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"I Get By"
Omar Cunningham
Composed by Omar Cunningham and J. Courtney Gerrard
Author's Update: February 1, 2009
As Omar Cunningham's "Beauty Shop" ("The beauty shop's puttin' our business out in the street. . . ") deservedly wrestled its way to the top of numerous Southern Soul singles charts at the outset of 2009--yet another hit from the Time Served album--here is what Daddy B. Nice wrote about Omar in awarding his "My Life" a coveted spot on Daddy B. Nice's Top 25 Southern Soul Singles of 2008:
24. "My Life"------------------------Omar Cunningham
Omar Cunningham's Southern Soul star continues to rise, and his considerable songwriting gifts (see Karen Wolfe's "Man Enough") may eventually catapult him ahead of peers such as Sir Charles Jones and O. B. Buchana.
In addition to being a coup of sorts in the personal-history department, "My Life" with its unique arrangement is sweet revenge for Omar's overlooked masterpiece, "Give Me A Chance (The Early Bird Catches The Worm)," from his last CD. Both songs feature beguiling barbershop harmonies and wonderfully rich, organ/accordion-sounding fills.
Omar Cunningham is quietly becoming too important to Southern Soul music to ever forget for long.
--Daddy B. Nice
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April 30, 2008. Author's Forward:
My original critique of Omar Cunningham began by listing at least four "solid chitlin' circuit hits" to his credit. From the vantage point of 2008, Omar has produced a remarkable number of new hit songs to add to that list: no less than five (highest-possible) five-star rankings under DBN'S "Reommended Tracks," including three new entries since 2005. and that doesn't include bona fide Cunningham hits such as "I'm In Love With A Married Woman" and "Sweet, Sweet," which many fans would also give the highest-possible ranking.
The three newer tracks that deserve special merit, in my opinion, are "My Life," "Give Me A Chance ("The Early Bird Catches The Worm"), and "Baby Don't Leave Me."
It sometimes seems as if I waited the better part of a year to hear "My Life" in its full, finished version, knowing all the time from early "snatches" I'd heard that it was destined to be a hit.
Graced with a terrific acapella-like vocal that blossoms into a gospel-style chorus with a great accordion-like keyboard fill, "My Life" nevertheless contains much sober biographical information, including the troubling autobiograhical lines:
"I'm not going to lie.
It's been hard for me,
Been paralyzed by a football injury."
"Give Me A Chance" was the overlooked masterpiece from Cunningham's Worth The Wait album. (Although, thanks to DJ Ragman at Jackson, Mississippi's WMPR, not entirely overlooked.) In many ways, it foreshadowed "My Life," with another great gospel chorus, keyboard work, and--of course--an impassioned and impressive Cunningham vocal.
"Baby Don't Leave Me" is actually an older song (Hell At The House) but it's grown on me over the years. It's a Sir Charles Jones composition, and it's the "Jones sound" at its best.
Although Sir Charles has collaborated with just about every young Southern Soul star out there, I don't think I've ever heard a more melodious blending of male voices than on this duet with Omar Cunningham. You'd have to go back to the first album by Crosby, Stills & Nash or the Pet Sounds album by the Beach Boys to find its equal in harmonizing.
Bottom line: Omar's stock is rapidly rising, and it's reflected in his position on Daddy B. Nice's Top 100 Southern Soul Artists Chart. Originally ranked at #81, he has moved by increments (each succeeding CD) all the way up to #36. Omar Cunningham's hard work--and unique talent--can't be denied.
DBN
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Daddy B. Nice's Original Critique
By your Daddy B. Nice's count, Omar Cunningham has produced four solid chitlin' circuit hits in a little over two years: "Check To Check," "I Get By," "Sorry Man" and "Sweet, Sweet." When a young artist achieves that much radio exposure, doing everything that veteran artists do, it comes as a surprise (if not a shock) to look back and remember that Cunningam's recording career only began in 2003.
There's a "folksy" aspect to Omar Cunningham's best work, in particular "Check To Check" and "I Get By." You can imagine (don't laugh) Peter, Paul & Mary or Pete Seeger singing these songs accompanied by banjo and upright bass. And although Cunningham would probably prefer to credit gospel as his primary source, there's an undeniable echo of such early rock and roll acts as the Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly.
That's not to say that Cunningham can't branch out into more bluesy material. On "Sorry Man" Cunningham sounds like Johnnie Taylor. "Sorry Man" (from the Omar Cunningham LP, Endzone, 2004) also features a laid-back rap verse (it creates contrast and is becoming a frequent fixture of Southern Soul records), yet the song slides back into the melody line--and a good one at that--just as simply as Johnnie Taylor used to segue back from a spoken monologue.
"Sweet, Sweet," also from Cunningham's sophomore CD, shows the performer's ability to deliver a love ballad with the finesse of a Willie Clayton or a Vick Allen. But the songs the Southern Soul audience has come to associate most with Omar Cunningham ("Check To Check" and "I Get By") are light-touched homilies to persevering through hard economic times.
"I fell on hard times
A long time ago.
Landlord said I had to find
Somewhere else to go."
"I Get By" and "Check To Check" deliver messages that describe real-life, pay-the-bills dread as few songs do, yet they are couched in upbeat melodies and arrangements that let the air out of the stress. "I Get By" in particular attempts to deflate the tensions of contemporary life.
"Now I don't know
About the rest of you all.
But I'm too busy worrying
About my cholesterol."
And:
"Now I ain't got
No mansion on the hill.
(All I need is)
A duplex, my Chevy,
And a loose ten dollar bill."
