"Get on Down" ... In It's Fourth Year!

Rita Dacosta - Don't Bring Me Down

In the flurry of activity that has surrounded bar exam results and new job adjustments, your ever-lovin' Stepfather of Soul has forgotten to celebrate the third anniversary of this blog! Although this year I have not been able to keep the near-daily pace I kept in 2005, 2006 and 2007, I hope that you, dear readers, are still enjoying my offerings! Hopefully, I'll get an anniversary podcast up here soon!

Today's selection is one of the Northern Soul anthems that truly defines the spirit and magic that drove the NS movement in its heyday. "Don't Bring Me Down" by Rita Dacosta is one of those records that sells for big bank today (the original Mohawk 45 sells for around $500 and Mohawk and Contempo reissues come in at around $30), and for good reason. The mysterious Dacosta (my research yielded an album and a discussion of whether she was married to jazz great Stanley Turrentine) brings a classy reading to this stomper, and the optimistic lyrics and dramatic arrangement ("come on up and let me love you, let me love you; we're gonna fly - you've got to try - we're gonna fly - here is the sky") evokes in my mind images of punters working it out at Wigan and other Northern Soul venues, carried away by the tune's surging magic.

Thanks to R. Soos for this track!