That's The Way God Planned It - Billy Preston

A S C O L T A - Album Version


Billy Preston (2 Settembre 1946 - 6 Giugno 2006), vero nome William Everett "Billy" Preston nasce a Houston (Texas).
All'età di 10 anni inizia a suonare l'organo in un gruppo gospel dove militano personaggi come Mahalia Jackson, James Cleveland e Nat King Cole.
A 12 anni compare nel film St Luis Blues nei panni del compositore W.C. Handy da giovane. Nel 1960, a 14 anni, suona, prima con Little Richard e poi con Ray Charles. Nel 1965 registra il suo primo album: The Most Exciting Organ Ever e fa parte della house band nella serie Shiding in onda sulla ABC-TV.
Nel 1962 in tournee con Little Richard in Inghilterra ha modo di conoscere i Beatles tramite Brian Epstein (il manager dei Beatles all'epoca).
Successivamente, nel 1969, secondo le notizie dell'epoca, George Harrison andò ad un concerto a Londra di Ray Charles e restò colpito da Billy Preston, che nella Band suonava l'organo Hammond, al punto di invitarlo alle sessions dell'album Let It Be ed Abbey Road.
E' notevole il fatto che il singolo Get Back è stato accreditato come The Beatles with Billy Preston; nessun altro artista è mai stato accreditato in un disco dei Beatles (basti pensare che il solo di While My Guitar Gently Weeps è stato suonato da Eric Clapton).
Sotto contratto con la Aplle Records, Billy Preston continua la sua carriera solista oltre che suonare negli album solo di George Harrison e seguirlo nei tour.
Ha partecipato al primo concerto "All Stars": The Concert For Bangla Desh" organizzato da George Harrison, concerto immortalato in un film (uno dei primi film-cronaca di un concerto, filone poii seguito da Martin Scorsese con The Last Waltz, concerto di addio della Band)
il punto più alto della carriera di Billy Preston è nel 1972 col brano Outa-Space brano basato sul ritmo funky del Clavinet (stumento in cui Billy era un mago).
Ha composto il brano You're So Beautiful, per Joe Cocker.
Tra la metà degli anni 80 ed i primi anni '90 Billy Preston si trova nei guai per storie di frodi, alcool e cocaina.
Nei primi anni 90, risolti i problemi con la giustizia americana riprende i concerti e le collaborazioni con svariati artisti.
Muore per ipertensione maligna il 6 Giugno 2006.

Discografia:
Albums
(1965) The Most Exciting Organ Ever
(1965) Early Hits of'65
(1966) The Wildest Organ in Town
(1967) Club Meeting
(1969) That's The Way God Planned It
(1970) Encouraging Words
(1971) I Wrote a Simple Song
(1972) Music Is My Life
(1973) Everybody Likes Some Kind of Music
(1974) Live European Tour 1973 featuring Mick Taylor on guitar (CD release A&M, 2002)
(1974) The Kids and Me
(1975) It's My Pleasure
(1976) Billy Preston
(1977) A Whole New Thing
(1979) Late At Night
(1981) Billy Preston & Syreeta (with Syreeta Wright)
(1981) The Way I Am
(1982) Pressin' On
(1984) On the Air
(1986) You Can't Keep a Good Man Down
(2001) You and I (featuring the Italian band "Novecento")

Gospel Albums:
(1962) Sixteen Years Old Soul
(1965) Hymns Speak from the Organ
(1973) Gospel In My Soul (Re-edition of Hymns Speak from the organ)
(1978) Behold!
(1980) Universal Love
(1994) Ministry of Music
(1995) Minister of Music
(1996) Words and Music
(2001) Music From My Heart

Singles:
1969: "That's the Way God Planned It" - US Pop #62, UK #11
1971: "My Sweet Lord" - US Pop #90, US R&B #23
1972: "I Wrote a Simple Song" - US Pop #77
1972: "Outa-Space" - US Pop #2, US R&B #1, UK #44
1972: "That's the Way God Planned It" (re-release) - US Pop #65
1972: "Slaughter" - US Pop #50, US R&B #17
1973: "Will It Go Round in Circles" - US Pop #1, US R&B #10
1973: "Space Race" - US Pop #4, US R&B #1
1974: "You're So Unique" - US Pop #48, US R&B #11
1974: "Nothing from Nothing" - US Pop #1, US R&B #8
1974" "Struttin'" - US Pop #22, US R&B #11
1975: "Fancy Lady" - US Pop #71, US R&B #23
1977: "Wide Stride" - US R&B #33
1978: "Get Back" - US Pop #86
1979: "With You I'm Born Again" (with Syreeta Wright) - US Pop #4, UK #2
1980: "It Will Come in Time" (with Syreeta Wright) - UK #47
1980: "One More Time for Love" (with Syreeta Wright) - US Pop #52
1982: "I'm Never Gonna Say Goodbye" - US Pop #88
1986: "So Good, So Fine" (with Ann-Louise Hanson)

