Let Me Down Easy (Bettye LaVette song)

{{Infobox song

| name = Let Me Down Easy

| cover =

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Bettye LaVette

| album =

| B-side = What I Don't Know (Won't Hurt Me)

| released = 1965

| format =

| recorded =

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = Soul, R&B

| length = 2:50

| label = Calla

| writer = Wrecia Holloway

| producer = Don Gardner

| prev_title = Witchcraft in the Air

| prev_year = 1963

| next_title = I Feel Good All Over

| next_year = 1965

}}

"Let Me Down Easy" is a song that was first recorded in 1965 by American soul singer Bettye LaVette. It was written by Dee Dee Ford ({{italics correction|née}} Wrecia Mae Ford; 1936–1972), who copyrighted in 1965 under her married name, Wrecia Holloway. The original recording by LaVette, released as a single by Calla Records, peaked at number 20 on the Billboard Hot Rhythm and Blues Singles chart.

Composition and release

Dee Dee Ford, a singer who teamed up with Don Gardner on the top-20 single "I Need Your Lovin'" in 1962, wrote "Let Me Down Easy" three years later using her real name Wrecia Holloway.

{{cite journal

| last=Hildebrand

| first=Lee

| date=September–October 2006

| title=Classic Women of Soul

| journal=Living Blues

| publisher=University of Mississippi

| volume=1

| issue=186

| page=18

| issn=0024-5232}}

The song, a torch ballad,

{{cite book

| last=Larkin

| first=Colin

| author-link=Colin Larkin (writer)

| title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

| edition=4th

| publisher=Oxford University Press

| location=New York

| year=2006

| page=113

| isbn=978-0195313734}}

was performed by Bettye LaVette, arranged by Dale Warren, and produced by Gardner. New York independent label Calla Records released the track as a single and it reached number 20 on the Billboard Hot Rhythm and Blues Singles chart.

{{cite magazine

| date=May 15, 1965

| title=Hot Rhythm and Blues Singles

| magazine=Billboard

| publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.

| volume=77

| issue=20

| page=56

| issn=0006-2510}}

LaVette performed it on a 1965 episode of Shindig!

{{cite magazine

| last=Henig

| first=Samantha

| url=http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2010/11/dept-of-amplification-who-the-hell-is-bettye-lavette.html

| title=Dept. of Amplification: 'Who the Hell Is Bettye LaVette?'

| magazine=The New Yorker

| date=November 11, 2010

| accessdate=March 25, 2014

}}

and on the 2012/13 Hootenanny show presented by Jools Holland.

{{cite news

| url=http://www.dailypost.co.uk/whats-on/film-tv/jools-holland-returns-annual-hootenanny-2644365

| title=Jools Holland returns with his Annual Hootenanny

| newspaper=North Wales Daily Post

| date=December 21, 2012

| accessdate=March 25, 2014

}}

Critical reception

A 1965 Billboard review of "Let Me Down Easy" complimented the song's "driving beat" and LaVette's "outstanding wailing vocal performance."

{{cite magazine

| date=April 10, 1965

| title=Hot Rhythm and Blues Singles

| magazine=Billboard

| publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.

| volume=77

| issue=15

| page=48

| issn=0006-2510}}

In 2006, music journalist Bill Friskics-Warren described it as "a gloriously anguished record aggravated by nagging syncopation, astringent strings, and a stinging blues guitar break". Ladies of Soul author David Freeland wrote that "the record featured her most soulful performance to date–miles away from the youthful impetuosity of 'My Man', recorded just three years earlier. The fade, in which she repeatedly shouted 'Please! Please!' was particularly effective." Freeland added that the song highlighted LaVette's "blistering intensity modulated by moments of deep, heartfelt reflection."

{{cite book

| last=Freeland

| first=David

| title=Ladies of Soul

| edition=

| publisher=University Press of Mississippi

| location=Jackson

| year=2001

| pages=[https://archive.org/details/ladiesofsoul0000free/page/84 84–5]

| isbn=978-1578063314

| url=https://archive.org/details/ladiesofsoul0000free/page/84

}}

Allmusic's Jason Ankeny remarked that the song is "a staple of the Northern soul scene and the countless anthologies it's yielded", and said it is LaVette's "masterpiece, a blisteringly poignant requiem for romance gone bad distinguished by its unique, tangolike rhythm and sweeping string arrangement."

{{cite web

| last=Ankeny

| first=Jason

| url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/bluesoul-belles-mw0000242372

| title=Bettye LaVette & Carol Fran - 'Bluesoul Belles ' - Review

| website=Allmusic

| accessdate=March 25, 2014

}}

Holly Gleason of Relix called it a "seminal" song "which many consider to be one of the great soul sides of all time".

{{cite journal

| last=Gleason

| first=Holly

| date=December 2012

| title=Hunger Games: After a 50-year journey of near-hits, brushes with stardom and countless tales of sex, drugs and soul music, singer Bettye LaVette is finally getting her due

| journal=Relix

| publisher=Relix Media Group

| volume=1

| issue=244

| page=42

| issn=0146-3489}} In a 2013 Metro Times article, writer Brett Callwood said of the song: "LaVette’s voice soars one minute and purrs the next, each word practically dripping off her tongue. Performed live, the song sounds better today than it ever did".{{cite news

| last=Callwood

| first=Brett

| url=http://metrotimes.com/music/cityslang/bettye-lavette-comes-to-antifreeze-blues-fest-1.1609247

| title=Bettye LaVette Comes To AntiFreeze Blues Fest

| newspaper=Metro Times

| date=December 30, 2013

| accessdate=March 25, 2014

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325082712/http://metrotimes.com/music/cityslang/bettye-lavette-comes-to-antifreeze-blues-fest-1.1609247

| archive-date=March 25, 2014

| url-status=dead

}}

Other versions

LaVette re-recorded "Let Me Down Easy" in 1969 for Karen Records, a small New York independent label. The remade version, which incorporated funk guitars similar to those on early Funkadelic records, was released as a single.

