#Who wrote just the two of us how to

No doubt +'Justments was hampered by the financial struggles at Sussex, but he was also not interested in recording simple pop songs. +'Justments, Withers' last album for Sussex, was released in 1974 and spawned three singles, none of which charted higher than 50 on the pop chart. In a moment in which Withers was poised - along with Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Carly Simon - to become a generationally transcendent pop star, Withers went with his heart and his desire to write and record great songs, whether they would be pop hits or not. For years the song would be cited as a musical reference to Withers' volatile relationship with actress Denise Nicholas, which ended in divorce and at least one reported incident of domestic violence. 1s that year if not for Michael Jackson's 'Ben' (Jackson had covered 'Ain't No Sunshine' on his debut solo album earlier in 1972) and Chuck Berry's 'My-Ding-a-Ling.' Both of Withers' hits were on the nearly perfect side-one of Still Bill, which also included the funk classic ' Who Is He (And What Is He to You)?,' co-written with Stanley McKenny, more from the perspective of a stalker than a jealous lover. 2 and featured an iconic drum break from James Gadson.

'I'm Her Daddy' and 'Better Off Dead' were not the stuff of pop stardom, yet a year later, Bill Withers found himself on the top of the pop charts courtesy of the generation-defining 'Lean on Me.' His next single, ' Use Me,' peaked at No. That darkness comes ringing through on songs like ' I'm Her Daddy' and the album closer ' Better Off Dead' - 'Now I must die by my own hand / 'Cause I'm not man enough to live alone' - which ends with a self-inflicted gunshot.

#Who wrote just the two of us how to

It wasn't the only way I knew how to live.' ' Hope that She'll be Happier' revealed what would become a common theme in his music, the reservation that love will always be lost, and there would always be a dark side that few wanted to acknowledge. As he told NPR in a 2015 interview, 'I wasn't socialized as a musician. Yet Withers established early on in his career that there would be no filler on his albums he was going to use every bar and every groove of those albums to their fullest.