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1 of 1- aflem
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- Registered: August 11, 2019
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Clarence Carter Of "Patches" & "Slip Away" Fame Dies At 90
He'd been ill for some time, with stage 4 cancer.
He had a wide range of hits over the years, but "Slip Away" and especially "Patches" were the best known.
“Slip Away,” which arrived in 1968 and peaked at Number Six, was a yearning appeal to adultery that managed to excavate some genuine vulnerability buried deep within the sin.
And 1970’s “Patches” — which peaked at Number Four and won the Grammy for Best R&B Song — was a stirring saga about an Alabama boy who cares for his family amid the indignities of an indifferent world. The song’s titular hero repeatedly returns to his father’s final words for resilience, which Carter belts with world-weary resolve on the chorus: “Patches, I’m depending on you son/To pull the family through/My son, it’s all left up to you.”
"Patches" Hitmaker Clarence Carter Gone At 90
- Little Rich
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Re: Clarence Carter Of "Patches" & "Slip Away" Fame Dies At 90
Clarence Carter was songwriter as well. What's interesting is that the top two songs that Carter recorded, Patches and Slip Away, were not composed by him. However, he was credited for either composing or co-composing:
Looking For A Fox - Blues Brothers, 2000
I Ain't Got You - Yardbirds, 1964
Tell Mama - Etta James, 1967
None of those three songs went anywhere on the charts but IMHO there's nothing wrong with those songs. In fact, The Yardbirds "I Ain't Got You" is listed as tracks on about 6 of their albums so that song has some merit. Besides the Blues Brothers version of "Looking For A Fox", Carter included it on several of his albums.