In Memorium: Teddy Pendergrass, R.I.P.

January 17, 2010 by
Filed under: Triple Play Thurs-Day 

I hope I don’t ramble on for too long on this one, but if I do please bear with me…

If you are any kind of a fan of Soul/R&B music, you know that Theodore DeReese “Teddy” Pendergass, one of the great male, soul singers of this generation, passed away on Wednesday, January 13, 2010. As a person that basically grew up with Teddy’s music as a big part of his life AND as a fan of music in general AND as a person who was a radio and mobile DJ during my college years, whenever a musical icon like this leaves this world it is a time of great reflection. And so it is with Teddy Pendergrass.

From his early years with Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes and on through his wonderful solo career, Teddy was one of those artists whose music a part of so many enjoyable and important moments in my life. So much so that when you reflect back on his career and all of the music that he made for us to enjoy, what you are find yourself really doing is looking back on and traveling down the highways of your life. The term I like to use for this is the “Soundtrack of My Life”.

Over the past few days as I’ve been playing many of Teddy’s songs and talking to various friends about him and flood of memories has come rushing back to me and taking me back to times and places that are cherished memories from my past. The Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes songs especially take me back to lots of high school memories… hanging out in East Orange, taking the #49 bus to E.O. to visit Sharon on Sundays, missing that last #49 bus to get back home and having to call my father to come pick me up (not a fun ride back home I can tell ya, Dad was *not* happy when I did that! {smile}), the parties in Plainfield at Mark’s house with the boys from Wardlaw (oh those parties in Plainfield, Whoooo!). And then there were the college memories… all those super slow songs that became a Teddy trademark, Come Go With Me, Close The Door, Turn Out The Lights, Love T.K.O. Whooooo! We used to joke that if you were planning a romantic evening with your lady all you needed was some Isaac Hayes, Barry White, Isley Brothers and Teddy Pendergrass, and if THAT didn’t work, well, just forget about it. LOL!

The best Teddy/college memory though was created by my roommate Owen. We all (maybe about 6-7 of us) were going out to dinner one night and “O” got onto this kick explaining how Teddy must really be into sado-masochism. As he explained it, all you had to do was just listen to his songs, Teddy was always “ordering” his women around, “Come here, baby!” “Do it to me, and I’ll do it to you!” “Would you rub me down in some burning hot oil baby, and I swear, I swear I’ll do the same thing to you!” and then he’d always go, “Ugh!” And, of course, Owen was doing all of this in his best parody of that deep, guttural tone that is a Teddy Pendergrass trademark. I’m telling you, he had us dying laughing in the car that night, tears just running down our faces we were laughing so hard. I bet it took us a good 15 minutes to collect ourselves so we could go into the restaurant to have dinner! Makes me smile all over again just thinking about it.

So many great memories. Anyway, let’s move on to the mix before I bore you with my own personal trip down memory lane. First off I want to acknowledge my brothers and sisters in podcasting for making this tribute mix happen. We like to call ourselves the “Music Podcast Consortium” (props, as always, to Todd Kelley for coining the name) and this collaboration has truly been an example of unselfish teamwork. Here are the folks who helped cook this one up: EJ Flavors, Butta, Fave, KB, DJ Diva, Macedonia, Nikki, and Todd “Big La” Kelley.

So, what you are about to listen to can best be described as a Music Podcast Consortium Presentation! As a matter of fact, you can also find this tribute to Teddy over on EJ’s site, EJFlavors.com, as we agreed to cross post the mix on both sites. Assist, collaborate, help and share, that’s what the MPC is all about.

Below you’ll find two mixes that are our some of our favorite songs and a small tribute to the memory of this great singer who has given us so much entertainment throughout his career. Lots of “brown liquor” music in these mixes, so raise your glass in a toast one more time for Mr. Teddy Pendergrass…

MPC Presents – In Memorium: Teddy Pendergrass, R.I.P. part 1…
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MPC Presents – In Memorium: Teddy Pendergrass, R.I.P. part 2…
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Playlist, Part 1: (song – artist – album [time])