{{cite book

| last1=Gaitskill

| first1=Mary

| last2=Carr

| first2=Daphne

| title=Da Capo Best Music Writing 2006: The Year's Finest Writing on Rock, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Pop, Country, & More

| edition=Revised

| publisher=Da Capo Press

| location=Cambridge, Mass.

| year=2006

| page=175

| isbn=978-0306814990

| url-access=registration

| url=https://archive.org/details/dacapobestmusicw00gait_0

}}

The song is a highlight of her live shows, as featured in the album Let Me Down Easy In Concert, recorded in Germany in 1999. It has also been covered by The Spencer Davis Group on The Second Album (1966),

{{cite web

| url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-second-album-mw0000847992

| title=The Spencer Davis Group - 'The Second Album' - Overview

| website=Allmusic

| accessdate=March 25, 2014

}}

Inez and Charlie Foxx on At Memphis & More (1973),

{{cite web

| url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/at-memphis-more-mw0001439466

| title=Inez & Charlie Foxx - 'At Memphis & More' - Overview

| website=Allmusic

| accessdate=March 25, 2014

}}

Paloma Faith on Fall to Grace (2012).

{{cite web

| url=http://www.allmusic.com/song/let-me-down-easy-mt0044168942

| title=Paloma Faith - 'Fall to Grace' - Overview

| website=Allmusic

| accessdate=March 25, 2014

}}

and Paolo Nutini on Caustic Love (2014).

{{cite web

| url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/caustic-love-mw0002623313

| title=Paolo Nutini - 'Caustic Love' - Overview

| website=Allmusic

| accessdate=April 11, 2015

}}

On February 8, 2022, electronic music duo ODESZA released “The Last Goodbye”, an electropop track which samples vocals from “Let Me Down Easy.”{{Cite magazine|last=Bain|first=Katie|date=2022-02-08|title=ODESZA Returns With Their First New Music In Four Years: Listen|url=https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/odesza-new-music-the-last-goodbye-bettye-lavette-listen-1235028516/|access-date=2022-02-10|magazine=Billboard|language=en-US}}

Chart performance

class="wikitable sortable"

!Chart (1965)

!Peak
position

U.S. Billboard Hot 100

{{cite magazine

| date=May 29, 1965

| title='Billboard' Hot 100

| magazine=Billboard

| volume=77

| issue=22

| page=28

| issn=0006-2510

| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KikEAAAAMBAJ&q=%22let+me+down+easy%22&pg=PA28

| accessdate=March 25, 2014}}

|align="center"|103

U.S. Hot Rhythm and Blues Singles (Billboard)

|align="center"|20

U.S. Cash Box Top 100

{{cite web

|url = http://cashboxmagazine.com/archives/60s_files/19650515.html

|title = Cash Box Top 100 Singles: Week Ending May 15, 1965

|website = Cashbox Magazine, Inc.

|accessdate = March 25, 2014

}}

|align="center"|90

Selected audio and video

LaVette – [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdemcBcs5zk video] – 51 years after the original recording, performed at Jazzwoche Burghausen; 2016

Bibliography

= Notes =

{{Reflist|group=lower-alpha|100em|refs=

Wrecia Ford, in March 1955, at Newark, New Jersey, married Calvin Holloway. (Ancestry.com)

}}

= Discography =

Bettye LaVette
- {{Hanging indent |text=1965: {{nowrap|Calla 102;}} {{Discogs master|master=547643|name=Let Me Down Easy" / "What I Don't Know Won't Hurt Me |type=single}} (master 547643) }}
- {{Hanging indent |text=1965: {{nowrap|Calla 102;}} {{Discogs release|release=1153787|name=Let Me Down Easy" / "What I Don't Know Won't Hurt Me |type=single}} (release 1153787) }}

= References =

{{Reflist|30em|refs=

Catalog of Copyright Entries, Third Series, Music, Library of Congress, Copyright Office. Vol. 19; Part 5, No. 1, January–June 1965 (1967). "Let Me Down Easy". © Dondee Pub Co.; [https://books.google.com/books?id=szQhAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA350&lpg=PA350&dq=%22let+me+down+easy%22+wrecia+holloway 23 February 1965; EU868371. p. 350.]

"Ford, Dee Dee, 1936-1972". Library of Congress, Authorities. Retrieved December 22, 2020. {{LCCN|no00065708}}.

{{cite web |ref={{SfnRef}} |url=https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=61253&h=902170551 |url-access=subscription |title=New Jersey, U.S., Marriage Index, 1901–2016 |last=New Jersey State Archives |first= Trenton. {{italics correction|Marriage Indexes}}; Index type: {{italics correction|Bride}}; Year range: {{italics correction|1955}}; Surname range: {{italics correction|A–K}} |publisher=Ancestry.com |location=Lehi, Utah |language=en-US |access-date=December 22, 2020 }}

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