You get the idea. Anyway, an endless array of spontaneous soul quotes were fucking pouring out of Ruffin's mouth for about twenty seconds. My friends and I were dying! And none of us later remembered anything he said.
I think I mentioned the night in 1967 when some high school friends and I went to the Howard Theater in D.C. to see The Temptations. There were two acts and a standup comedy interlude by the masterful Jimmy Pelham before The Temptations appeared. Jimmy Ruffin was the second musical act of the night -- the first was a Motown girl group my friends and I had never heard before -- and he didn’t disappoint. It was a short set, though; and right after singing the magnificent “Brokenhearted,” which was a huge favorite among my friends and me, there was a delay by the band as they struggled to get their shit together for the next song.
Ruffin seemed a little troubled by the delay, glancing toward the band for some indication that there would be an end to the disturbance; so he faced the audience again with composure and just started to speak in what my friends and I later called “soul quotes.”
“Brokenhearted” and other soul favorites of ours at the time were mined by myself and my buddies for “soul quotes” -- fragments of songs that we’d use in everyday conversations.
“Hey, how’d you do on that test?”
“Not good. All that’s left is an unhappy ending. You?”
“I’ve been singin' that sad, sad song.”
You get the idea. Anyway, an endless array of spontaneous soul quotes were fucking pouring out of Ruffin's mouth for about twenty seconds. My friends and I were dying! And none of us later remembered anything he said.