“River’s Invitation” (1969) – Aretha Franklin * LP: Soul ’69 * Written by Percy Mayfield * Produced by Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowd * Label: Atlantic
“River’s Invitation” sounds so joyful on Aretha Franklin’s Soul ’69 album that it may as well be what she’s singing on the cover image. Percy Mayfield’s lyrics express sadness, though, and they were born of it. In the early fifties, Mayfield was enjoying a rising career as a camera-friendly rhythm and blues singer and songwriter, propelled by his 1950 single “Please Send Me Someone to Love.” In late 1952, a chauffeur crashed the car Mayfield was riding in, and the impact disfigured his face. Fortunately, Mayfield continued on as a prolific and successful songwriter, working closely with Ray Charles and writing classic tracks like “Hit the Road Jack” and “Hide Nor Hair.” Demons, though, would rise up in such titles as “Memory Pain,” “My Heart Is Cryin'” and “The Jug and I.”
Mayfield’s own downcast and bluesy 1953 recording of “River’s Invitation,” about resisting the temptation to let the current swallow him up, marked his return to business after the accident. In 1963, he redid the song with Charles as producer, adding the crucial river-rhythm riff running through it which all future cover versions would adopt. It peaked at number 99 on the Billboard Top 100 and should have risen higher.
When you listen to Franklin’s 1969 cover version, you don’t tend to think about the song’s melancholy history, and it likely won’t even dawn on you that the lyrics she’s singing reflect it. This is because it comes off as a celebration, and if you don’t listen too close, you’ll assume that she’s singing about the renewing waters of baptism. I like to think of the track as a celebration of Mayfield, who kept busy making music until his death in 1984.