#3 - Dapette Saundra Williams: A Christmas Gift For You
An Oral History of "Big Bulbs" from Saundra Williams, unpublished outtakes from SJDK's 'It's a Holiday Soul Party' and a few special offers.
As a last minute ‘Holiday Gift for You’ I wanted to do something a little fun.
Below you will find previously unpublished out-takes from the Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings’ It’s a Holiday Soul Party album shoot from 2015, as well as an oral history of the song “Big Bulbs” from the songwriter and Dapette herself, Saundra Williams.
But first, briefly, I have two more Holiday gifts for you:
#1 - Now through December 26th, annual ‘Friend of a Photographer’ subscriptions are discounted to just $48/year. Give one as a gift as well!
#2 - I have three SEALED COPIES of the 2015 1st press of It’s a Holiday Soul Party that I’m giving as a bonus to the next three ‘Very Important Print Collectors’ to sign up. For $250, you’re buying a beautiful 11”x17” print—worth the price of admission alone—and as a bonus, getting a sealed copy of IAHSP plus a full annual subscription with all the benefits.
Paid memberships make this work possible to the benefit of the new artists we feature in the series.
Now On to the Show!
The Brief, True, Oral History of “Big Bulbs” from songwriter Saundra Williams:
Saundra Williams met and became close friends with Sharon Jones in the early 90s, performing in a wedding band together along with her long time friend, Starr Duncan Lowe, as ‘The Good ‘N Plenty Girls.’ In 2009, Saundra was invited to sing on recording sessions for Daptone Records and in 2010 officially joined Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings as a backing vocalist along with Starr Duncan Lowe as The Dapettes. In 2014, Daptone released Saundra and Starr’s exceptional recording as a duo, Look Closer, under the moniker Saun and Starr. Currently, Saundra is entering her seventh year touring and singing supporting vocals with the legendary Mavis Staples. Most recently, she has toured and recorded with Warren Haynes and is featured on his latest studio album, Million Voices Whisper.
How did “Big Bulbs” come to be?
We were in the midst of holiday record writing and recording sessions. Each day, I was scooping Starr up in Washington Heights, then FDR’ing it down to Brooklyn and Daptone. One morning on our way there, I told Starr that I’d written a quirky song for the album. I sang it to her and then she sang it with me and then I told her that I was going to present it to Gabe (Roth) to be considered for the record.
That day, I did present it to Gabe and he told me that they would record a demo of it after our band writing session. After the session, several of the Dap-Kings had left but a few were still there. I’m not certain but I think it was Binky (Griptite), Fernando (Velez), Brian (Wolfe), Dave Guy, Joey (Crispiano), Starr, Sharon and I. If I’m omitting anyone, judge my head, not my heart but yeah, we went in the live room, ran it a couple times and cut it in one take.
How long ago had you written the song?
I’d written it the evening before.
What’s the song about to you?
We had great Christmases in my family but they were within my mom and dad's financial perimeters, you know? We weren't really rich or anything but sometimes, my mom would take us on walks and we’d look at the fire escapes done up with lights and big bulbs and stuff like that. Do you know those old-school, big colored Christmas bulbs that you could kind of scratch the paint off of? Really thin glass. If you dropped one you’d be in trouble!
The song is an ode to growing up in the South Bronx and seeing the Christmas lights and the big bulbs in the windows. That relayed to me whether or not somebody was having a really, really good Christmas, because to me and my child mind, a really fancy window or fire escape with big bulbs on it—like the Macy’s windows—meant a lot of magic was going on inside. That's what “Big Bulbs” is really about.
Tell me about recording it.
Quite honestly, I was a little upset because I felt like Sharon wasn’t taking the lyric seriously and I didn’t like that they were making a point that I had intended for there to be an ‘innuendo’ because I sincerely didn’t. So, when she flubbed the lyric during the recording, I asked Gabe to do another take and have Sharon get that lyric together but Gabe said, ‘No, the way it came out was perfect.” and he was absolutely right. The song is loose and fun and about Christmas fun cheer. Colorful big bulbs flashing in windows! Folk have their minds in the gutter (lol) and I’m fine with that, too. I’m glad we kept it just the way it was and how people hear it is their business and the fun of it all, in my opinion. You want it to be “Big Bulbs?” It’ll be “Big Bulbs.” You want it to be “Meatballs” or “Big Balls” or “Bon Bons”? Do you, boo! You like it, I love it!
OUTTAKES: It’s A Holiday Soul Party Photoshoot, March 2015
These were shot on color negative film with my Hasselblad, they’re not fully retouched or color-corrected, but it’s Sunday Night and I’m ready for the holiday break and I’m in to a little egg nog already…
BONUS #3
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Thank you and Happy Holidays!