Northern Soul

Wade In The Water by Ramsey Lewis is one of my desert island discs. I have it on CD but not on vinyl. Anna, author of FALLING THROUGH CLOUDS came round yesterday and gave me a copy and it' s vinyl. Johhny her husband is a DJ and so they have lots of the stuff. They put nights on at various venues in Hebden, Leeds and Manchester and know lots of young happening DJ's like Kid Knievel. All I know is that Wade in the water is a stunning piece of music. Haunting, soulful and if you want to throw some shapes as these younger people say, its the song for you. It was taken up by Northern Soul in the 70's and became a torch song. Now to impress the ladies at a soul night then, you had to be able to dance. And you had to be able to spin. The more spins the more ladies. It was a simple equation. If your spinning wasn't up to scratch then you went home alone. A friend of mine dug the rubber out of the heels of his shoes and put ballbearings into them. He span like a top and the ladies queued up. Innovation is the mother of getting laid. But when the ballbearings eventually work themselves free and your spinning comes to a deceitful stop, you are banished forever. A Northern Soul pariah. But what a few months.