Corinne Bailey Rae’s signature tune is undoubtedly “Put Your Records On,” which mixes folksy lullabies and ear-worm pop hooks with soulful, jazzy sensibilities. But the craving ballad “Do You Ever Think of Me” from 2016’s The Heart Speaks in Whispers is simply as exceptional. Connecting soul music’s previous with its current, this track interpolates the melody of Curtis Mayfield’s “The Makings of You.” But whereas Mayfield’s beautiful melody shapes the early elements of “Do You Ever Think of Me,” Bailey Rae in the end diverts from it. Her dulcet, supple voice guides the listener to an prolonged outro with hypnotic repetitions of the title lyric.
Bailey Rae co-wrote the track with Valerie Simpson of famed recording and songwriting duo Ashford and Simpson. With her late husband Nickolas Ashford, Simpson wrote stone-cold classics for the likes of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell (“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”) Diana Ross (“The Boss”), and Chaka Khan (“I’m Every Woman”). Having already met some years prior at Ashford and Simpson’s Sugar Bar membership in New York City, Bailey Rae and Simpson mentioned collaborating after crossing paths at a MusiCares live performance in 2015. They bonded over their shared experiences of loss and tragedy: Bailey Rae’s first husband Jason Rae died in 2008 after an unintended overdose, whereas Simpson misplaced her husband in 2011 to throat most cancers.
Speaking to MOJO in 2016, Bailey Rae recalled receiving an e-mail from Simpson after first taking part in her “Do You Ever Think of Me”. “[Valerie had] attached a file of her singing my song, but her version of the song, adding her own lyrics, and these amazing piano chords under where she sang ‘Why did it have to end?’ She’d smashed it,” Bailey Rae says. They completed writing the track at Simpson’s house.
“It touched my heart because it was the first time I had attempted to partner with somebody [other than] my late husband,” Simpson informed me in an interview. She famous how Bailey Rae’s voice has the same “sweetness” to Mayfield’s. “It can be soft and sensual and strong and soulful,” she defined, reflecting fondly on when she carried out the track with Bailey Rae in New York City.
“Do You Ever Think of Me” is the product of an intergenerational dialogue: A key protagonist of Twenty first-century soul music becoming a member of forces with one of many style’s veteran songwriters, whereas honoring the work of one other soul legend. The outcomes are magical.
Listen to Corinne Bailey Rae’s “Do You Ever Think of Me” now.