The Song of the Day is:
Dorothy Moore – “Misty Blue”
From the album Misty Blue (1976)
Oh, it’s been such a long, long time
Looks like I’d get you off my mind
But I can’t
Just the thought of you (just the thought of you)
Turns my whole world misty blue (misty blue)
Bob Montgomery
Today would have been the 35th birthday of slain rapper Nipsey Hussle. He was shot ten times over a personal matter just outside of a clothing store he owned in Los Angeles on March 31, 2019 (just days before our little Babygirl was born). He was a father, son and unique voice taken too young. Yesterday, his friend Snoop Dogg released a song called “Nipsey Blue” in which he soulfully croons a tribute to Nipsey Hussle. Snoop performs what is essentially a karaoke version of Dorothy Moore’s “Misty Blue” (with her vocals intact), as Snoop personalizes the lyrics to his fallen peer. I like it, Snoop has some talent in this arena, and while he has taken occasional departures from rap music (most notably in the genres of gospel and reggae), I would really enjoy hearing him do an entire album of lush seventies-inspired soul music. Of course, honorable mention should go to his 2007 bedroom banger and viral video “Sensual Seduction/Sexual Eruption“, proof that’s he has this capability (even if that song was squarely tongue-in-cheek). I definitely find Snoop’s “Nipsey Blue” to be affecting, but for today’s song I prefer to go straight to the source and then recommend the modified version. “Misty Blue” was written by Bob Montgomery as a country weeper (he was also known for Patsy Cline’s “Back in Baby’s Arms”, and was performed in this style by Wilma Burgess and Eddy Arnold. A few years later Dorothy Moore, a blues and gospel singer, put her own famous spin on it. Her version reminds the listener how closely all these musical genres are tied together, with its country lyrics, gospel triplets, soulful guitar work and blues singing (granted, soul singer Joe Simon was the first to bring it to this genre). Moore was the daughter of one of the Blind Boys of Mississippi, and grew up immersed in music. In the mid-seventies, Moore began singing classy, emotional soul music, and would have her biggest impact with her reinterpretations of country standards. Much like her success with “Misty Blue”, her covers of Willie Nelson’s “Funny How Time Slips Away” and Vickie Carr’s “With Pen in Hand” fell under this category. In the following decades, Moore has not been a big name to mainstream audiences largely because her pursuits have been more in the blues and gospel styles, which tend to be ignored by the masses. To the fan bases of those genres however, she is still a major force. Her original version of “Misty Blue” is a classic, and Snoop’s “Nipsey Blue” is a reminder of how great it’s always been and how much Nipsey Hussle is missed (for the record, his suspected murder has been arrested is awaiting trial).
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