Body & Soul
Black & White Album
1992
Source of inspiration: In the old days, the only way a black guy growing up in
Detroit, and a white kid in the Boston suburbs could share mutual experiences was through the "radio airwaves." Body and
Soul is the story of those two kids and millions of others who had shared experiences lying in bed listening to the far away
stations at night playing the kind of music that MOVED us... and had us anticipating the next pop song.
One by one tunes would blare out of the tiny headphone of a transister radio at night when you were
supposed to be sleeping, not unlike now when the kids have a universal party line chat while IMing, watching a new video,
listening to a recent download, and looking at the face of a kid in Bombay they just met a second ago.
Those songs meant so much to so many. They
were OURS! And, we knew "every single word, as we sang them loud together" -- two kids, one
white, one black, one urban, one suburban, of completely different backgrounds joined in a tapestry woven of jazz, blues,
country, and gospel now titled rock & roll.
Back then, the conversations would be peppered with WHEN we heard a certain song for the first time, not about
the celebrity, or what they were doing. It was about the song!
Meaning of the song: "So many summers have come and gone" but look at us, just look
at us........"when I heard that sound, my world turned upside down, didn't feel so all alone, inside of me, can't explain
it, I'm on fire, I can't contain it, so out of control, body & soul"