    1. Get Up, Get Down, Get Funky, Get Loose – Teddy Pendergrass – Life Is A Song Worth Singing [5:26]
    2. Only You – Teddy Pendergrass – Life Is A Song Worth Singing [5:07]
    3. I Don’t Love You Anymore – Teddy Pendergrass – Teddy Pendergrass [4:01]
    4. Bad Luck – Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes – If You Don’t Know Me By Now [6:23]
    5. The Love I Lost – Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes – Greatest Hits [6:24]
    6. Satisfaction Guaranteed – Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes – Ultimate Collection: Satisfaction Guaranteed [3:30]
    7. Don’t Leave Me This Way – Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes – Wake Up Everybody [6:04]
    8. Wake Up Everybody – Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes – Wake Up Everybody [7:32]
    9. Easy, Easy, Got to Take It Easy – Teddy Pendergrass – Teddy Pendergrass [4:55]
    10. Come Go With Me – Teddy Pendergrass – Teddy [5:51]
    11. Close The Door – Teddy Pendergrass – Life Is A Song Worth Singing [5:29]
    12. Turn Off The Lights – Teddy Pendergrass – Teddy [5:58]
    13. Set Me Free – Teddy Pendergrass – Teddy [5:05]
    14. Somebody Told Me – Teddy Pendergrass – Teddy Pendergrass [5:15]

    Playlist, Part 2 : (song – artist – album [time])

    1. If You Don’t Know Me By Now – Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes – Greatest Hits [3:26]
    2. Can’t We Try – Teddy Pendergrass – TP [5:04]
    3. Love T.K.O. – Teddy Pendergrass – TP [5:02]
    4. I Miss You – Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes – If You Don’t Know Me By Now: The Best Of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes [8:37]
    5. And If I Had – Teddy Pendergrass – Teddy Pendergrass [4:26]
    6. Hope That We Can Be Together Soon – Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes – To Be True [3:43]
    7. It Don’t Hurt Now – Teddy Pendergrass – Life Is A Song Worth Singing [6:04]
    8. You’re My Latest, My Greatest Inspiration – Teddy Pendergrass – It’s Time For Love [5:25]
    9. Hold Me (ft Whitney Houston) – Teddy Pendergrass – Love Language [6:03]
    10. Feel The Fire (ft Stephanie Mills) – Teddy Pendergrass – TP [5:36]
    11. Life Is A Song Worth Singing – Teddy Pendergrass – Life Is A Song Worth Singing [4:14]
    12. Joy – Teddy Pendergrass – Joy [6:17]
    13. You’re My Choice Tonight (Choose Me) – Teddy Pendergrass – The Very Best Of [4:42]
    14. Two Hearts (ft Stephanie Mills) – Teddy Pendergrass – The Very Best Of [4:40]
    15. The More I Get, The More I Want – Teddy Pendergrass – Ultimate Collection: Satisfaction Guaranteed [4:27]
    16. Where Are All My Friends – Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes – If You Don’t Know Me By Now: The Best Of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes [3:21]

    Have you missed any of the RIBS mixes we’ve posted? If you have there is now an easy way to catch up on what we’ve been up to. Just go check out the new RIBS Archives Page to see a very easy to read listing of every post (and music mix) we’ve uploaded to the site.

    Enjoy!

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    5 Comments on In Memorium: Teddy Pendergrass, R.I.P.

    1. movementinc (Movement Inc) on Sun, 17th Jan 2010 4:35 pm

      2. Twitter Comment


      In Memorium: Teddy Pendergrass, R.I.P. : RIBS: Rhythms In Black Satin [link to post]

      – Posted using Chat Catcher

    2. tgrundy (tgrundy) on Sun, 17th Jan 2010 4:43 pm

      3. Twitter Comment


      Teddy Pendergrass, RIP mix is now posted over on RIBS too: [link to post] #blck #ribs #podcast

      – Posted using Chat Catcher

    3. darrenkeith3a (darrenkeith) on Sun, 17th Jan 2010 5:17 pm

      4. FriendFeed Comment


      In Memorium: Teddy Pendergrass, R.I.P. : RIBS: Rhythms In Black Satin [link to post] http://friendfeed.com/e/19857c39-bf46-4992-9afe-a9cb05fbff96

      – Posted using Chat Catcher

    4. fave (Fave ) on Sun, 17th Jan 2010 5:41 pm

      5. Twitter Comment


      RT @darrenkeith3: In Memorium: Teddy Pendergrass, R.I.P. : RIBS: Rhythms In Black Satin [link to post]

      – Posted using Chat Catcher

    5. RIBS TPTD: Bloodstone, We Go A Long Way Back… : RIBS: Rhythms In Black Satin on Thu, 21st Jan 2010 4:47 am

      6. [...] a couple of delays (some time issues IRL and then the passing of Teddy Pendergrass), I am very happy to finally post this particular RIBS mix. Now, seeing as how I tried to [...]

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