In the run-up to Valentine’s Day, we know that many people will be spending it alone. Hence, The House That Soul Built thought it’d be useful to feature four of our favourite soul songs celebrating being single and/or the cathartic end of toxic relationships. Read below to see our picks and sound off in the comments with your own suggestions!
The Day I Found Myself – Honey Cone
‘When you left you opened up the door / To a world I’ve never seen before’
Written by Ronald Dunbar and ‘Edyth Wayne’ (the pseudonym for Holland-Dozier-Holland) for Honey Cone’s Soulful Tapestry (1971) album, ‘The Day I Found Myself’ is one of the most underrated self-actualisation songs. The swaying ballad salutes the end of a controlling relationship and the narrator’s new-found mental and emotional liberation – ‘The day that I lost you / That’s the day I found myself’. The spoken-word intro leads into glorious, ringing harmonies sung by the trio of Edna Wright, Carolyn Willis, and Shellie Clark.
Unhooked Generation – Freya Payne
‘I just kicked the habit of being a fool for you / You had me in a move I’ve finally broken loose’
Another Dunbar/Wayne cut, ‘Unhooked Generation’ featured on Freya Payne’s Band of Gold (1970) album. Whereas the title song sees Payne ‘filled with sadness, filled with gloom’ waiting for her husband to return, in ‘Unhooked Generation’ she celebrates her freedom. The sentiment is similar to ‘The Day I Found Myself’ but with more aggression and bite, as well as being set to a funky Motown-esque arrangement. The song adopts a fiery feminist imperative too as Payne belts, ‘hey girls, if you’re in misery / Get yourselves together, come on set yourselves free’.
The End of Our Road – Gladys Knight & The Pips
‘Like a kid behind the wheel you’ve been reckless with my heart / If I stay around you’ll surely tear it all apart’
First recorded by Gladys Knight & The Pips for their 1968 album Feelin’ Bluesy, ‘The End of Our Road’ expresses the realisation of a toxic relationship and the need to terminate it. Against a driving rhythm, Knight uses the rasp in her voice to stress her frustration and anger – ‘I’m telling you boy no longer will I be your clown’. The lyrics – written by Roger Penzabene, Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong – are full of resolve and urgency.
Letting Me Down – Jools Holland feat. Joss Stone
‘When you’re here, there’s no tomorrow / It’s too late to give me your sorrow’
A relatively unknown song, yet one of Joss Stone’s finest vocal performances with a sweeping orchestral arrangement by Jools Holland. Stone delivers the chorus – ‘you been letting me down’ – with a pained exhaustion as she decries the ‘midnight creeping’ of her duplicitous partner. ‘Letting Me Down’ has one of the finest crescendos in contemporary soul music leading to an octave jump where Stone rips into the song – ‘take your coat, take your shoes, take everything you say and everything you do, and get out’. Every ounce of her voice is used to express her fury.
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(Image copyright: Hot Wax Records, Invictus Records, Motown, East West Records)
