I’m generally pretty willing to tell a sickly-sweet positive individual to take their PMA and shove it up their ass. No one can be all smiles all the time, and I always wonder what deep dark evil secrets those kinds of people are hiding. But these days, when there’s so much negativity and bullshit and bad news everywhere all the time — layoffs and pay cuts and lopsided compensation and turmoil and strife and pain — I can’t knock the power of a positive mental attitude. Sometimes it’s the only thing I have to fall back on. But I’m not a shiny happy person by nature, and I usually need a little help with the whole sunny outlook thing.
Thankfully, one of my favorite soul/pop gems from the 1970s is usually all I need: William DeVaughn’s “Be Thankful For What You Got.” If it doesn’t put me in a good mood, it’ll at least neutralize whatever shit attitude I happen to be mired in by serving as a simple reminder that things could be much worse — and for a lot of people, things are much worse.
There’s just something sublimely sunny about the song’s deep groove, mellow swaggering pace, funky rolling bass line and gospel style organ swell, backing one of the greatest lyrical refrains ever — pretty much a winner every time.
“Diamond in the back, sunroof top, diggin’ the scene with a gangster lean…” yeah…
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This has got summer bbq play list written all over it.
One of the most soulful drum parts ever written. If this one don’t send ya, ya may be dead.