There is so, so much great pop music out there, and few of us know more than a fraction of it. Soul singer Verdelle Smith's "Life Goes On" is an obscure track from 1965, and I'm not even certain if it was the A-side or the B-side (to the also-obscure "Juanito"). Smith's only Top 40 hit (and a minor one at that) was "Tar And Cement" in 1966, and I'd say she's virtually unknown outside of the community of Northern Soul aficionados. But man, "Life Goes On" is a good one!
Lordy, this is such a great, great pop number. If it had been the hit it deserved to be, it would have been covered by everybody, from soul to jazz to country to pure show biz; it would have appeared in TV variety show performances by Raquel Welch and Barbara Eden, Sammy Davis Jr. would have belted it out on Jerry Lewis' Labor Day Telethon, and it woulda been seared into our collective pop consciousness alongside Stevie Wonder's "For Once In My Life" and Blood, Sweat & Tears' "Spinning Wheel."
And still: nothing would have eclipsed Verdelle Smith's smoking original. It should have been a hit. But...it wasn't. And life goes on.
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What's wild is that this number shows up on exactly none of the numerous Northern soul comps I have. Wow. Nifty song, Carl.
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