Soul legend Teddy Pendergrass died yesterday at Bryn Mawr Hospital outside of Philadelphia. His son informed the Philadelphia Inquirer that he never fully recovered from recent colon cancer surgery. He was 59 years old. You might not be too familiar with Pendergrass, but you probably would still recognize his work, either with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes or from his solo career (“If You Don’t Know Me By Now,” “I Don’t Love You Anymore,” “Love TKO,” “Bad Luck”). In 1982 Pendergrass crashed his Rolls-Royce and was rendered paralyzed from the waist down, though it didn’t stop him from recording more albums.
Two thoughts came to mind with the soul singer’s passing. One is Eddie Murphy’s impression of Pendergrass from Delirious. Second is the song “Bad Luck” from 1975. Towards the end of the eight-minute version, the singer starts getting himself worked up:
People of the world, out there, I know none of y’all satisfied, satisfied, the way prices have been goin’ up…. I’ve cut down on smoking, had to cut down on drinking, when early one morning, I got me a paper. I sat down on my living room floor, opened it up, opened it up. Guess what I saw. I saw the president of the United States. The man said he was gonna give it up. He’d give me Zion. But he still turned around and left all us poor folks behind. They say they got another man to take his place, but I don’t think that he can satisfy the human race.
The more things change…
