#304 Bill Withers, 'Just As I Am' (1971)

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The debut album from the inimitable Bill Withers. Before this album, Bill Withers was a factory worker manufacturing bathrooms for 747s. He had been writing a song which he just couldn’t finish. He had a first verse, a second verse and a chorus but while thinking up lyrics for the third verse, he used placeholder lyrics. Simply singing the words “I know” over and over, 26 times in total. On the advice of fellow musicians, he just decided to leave the song that way, record it and see what happens. That song landed up becoming one of the greatest of all time, covered by artists from Michael Jackson to Ladysmith Black Mambazo to Black Label Society. ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ would go on to sell more than a million copies in the States alone. When the song went gold, his previous company awarded him a gold toilet seat. That song kicked off his career and became the cornerstone to this record. Not only that, it was never even intended to be a single. It was the B-Side to ‘Harlem,’ one of my other favourite tracks on the record.

Produced by Booker T. Jones and featuring star session musos Donald “Duck” Dunn on bass and Jim Keltner on drums, it also featured Stephen Stills of Crosby, Stills and Nash on guitar. Also on the record is the oft-covered ‘Grandma’s Hands,’ probably most famously sampled as the main hook for Blackstreet’s ‘No Diggity.’ Withers also covered Harry Nilsson’s ‘Everybody’s Talkin’’ and The Beatles’ ‘Let It Be,’ making both his own. A beautiful start for a wonderful musician.

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