| "Patches" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byClarence Carter | ||||
| B-side |
| |||
| Released | July 1970 | |||
| Recorded | 1970 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:10 | |||
| Label | Atlantic | |||
| Songwriters | Ron Dunbar,General Johnson | |||
| Producer | Rick Hall | |||
| Clarence Carter singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Patches" (sometimes known as "Patches (I'm Depending On You)")[2] is acountry soul song written byGeneral Johnson andRon Dunbar and best known as the 1970 hit version byClarence Carter. It won the1971 Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Song.
The song was written by General Johnson, the lead singer ofChairmen of the Board, with Ron Dunbar, who worked inA&R andrecord production at theInvictusrecord label, owned and overseen byBrian Holland,Lamont Dozier, andEddie Holland, formerly ofMotown. Dunbar was often credited with co-writing hit songs at Invictus with "Edyth Wayne", a pseudonym used byHolland-Dozier-Holland during the time when they were in legal dispute with Motown and itsmusic publishing arm Jobete to which they had been contracted.[3]
The song tells a story about a boy born and raised in poverty on a backwoods farm inAlabama by a father who endured much suffering in life; the father dies before the boy is 13, entrusting the boy with the family and estate. The boy is forbidden from quitting school (as the father never could attend), so he must do all of the farm work before and after school so that he and his family have food. The burden is almost too much for the boy, especially after a flood wipes out a crop, but determination not to let his father down, along wth his mother's prayers, keep him going. Years later, his mother has died and he and his younger siblings are adults, and he looks back on his father's words as what helped him pull through those hard times.
"Patches" was included on Chairmen of the Board's first album,The Chairmen of the Board (later reissued asGive Me Just a Little More Time), and was theB-side of the group's July 1970 single, "Everything's Tuesday", their third chart hit.[4][5]
The blindblues singer Clarence Carter heard the song, later saying: "I heard it on theChairmen of the Board LP and liked it, but I had my own ideas about how it should be sung. It was my idea to make the song sound real natural..."[6] Initially he thought "that it would be degrading for a black man to sing a song so redolent of subjugation," but was persuaded to do so by record producerRick Hall.[7]
Carter recorded the song at theFAME Studios inMuscle Shoals, Alabama, with Hall as producer and musicians including Junior Lowe (guitar), Jesse Boyce (bass), and Freeman Brown (drums).[6] Carter's recording was released in July 1970 and was described by aBillboard reviewer as a "powerful blues item" featuring a "blockbuster vocal work-out."[8] The record rose to No. 4 on theHot 100,[9] No. 2 on theR&B chart,[10] and No. 2 on theUK singles chart.[11]
Following Carter's success, the song won the1971 Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Song for its writers, Johnson and Dunbar.[12]
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
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Areggae version was recorded late in 1970 by The Rudies, later known asGreyhound. Another version byCanadiancountry singerRay Griff reached #26 on the UScountry music chart the same year. The song was also recorded byAlabama some time before 1980,Jerry Reed in 1982, and byGeorge Jones andB.B. King on the albumRhythm, Country and Blues in 1994.[22]
A parody version of the song performed by Joe Cumia, brother ofAnthony Cumia ofOpie and Anthony fame, titled "Black Earl" was often played on theRon and Fez show.
| "Marvin (Patches)" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byTitãs | ||||
| from the albumGo Back | ||||
| Released | 1988 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Label | WEA | |||
| Producer | Liminha | |||
| Titãs singles chronology | ||||
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In 1984, the song was rewritten and rearranged inPortuguese as "Marvin (Patches)" by theBrazilian bandTitãs and released on theirself-titled debut album.[22] The idea to adapt the song came from band memberNando Reis, who found out about the song from the cover released by reggae bandKing Sounds & The Israelites. The new namesake was chosen as a tribute to a recently deceasedMarvin Gaye. The new lyrics tell the story of Marvin, a young farmer whose father dies, leaving him responsible for making ends meet for his family. A live version taken off their 1988 live albumGo Back was released as their eighth single and a second live version, acoustic and retitled simply as "Marvin", was released on their MTV Unplugged albumAcústico MTV, becoming a hit in Brazil.
