They Call Me Melody Cool: Songs of the Universal Spirit

A look at songs by Patti LaBelle, Mavis Staples & Donna McElroy that communicate a broader way of being and believing.

When I started curating July’s Church of the Good Groove playlist for SoulandJazz.com, the songs I was picking started to tell a story.

The thesis of God’s Music Is My Life is essentially about the universality that gospel and contemporary Christian music, when in their highest place, possesses. Yes, in some ways, the music is specific about who it recognizes as The Source, but there are other ways in which is understands a broader way of being and believing or not believing.

Part of that broader way of being comes through in testimony—the survival of and journey through life’s challenges. The songs in this month’s 12 song playlist are rooted in that idea. I’m highlighting a few of those in this week’s newsletter.

LISTEN TO THIS MONTH’S PLAYLIST HERE

Mavis Staples—”Melody Cool” from Prince’s Graffiti Bridge (1990)

It was my friend, Joann, who I wrote about a few weeks ago, that introduced me to this track when I was just 14 or 15. People get swept up in either the more scandalous nature of Prince’s work or his incredible musicianship—but his lyricism gets less attention. “Melody Cool” is a song that, like “When Does Cry,” reveals just how great of a writer he really was.

But it also was the perfect vehicle to put Mavis Staples’ core intention on front street. “Melody Cool” is all about music’s power to unite, educate, inspire and uplift—something Mavis had been doing since the 1950s with her family, The Staple Singers. “Melody Cool” brought her into the nineties in an show-stopping kind of way (If you haven’t heard her 1994 Paisley Park-issued album, The Voice, then you’ve missed one of Prince’s best productions).

It’s one of those songs that utilizes the fervor of gospel—and it’s more idealized, global message—and joins it with a less-sanctified groove to show the way things could—and I’d argue should—be. Mavis sings it live on Arsenio Hall’s show below—and you can hear the original studio recording on this month’s Church of the Good Groove.

Patti LaBelle—”All Right Now”—from Live (1992)

The early 90s were one of Patti LaBelle’s greatest periods. She was on a hot streak with her Grammy-winning Burnin’ album and she was sailing high as a seasoned vocal stylist—serving everything from “Send in the Clowns” to “All the Man I Need” in her live performances. When her 1992 Live album was released, one of the gifts was this studio track which opened the album.

Is “All Right Now” gospel? Absolutely. While it’s directed at a former love who took her through “treachery” (per the lyric!), she “survived to testify.” And that she does—with an all-star group of Los Angeles’ session singers like Jackie Gouché (Crystal Lewis, Randy Stonehill, Cheryl Lynn), DeNetria Champ (dubbed Little Aretha in gospel circles) and Táta Vega (the voice of Shug Avery in the original Color Purple film, former Motown recording artist and Andraé Crouch Singer).

Somehow, I’d never seen this performance of the song WITH the Diva Choir on the Tonight Show. Get ready!

Donna McElroy—”Why Can’t We Live Together” (1997)

If you don’t know Donna McElroy’s name, but have been listening to country, gospel, contemporary Christian music, jazz or soul for the last thirty years or so, then you’ve heard her whether you know it or not! She’s sung and/or arranged background vocals for everyone from Kenny Rogers to Millie Jackson to Garth Brooks to CeCe Winans.

In 1990, she released her very ahead of its time solo debut, Bigger World, which urged listeners to expand ideologically and musically (Read more about that album here). Donna’s consciousness stretched beyond the limits of the conventional Christian approach living in the world. Rather than trying to “win” the world, she urged her listeners to “make this a bigger world…with room for us all.”

Since the end of her tenure at Warner Brothers, she has continued to think through and write these ideas, including this gorgeous composition, “Why Can’t We Live Together,” which she co-wrote with the Nashville Jazz Workshop’s Lori Mechem.

Don’t miss my conversation with Donna:

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