My life long Lovestory with

No Easy Way Down

Written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King in 1963 who provided 4 from the 11 songs on the album. Carole King recorded this song herself for her debut album writer in 1970. Gerry Goffin once stated that Jerry Wexler picked the four best songs from his collaboration with Carole King for Dusty in Memphis.

I can`t make it alone

The final track ends the album just as brilliantly as the whole album begins. My personal favorite song ever, there is for me no other song from Dusty that touches me as much as this one does. Her voice fits beautifully around the melody and when she sings this one I truly believe every word she is singing.

It has taken a whole new generation to recognize the magic of the moment that took place in those days and nights in Memphis and New York.

Dusty`s thoughts on the Album:

“I hated it at first. I hated it because I couldn’t be Aretha Franklin. If only people like Jerry Wexler could realise what a deflating thing it is to say, Otis Redding stood there. Or, That’s where Aretha sang. Whatever you do, it’s not going to be good enough. Added to the natural critic in me, it was a paralysing experience. I was someone who had come from thundering drums and Phil Spector, and I didn’t understand sparseness. I wanted to fill every space. I didn’t understand that the sparseness gave it an atmosphere. When I got free of that I finally liked it, but it took me a long time. I wouldn’t play it for a year.
“Son Of A Preacher Man was just not good enough. Aretha had been offered it but didn’t record it until after I had, and to this day I listen to her phrasing and go, Goddamit! That’s the way I should have done it: ‘The only one, WHO could ever reach me’ instead of ‘the only one who could EV-er reach me’. Now, if I do it onstage I’ll cop her phrasing! It was a matter of ego, too: if I can’t be as good as Aretha then I’m not gonna do it at all.
“I wasn’t used to singing to a sparse rhythm track. To this day I prefer to sing last, after the strings have been written, because I get moved by a string line or an oboe solo and it will bring things out of me. I was the opposite of the normal thing which is to say, The singer’s the important thing, let’s surround her.”

Source: Mojo, July 1995

Tracklisting:

Side one

“Just a Little Lovin'” (Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil) – 2:18
“So Much Love” (Gerry Goffin, Carole King) – 3:31
“Son of a Preacher Man” (John Hurley, Ronnie Wilkins) – 2:29
“I Don’t Want to Hear It Anymore” (Randy Newman) – 3:11
“Don’t Forget About Me” (Goffin, King) – 2:52
“Breakfast in Bed” (Eddie Hinton, Donnie Fritts) – 2:57

Side two

“Just One Smile” (Randy Newman) – 2:42
“The Windmills of Your Mind” (Alan Bergman, Marilyn Bergman, Michel Legrand) – 3:51
“In the Land of Make Believe” (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) – 2:32
“No Easy Way Down” (Goffin, King) – 3:11
“I Can’t Make It Alone” (Goffin, King) – 3:57

While listing to all the other versions which have been recorded next to the versions Dusty did, it only points out how good she really was.

Album – Billboard (North America)

Year	Chart	Position	Cover
1969	Pop Albums	99

Singles – Billboard (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position	Cover
1968	“Son of a Preacher Man”	Pop Singles	10
1969	“Breakfast in Bed” (B-side)	Pop Singles	91
1969	“Don’t Forget About Me”	Pop Singles	64
1969	“Willie & Laura Mae Jones”	Pop Singles	78
1969	“The Windmills of Your Mind”	Adult Contemporary	3
1969	“I Don’t Want to Hear it Anymore” (B-Side)	Pop Singles	105
1969	“In the Land of Make Believe”	Pop Singles	113

Some Clippings about Dusty in Memphis

Clipping Source: http://www.dustyspringfield.org.uk

*taken from Paul Complete Dusty

**taken from wikipedia

***Dusty Springfield’s Dusty in Memphis
by Warren Zanes

****taken from an article from “The Oxford American”

For more information on Dusty please visit :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dusty_Springfield
or
dustyspringfield.org.uk