A personal practice of mine is to have my phone playing music while I’m getting changed after having a shower in the morning. Feels strange to get ready in silence, or not to have at least some noise in the background for that kind of thing. A strange way to start this post you’d think, but it’s relevant, I swear. One time, I opened Spotify and left my Discover Weekly playlist running while I was sorting out my business when my ears pricked up at the sound of a singer yodelling over what was seemingly a straight-up soul/funk song. And that was a combination I don’t think I’d ever experienced in my years of living. This was back in 2020, very sure lockdown was well underway at the time, and I needed something to be excited about. This thing came in the form of this unusual song.

I wanna say the first time I heard it, I sort of let it slide and forgot to check what the song was called. But then it appeared in the playlist again not too long after, so I took it as a sign. The song was ‘Spaced Cowboy’ by Sly & the Family Stone, from the 1971 album There’s a Riot Goin’ On. Some would say a classic. I liked it a lot when I heard it fully some years ago. But when it came to ‘Spaced Cowboy’ by itself, I became addicted to it for a while. Think there was a timespan during 2020 where I was listening to it every day, and it probably would have racked up more “official” listens if I didn’t sometimes switch my status to private on the streaming service. I wouldn’t blame you if you listened and thought maybe it’s all a bit much on my part. I still enjoy the track a lot, I don’t know what to say.

There’s a Riot… is an album that bandleader Sly Stone recorded mostly by himself, either in the studio he built for himself at the Record Plant in New York City or in his home studio, in the loft of his Bel Air mansion. He used drum machines that he would then record real drums on top of, and a lot of the instrumental work is his own too. And there’s no other track on the record that represents that whole aesthetic than ‘Spaced Cowboy’. What the song is also about is anyone’s guess. If anything, I think the words were more or less written to fit around the yodelling, which really shouldn’t work in a genre like this but somehow sound perfect all the same. The bass line provides a fantastic groove. Stone’s vocal performance is effortlessly laidback, so much so that he stumbles on a word for a brief moment and corpses during another. The harmonica solo is also a very nice touch. A smooth blend of sounds that are good for the ears. I’ll take whatever’s going.