Earth, Wind & Fire: Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight

Posted December 15, 2010 by J Matthew Cobb in HiDef

Circa 1973, Earth, Wind & Fire – before ‘That’s the Way of the World’ – renders a special live rendition of the popular James Taylor ballad

Earth, Wind & Fire were definitely experimenting in their early days, but they knew who they were and were comfortable with their sound. The kalimba was in motion, Phillip Bailey’s falsetto was in place, so was the funky soul and their jazz influences. On this performance on the ‘Soul!’ television show, Earth, Wind & Fire swing through a moving soulful cover of James Taylor’s 1972 Top 20 hit “Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight.” Soul artists loved the song, and there’s certainly not a lack of covers. Isaac Hayes touched it, Isley Brothers and George Benson did as well, but EWF opened up the floodgates for the R&B revisions.