“I have seen America and all the weird phases it has been through,” he said in 2015. As such, some have interpreted it as being related to the said struggle. And when Withers flows straight into Lean on Me, it’s as if he’s carrying the whole country on his shoulders. Lean on Me, as originally rendered by Bill Withers, came out in 1971, a time when the Civil Rights Movement was still very much hot. Framed as a letter home that the vet needs Withers’ help to write, the song itself is an act of profound empathy and solidarity that says more about the average soldier’s experience of war and its aftermath than a dozen more strident protest songs put together. ![]() If half the power of I Can’t Write Left-Handed resides in its mesmerising, Fatboy Slim-sampled gospel motif, then the other half comes from Withers’ introductory spiel about the Vietnam war (“one big drag”) and his conversation with a young veteran who lost his right arm after a bullet to the shoulder. ![]() Live at Carnegie Hall belongs in the pantheon of great live albums, not just for the music but for the absurdly charming between-song patter: Withers’ smalltown comedy routine prior to Grandma’s Hands brings the house down.
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