Shirley Murdock – “Husband” The Beginning of 90′s R&B?
Shirley Murdock . Husband by capitainfunkk
Yes the questions posed in the title to this post may sound absurd to some, but go with me for a second… the other night for no apparent reason I pulled up this track from Shirley’s second release for Elektra 1988′s A Woman’s Point of View and after listening a few things immediately sprung to mind:
1. The keyboard wizadry of Billy Beck of Ohio Players fame is all over this track, he is a co-writer of not only “Husband” but “As We Lay” from Shirley’s 1986 eponymous outing. But whereas “As We Lay” was more theatrical and somewhat traditional in its construction, “Husband” was something all together different for that time period. “Husband” was another in the lineage of the synthesis of sanctified and secular music. If you think about the music that was contemporary to “Husband” in the secular music world it didn’t sound anything like this production. The intro to “Husband” was so good it feels like someone straight up just lifted it for SWV’s “Weak” which would appear four years later.
2. The strongest representation for my argument that this song ushered in 90′s is the chorus of “Husband”. The chord progression that Billy Beck utilizes here has served as the foundation for many a Gospel and R&B tune. But more than that checkout how Shirley’s background vocals are arranged and the interplay between the backgrounds and her lead. I’m not going to name any names, but there are a lot of R&B/Soul artists that debuted in the early to mid- 90′s that quite honestly were completely cut from the template of the “Husband” production. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just I don’t know if enough people know about the influence and that’s problematic.
3. As I stated earlier “Husband” was something different. Often what happens when the music shifts is there are the pioneering productions that don’t get all the accolades, they’re very subtle, but it seems like the right folks listen to them and incorporate the changes. I really believe that this production falls into the category as pioneering. I’m not advancing “Husband’s” legacy as earth-shattering but just trying to provide some context as to the fact that songs that were contemporaries did not sound like “Husband” and that after the debut “Husband” many borrowed from its production style. So, I guess my answer to the question posed is yes. Perhaps. What are your thoughts?
Tags: Billy Beck, Shirley Murdock, The Ohio Players
May 27th, 2012 at 11:01 pm
Interestingly enough, the writer of ‘Weak’, Brian Alexander Morgan wrote the song Weak in 1988 (for Charlie Wilson). As you may know, the song ‘Husband’ was released in 1988. It’s very likely he patterned the production of the song after Husband. In addition, he [Brian A Morgan] was a huge Shirley Murdock fan and decided to work with SWV because he felt that Coko’s voice mirrored Shirley Murdock’s.
So you may be onto something here..
May 27th, 2012 at 11:45 pm
If you want to take it a step further, Mariah Carey wrote (with Ben Marguiles) ‘Alone in Love’ in 1988 (when Husband was released) for the Lean On Me soundtrack. The song didn’t make the soundtrack, but eventually made it to her 1990 debut LP. The song ‘Alone in Love’ follows an eerily similar pattern to ‘Husband’, (call and response backgrounds vocals, doo wop-esque backing vocals, breakdown during verses). Mariah is an admittedly big Shirley Murdock fan, as referenced by her recent tweets.
Husband is definitely a trailblazing track.