Collaborazioni come Special Guest/Session Man:
(1963) Night Beat (Sam Cooke)
(1969) Get Back and Don't Let Me Down (The Beatles)
(1970) All Things Must Pass (George Harrison)
(1970) John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, piano on "God" (John Lennon)
(1971) Sticky Fingers (Rolling Stones)
(1971) The Concert for Bangla Desh (George Harrison And Friends)
(1971) There's a Riot Goin' On (Sly & the Family Stone)
(1971) Live at Fillmore West (King Curtis & Aretha Franklin)
(1971) Barbara Joan Streisand, Billy plays keyboards, drums
(1972) Exile on Main Street (Rolling Stones)
(1972) Wind of Change, Billy plays piano, keyboards, harpsichord, accordion (Peter Frampton)
(1973) Ringo, organ on "I'm The Greatest"
(1973) Goats Head Soup (Rolling Stones)
(1974) Goodnight Vienna, clavinet on the title track, electric piano on "Only You (And You Alone)"
(1974) It's Only Rock'n Roll (Rolling Stones)
(1975) "You Are So Beautiful" (Joe Cocker's biggest hit)
(1976) Thirty Three & 1/3 (George Harrison)
(1976) Black and Blue (Rolling Stones)
(1978) Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (also acted the part "Sgt. Pepper" in the film)
(1981) Tattoo You (Rolling Stones)
(1986) "Great Gosh A'Mighty (Been A Long Time Comin')" (co-written with Little Richard - from the hit motion picture 'Down And Out in Beverly Hills'. Little Richard - vocal.)
(1990) Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band (Billy plays keyboards and vocals)
(1990) Giovani Jovanotti (Jovanotti) (Billy plays keyboards & Fender Rhodes)
(1991) ...E La Vita Continua (Nino D'Angelo)
(1993) Wandering Spirit (Mick Jagger) "Sweet Thing", "Out of Forcus", "Use Me", "Wandering Spirit" and "I've Been Lonely for So Long".
(1996) "Voyage of Dreams" - Jephté Guillaume and the Tet Kale Orkestra (Billy plays Organ, Strings on Al Di Yo, Go Tell Them, Kanpe, Get Up)
(1997) Bridges to Babylon (Rolling Stones)
(1998) Undiscovered Soul (Richie Sambora)
(2000) The Harsh Light of Day (Fastball) (Billy played keyboards on "You're An Ocean")
(2001) Songs From The West Coast - Elton John ("Electric organ" on "I Want Love", "The Wasteland"; "Love Her Like Me")
(2001) Reptile (Eric Clapton)
(2001) One More Car, One More Rider (Eric Clapton, live) --DVD includes live performance of Will It Go Round in Circles
(2003) The Colored Section (Donnie) (Billy plays Hammond B3 on the last track: "The Colored Section")
(2003) Concert for George -- including Isn't It a Pity and My Sweet Lord
(2003) Get Born (Jet)
(2004) Me and Mr. Johnson (Eric Clapton) (also appears in the DVD companion Sessions for Robert J)
(2004) Eric Clapton: Crossroads Guitar Festival (Eric Clapton)
(2004) Genius Loves Company (Ray Charles)
(2005) 12 Songs (Neil Diamond)
(2005) Back Home (Eric Clapton)
(2005) Choose Love (Ringo Starr)
(2005) The Concert for Bangladesh (George Harrison and Friends) (Re-mastered version & video)
(2005) Tough on Crime (Rebecca Pidgeon) - Billy plays Keyboards
(2006) Stadium Arcadium (Red Hot Chili Peppers) (on "Warlocks")

That's The Way God Planned It - Lyrics:

Why can't we be humble
Like the good Lord said?
He promised to exalt us
But low is the way

How man be so greedy
When there's so much left?
All things are God given
And they all have been blessed

That's the way God planned it
That's the way God wants it to be

Let not your heart be troubled
Let mourning, sobbing cease
Learn how to help each one another
And live in perfect peace

If we'd just be humble
Like the good Lord said
He promised to exalt us
But low is the way

That's the way God planned it
That's the way God wants it to be

I hope you get this message
When you won't others will
You don't understand me
But I love you still

That's the way God planned it
That's the way God wants it to be

. . . . . . . . . . . .





Courtesy by: Wikipedia - billypreston.net -metrolyrics.com