Today, reports have come in that Van Halen founder Eddie Van Halen passed away of cancer at 65. Regardless of where you stand on Van Halen overall (whether you prefer David Lee Roth’s vocals over Sammy Hagar’s), it was Eddie that brought some great sound…
Soul Makossa is a song that I’ve been searching for off and on for nearly 20 years. While the song was popular when I was little, my best memory of it comes from a movie (as always). There’s a scene in Robert Harmon’s HBO Film Gotti where Armand Assante, Frank Vincent and William Forsythe sit at a nightclub with the song playing in the background. I knew the melody, but for years, I couldn’t find the name of the song. I finally found it about two weeks ago on YouTube after seeing Gotti again, and am adding this entry so I don’t lose it.
Earlier this week, I heard that musician Manu Dibango passed away due to complications from Covid-19. One thing about Soul Makossa I didn’t realize was that part of the lyrics were used in Michael Jackson’s “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin'”, and by extension, Rhianna’s “Don’t Stop the Music”. This lead to a lawsuit by Dibango against both parties, though supposedly Jackson settled it out of court with Dibango.
Enjoy!
