Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Twenty Feet

 Twenty Feet from Stardom, my friend Fred kept telling me you have to watch this film, you just have to.  Rick and I watched it tonight.  Fred was right.  It is about several back-up singers that truly made the music starting in the sixties.

Listening to the songs that these singers made, and they did make them was amazing.  I can promise you that many of your favorites would not have been the same if not for the back-up vocalists.

We will be buying a copy of Twenty Feet from Stardom.  I loved it because I am a singer and like most of the back ground singers in the film, I started singing in church.  I am no where as good as these singers, but I can identify with them on many levels.  I have always had a strong powerful voice, and many times in my life I have been told I needed to sing the way I looked... small and thin.

Singing in a Pentecostal church, you learned to sing from the depths of your soul, the bottom of your heart.  You learned to make a joyful noise and to wail when your heart was broken. This is what  I know, when I sing, it is the most incredible joy, it is being in the now and present and no place else exists.
I sing in my car driving home from work and I put as much into it as I would on stage in front of a crowd.

Twenty Feet from Stardom tells the story, it is not all joy, but neither is it all sad, it is just life, 20 feet away from being a star.

3 comments:

  1. I started singing solo in church and leading the congregation and I sang at wedding and in front of dignitaries but I never really aspired to be a star. For me it was just sharing my gift. Something that I was given and that satisfied me. Having recognition has never been important but I have had lots of compliments throughout the years and I know the real author of my voice is not me but God. All the glory belongs to Him but you're right, singing is a lot of joy for me too.

    Enjoy your talent
    Hugs.
    JB

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  2. I'm not a singer but I love listening to those who have that talent! I know you have a wonderful voice! That movie sounds good...I'll have to look it up. So many times stardom goes to those in the right place at the right time not always those with the most talent. Some of the best music I've heard comes in the walls of a church!

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  3. My son has been listening to Johnny Cash lately. One of the songs he likes is "Memories Are Made Of This". Now I remember this song from my much younger days but all I could remember was the singers in the background singing "Sweet, sweet, the memories you gave to me". For the life of me I could not remember that it was Dean Martin who sang the song. I actually had to look it up.

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