The Brothers Johnson Pen a Letter For The Ages

Good evening, fruit aficionados. Today is Strawberry Picking Day. It's for this reason I want to revisit one of my all-time favorite old school R & B jams which comes from The Brothers Johnson. The song is called "Strawberry Letter 23". I'm spellbound by how sparkling the arrangements are and also by how there's a compelling mixtures of funk shadings. Your musical palate isn't overwhelmed by any one flavor. The way they come together in a takes your breath away carnival of coolness still sounds stellar some 36 years later. For starters the keyboard notes at the beginning and end sound like they were plucked right out of a little girl's music box, the type where, if you opened it, a ballerina in full pirouette might start twirling for your amusement. As was the case with a lot of top '70s R & B classics, bass isn't just nudged into the spotlight, it gets treated like royalty. The drumming is inserted in just the right spaces to promote a celebratory atmosphere that hardly seems to touch ground. The backup chorus keeps all moods at an elevated positive level. Then there's that guitar passage at the bridge. Wouldn't that sound extremely weird on LSD? Pity you if you try because it's one of those marquis musical moments that deserves to be fully appreciated without being too self-medicating. The chords seem to bathe themselves in various equally captivating rays of pure sunlight. I myself enjoy this song because it takes me back to my kindergarten days at Casis Elementary. Love the school both then and now. Lyrically how honeysuckle sweet can you be? Where else could you be privy to "sunshine pink and blue" or "playgrounds will laugh if you try to ask 'is it cool?' 'is it cool?' or "yellow candy screen". This is one of those songs that really does have the power to soothe you to sleep. You're desensitized as if you'd just entered a whirlpool bath. There's nothing that beats you over the head and says, "Love me or I'll die of emotional malnutrition". Subtle is admirable. All the frills come in the songwriting and those are stripped of any signs of worldly angst. Again, let's hear it for a ditty that doesn't seek to change the world in some before vs. after way. There's a place for that. There's a much hipper place for "Strawberry Letter 23". That place is in the sweet spot down your spine where hanging loose is, is they say, easy peasy. 1977 became a niftier year thanks to the succulent taste of this darling "Strawberry". No matter what time of day, it's ripe for the picking. If you haven't dropped by this strawberry patch, I invite you to have a sample. It's berry nice.