Crazily, it seems Ted Taylor is but a footnote in music history, at least in the wikipedia world he is, a casual search and some nuclear weapons designer pops up but not the best falsetto in soul music! The best? If you don’t believe me, check out this tune, ‘(Love is Like A) Ramblin Rose’. Like most people (presumably) I first heard the cracking MC5 version after they proclaimed to ‘kick out the jams motherfucker’ and thought it was theirs, but then my friend played me the Ted Taylor version and I was blown away. 
Seems Ted Taylor was quite the influence on the next generation of cool rock and rollers, he was also a member of The Cadets who did ‘Stranded in the Jungle’, covered by The New York Dolls. Anyway back to ‘(Love is Like A) Ramblin’ Rose’, it was co-written by Marijohn Wilkin who seemed like one cool lady, not only did she help out a young Kris Kristofferson, she also wrote Long Black Veil. As for Ted, tragically, he died in a car crash in Lake Charles in 1987. I have a few of his singles, including his biggest hit ‘Stay Away from My Baby’, but nothing comes close to this side. Have a listen...
TED TAYLOR - (LOVE IS LIKE A) RAMBLIN' ROSE
1 comment:
Hey Boonge, check out "(I'm Just A Crumb In Your) Bread Box Of Love" on Jewel and "Can't Take No More" on Okeh for some more of Ted's superlative yelp! Joss
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