A special moment of last night's Carnegie Hall tribute to Motown Records was Bebe Winans' slightly modified version of the Ashford & Simpson classic "Reach Out And Touch (Somebody's Hand)."
"I took the liberty during rehearsal to sing, instead of 'Make this world a better place, if you can' to 'yes you can,'" Winans said before the show. He noted that he cleared the change with co-writer Valerie Simpson.
"Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)" was the debut solo single for Motown artist Diana Ross. It was written and produced by Simpson and her late husband and songwriting/performing partner Nick Ashford, and reached No. 20 on the pop charts in 1970 (and No. 7 on the R&B charts).
But the much-covered call for caring and kindness was also performed before an estimated TV audience of 2.5 billion people during the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and was a high point at Ashford & Simpson concerts.
It also made for an unforgettable moment at the 1985 Live Aid show in Philadelphia, when Ashford & Simpson brought out Teddy Pendergrass for his first public appearance since his near-fatal car accident in 1982. The paralyzed Pendergrass pointedly and poignantly directed the stadium crowd to focus on the song's inspirational words and message.
Winans performed it in honor of Ashford, who died in August.
"He left us with some of the greatest songs," says Winans. "But people didn’t know how funny he was: He'd threaten me tonight not to out-sing him--and would be tickled that I'd sing it in dedication to him."
The musical director for the evening, incidentally, was Ray Chew, current musical director of American Idol. Chew's lengthy credit list also includes service as musical director/arranger with Ashford & Simpson for 20 years.
[The Examiner wrote liner notes on several Ashford & Simpson CD and DVD releases.]
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