I need to finish this video project I don't want to be working on so that I can do more research for this play and maybe actually write a few pages on what "soul" is and SZA's fresh, contemporary take on soul.
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To me, "soul" is actually more or less identical to what Wallace Stevens said the poem is: "the mind in the act of finding what will suffice" but really more his formulation from the end of "Of Modern Poetry" which is "the act of the mind."
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"Soul" is us groping for a way of framing our experiences in such a way that we are able to act constructively. "Soul" is constructing our reality, individually and collectively.
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This is why "Ain't No Way" is one of the most SOULFUL songs of all time: you're literally watching a woman finding a way to frame her mistreatment in a way that both convinces her man to treat her better, AND allows her to justify continuing to treat him well.
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That's also why, say, "Oh Me Oh My (I'm A Fool For You Baby)" is only soulful insofar as Aretha applies soul vocal techniques to it. But it can be sung as pure pop. Ain't No Way cannot.
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Aretha in her adlibs turns Oh Me Oh My into a variation on "I Never Loved A Man The Way I Love You": finding an explanation or a container for how huge her desire for this man is. That is where the song becomes "soulful." That's the soul she found in the song---but she added it.
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This is also why "Do Right Woman - Do Right Man" can be a soulful song even when sung by a white person with none of the vocal trappings of soul. This is also why, say, "Don't Let Me Down" or "She's So Heavy" are deeply soulful songs. Wordsworth's poetry is soulful.
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