In "Check To Check" (Hell At The House, On Top, 2003). Cunningham is just "makin' it check to check." He has "bill collectors at the door" and he's "busting his butt" just to buy groceries. There's a spoken monologue in which a phone company representative calls about an overdue bill and Omar answers:
"Now look here.
I done told you all
That I'm living check to check,
And I just ain't got it.
I wish one of you all would come down here
And try to shut my phone off,
Because I'll come down there and. . .
Hello? Hello?"
All this anxiety takes place over a churning guitar lick that belies the despair. We laugh and we smile, knowing only too well that we wouldn't be doing so if we were considering our own debts. Yet it's easy to laugh given the comedic distance the song allows us, and the result is that we cherish the song even more. In some small way, it helps us face our own financial demons with a lighter heart.
Omar Cunningham has carved himself a nice little niche in just two album's worth of material. Along with young peers like Floyd Taylor, T. K. Soul and Vick Allen, he represents a talented new generation of Southern Soul hopefuls.
--Daddy B. Nice
About Omar Cunningham
Omar Cunningham was born in Gadsden, Alabama in 1969. Like most R&B musicians, he grew up singing gospel music, and he was exposed to secular music through his family members, including a grandmother who ran a boarding house that catered to musicians.
As a teen Cunningham began singing in local bands, one of which went on tour with Cameo in the mid-nineties, and Cunningham later played trumpet in Cameo's horn section. He also attended Jacksonville State University, where he reportedly won every talent contest he entered, and where he sang in the school's Gospel Choir, continuing a lifelong love for gospel music.
As the taste of professional life gained with Cameo faded in the late nineties, Cunningham worked to establish a solo career while holding down a day job as a policeman. He later published a book about his experiences titled You Be The Judge (Trafford, 2002).
At last, in 2003, Cunningham released his debut CD, Hell At The House, on the On Top record label. The radio single "Check To Check" (composed by Cunningham and Austin L. Hall) became a major hit on the Stations of the Deep South, establishing Cunningham as a purveyor of a rockabilly-tinged R&B in the style of Theodis Ealey's "Stand Up In It."
Sir Charles Jones added technical support on the CD, and although the credits aren't specific, the musical marks (and voice) of Sir Charles Jones are all over the track, "Baby Don't Leave Me." Indeed, for Sir Charles Jones' fans, this song--with its stately melody and impeccable, instantly-recognizable arranging style--constitutes a major contribution to the Jones oeuvre.
Cunningham followed Hell At The House with a masterful second album. Omar Cunningham (Endzone, 2004) displayed a rapidly maturing style, both as a performer and songwriter, and the CD vaulted Cunningham back to the top of the chitlin' circuit charts with another folk-and-gospel-blended hit, "I Get By." The song appealed to the same working-class audience that had enthusiastically responded to the message in "Check To Check."
The Omar Cunningham album gained even more prominence as the popular "I Get By" was succeeded on radio playlists with the evocative singles "Sorry Man" (late 2004) and "Sweet, Sweet" (2005). Southern Soul superstar Willie Clayton sat in as a vocalist on one of the album's cuts, "Shysters And Wannabe's."
Omar Cunningham has toured extensively, performing with Bobby "Blue" Bland, Shirley Brown, Willie Clayton and other R&B acts, including an appearance at the Air Jamaica Jazz & Blues Festival (headlined by Alicia Keys). He has also contributed vocals to Vick Allen's Simply Soul LP.
Song's Transcendent Moment
"Situations
Make me wanna cry.
Ain't gonna matter
As long as I get by."
Tidbits
1. Omar Cunningham's Worth The Wait, produced by Willie Clayton's Endzone label, arrived to much chitlin' circuit fanfare in the summer of 2006. The first hit from the CD, "I'm In Love With A Married Woman," drew strong deejay and listener response. In his quiet way, Omar Cunningham is putting out product as worthy as anything by "young guns" Sir Charles Jones or Floyd Taylor.
2. Both Omar Cunningham and the late Quinn Golden recorded "Hell At The House" in 2003. Golden's "Hell At The House" (with songwriter credits going to Cunningham collaborator Austin Hall) appeared on his Bottoms Up! CD (Ecko Records).
3. November 21, 2006. The influence of gospel music is all over the significant but as yet under-played song "Give Me A Chance (Early Bird Catches The Worm)" from Omar Cunningham's Worth The Wait CD. The song is melodically sound, but what lends it its originality is the full-blown gospel-style chorus, replete with doo-wop-like harmonies. One wishes more records emanated this sense of fun. DBN.
If You Liked. . . You'll Love
If you loved Chuck Berry's "Maybellene," you'll love Omar Cunningham's "I Get By."
Honorary "B" Side
"Check To Check"
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I Get By
CD: Omar Cunningham
Label: Endzone
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Check To Check
CD: Hell At The House
Label: On Top
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Baby Don't Leave Me w/ Sir Charles Jones
CD: Hell At The House
Label: On Top
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Give Me A Chance (Early Bird Catches The Worm)
CD: Worth The Wait
Label: Endzone
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My Life
CD: Time Served
Label: Soul 1st
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Sample or Buy
Time Served |
The Beauty Shop
CD: Time Served
Label: Soul 1st
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I'm In Love With A Married Woman
CD: Worth The Wait
Label: Endzone
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Sorry Man
CD: Omar Cunningham
Label: Endzone
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Sweet, Sweet
CD: Omar Cunningham
Label: Endzone
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Hell At The House
CD: Hell At The House
Label: On Top
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Why You Wanna
CD: Omar Cunningham
Label: Endzone
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I'm So Sorry (w/ Vick Allen)
CD: Simply Soul
Label: On Top
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