Not often, but sometimes you have a song that actually involves a psycho-physiological reaction in you.
Shivers. Goosebumps, Even tears.
One such song for me is an absolutely heavenly piece of recorded material.
Just thinking about the opening to the song as I write these words has the hairs standing up on the back of my neck.
With You I’m Born Again by Billy Preston & Syreeta.
December 1979. Post-punk Britain is in the grip of the Mod and Ska revival and the early days of the New Romantic and Blitz Kids movements. And yet this unreal ballad taken from the soundtrack to a comedy film about Basketball in the USA reached Number 2 in the UK charts.
I recall the Top of the Pops performances with Billy on Piano and the bejewelled locks of Syreeta and at the time being a rebellious 12-year-old, I was somewhat underwhelmed by it all. Give me the Specials, The Selecter and The Jam.
Yet something happened in the late 1990s as I rediscovered the amazing soulful sounds of the 1970s and 1980s. And I listened with a different heart and mind.
I recall being so moved by this song I wept. It was SO good.
Piano, strings, woodwind and soaring voices singing in the epitome of what a duetted ballad should be.
Syreeta Wright (Born Rita Wright) was a Philadelphian who moved between Detroit and South Carolina before settling in Michigan in her late teens. As she looked for work, in 1965, she became a receptionist and secretary at the Motown Label HQ.
After a short time and some occasional singing, composer Eddie Holland spotted her potential and in 1968, Eddie’s brother Brian wrote and recorded Rita to minor hits. Word has it that Rita recorded some songs (Love Child being one) that ended up with Diana Ross and the Supremes. When Diana went solo, Berry Gordy as the label owner and Supremes manager, toyed with the idea of Rita being the lead vocalist but he ended up with Jean Terrell.
Wright got closer to top-billing artist Stevie Wonder (she co-wrote “Signed Sealed Delivered with him) and eventually, they married in 1970. Sadly, the matrimonial state only lasted 18 months but Wright and Wonder stayed firm friends and Syreeta (now she had taken that name) was a co-writer and backing vocalist for Wonder for 2 decades even after their divorce. In 1975, Syreeta did hit the big time though with “Your Kiss Is Sweet” which charted in the UK off the back of the disco boom.
Syreeta’s vocal range and style was compared to legend Minnie Riperton (of “Loving You” fame), and Wright’s recording career never really hit the same heights and those that she really deserved, until this amazing song thrust her into the spotlight.
Billy Preston on the other hand had a seriously varied career. As a premier keyboard player, he toured with Sam Cooke, Little Richard, Ray Charles and even the Everly Brothers, The Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
Indeed Preston was one of only 2 artists credited to a Beatles album apart from John, Paul, Ringo and George.
A Texan by birth, Preston moved to LA and was considered a child prodigy on the piano and organ. So tight was his association with the Fab Four, he not only toured and recorded with them, he was later signed to Apple records when the group broke away from Parlophone/EMI.
His work with Jagger, Richards and the Stones also continued through this period proving how prolific an artist he was. Touring throughout the 70s long after the Beatles had split, he was literally on the road with the band from 1973-1977. By now, he’d signed as an artist with A&M records but in 1979, he came into the Motown fold.
It was then he was paired with Syreeta and to this absolute epoch moment of a song With You I’m Born Again. Sadly Preston battled with addictions in the 1980s, and died in 2006. 2 years prior to this, sadly, Syreeta Wright passed away. But they left us this amazing song. They live on.
So the song then. Written for the movie Fast Break by Carol Connors (who had written before with Wall of Sound-man Phil Spector) and David Shire (mainly a soundtrack writer for movies like All The President’s Men and even Saturday Night Fever).
Apparently, Carol Connors wrote the words to the song in around 22 minutes. A staggering feat for such a poetic series of verses, bridges and chorus.
It was a huge hit. And propelled them both to stardom.
Now then, that’s enough of the back story. Here are those amazing lyrics.
[Verse 1: Billy Preston]Come bring me your softness
Comfort me through all this madness
Woman, don’t you know? With you I’m born again
Come give me your sweetness
Now there’s you, there is no weakness
Lying safe within your arms, I’m born again
I was half, not whole
In step with none
Reaching through this world
In need of one
Come show me your kindness
In your arms I know I’ll find this
Woman, don’t you know? With you I’m born again
Lying safe with you I’m born again
Come bring me your softness
Comfort me through all this madness
Woman, don’t you know? With you I’m born again
Come give me your sweetness
Now there’s you, there is no weakness
Now there’s you, there is no weakness
Lying safe within your arms, I’m born again
Woman, don’t you know? With you I’m born again
I was half, not whole
In step with none
Reaching through this world
In need of one
Come show me your kindness
In your arms I know I’ll find this
Woman, don’t you know? With you I’m born again
Lying safe with you I’m born again
And that’s it.
Here’s the Top Of The Pops clip I sadly wasn’t enthralled by as a 12-year-old rebel. But as a 30-something with more of a connoisseur’s ear, it broke me. It also lifted me. And it still does.
With You I’m Born Again. Soar and dive. Cry on, Love on. An epic song, for sure.
10 March 2023
Perry is the Founder and Chief Energy Officer of People and Transformational HR Ltd (PTHR) and is a Chartered Member of the CIPD, a fellow of the RSA and Visiting Professor at 4x Business Schools in the UK. Perry is a 3x published author; a 2x TEDx Speaker and 5x Member of HR’s Most Influential Thinkers List ranking Number 1 in 2022.
Perry’s musical heritage lies most deeply in 1960s American Soul/R&B and British Soul & Funk from the 1980s-date.