Listen to the stirring isolated vocals of Bill Withers on ‘Grandma’s Hands’
In his time, Bill Withers wrote a myriad of profound songs. Whilst he is best known for the yearning ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’, the follow-up single, ‘Grandma’s Hands’, is another moment that never fails to make the hairs stand to attention.
Complete with the unhurried rhythm, Withers’ stirring vocals, and his nostalgic lyrics evoking the character of his late grandmother, it’s an unbelievably personal track that still manages to have universal appeal – a tremendous artistic feat.
The subject of the song is Withers’ maternal grandmother, Lula. As a child, he attended church with her and would sing and clap along with the hymns, a form his singing style in ‘Grandma’s Hands’ certainly takes cues from. Speaking to The Telegraph in 2010, Withers recalled: “It was spontaneous singing, there was nothing programmed. People got up and sang and everybody would join in. It was my favourite kind of singing.”
Withers grew up in the rural town of Slab Fork, West Virginia, and Lula significantly influenced his life. Noting the caring and protective force of her hands in the song, Withers sings lines such as the following: “Grandma’s hands / Used to hand me piece of candy / Grandma’s hands / Picked me up each time I fell”. As the singer also outlines in the track, Lula also used to look after the local unwed mothers and offer advice.
In the 2009 documentary Still Bill, Withers explained just how important Lula was to his life and the gravity of what she taught him: “I learned how to really love somebody from just a nice old lady. My favourite thing that I’ve written has to be about this favourite old lady of mine.”
Furthermore, the musician had a stutter when he was a child, which caused him issues with other children. He added: “Grandmothers tend to gravitate toward the weak kid. I wonder what it would have been like if my grandmothers had been on crack. You can tell how much difference it makes in people’s lives when they get good ones.”
Elsewhere, in an interview with Goldmine, Withers explained that he always knew ‘Grandma’s Hands’ was one of his finest efforts. He said: “The only thing that I thought was special when we did that album was telling Booker T. about ‘Grandma’s Hands.’ I said, ‘If anybody remembers me, they’re gonna remember me for this’. And now when people come up to me, they usually sing ‘Grandma’s Hands’.”
Withers was right. ‘Grandma’s Hands’ was so well-received that even Johnny Cash was a great fan of it. Later in life, the pair crossed paths in Hawaii, and demonstrating how much the rebel country legend loved the song, he made a surreal quip regarding it. Withers remembered: “Johnny Cash came to see me once in Hawaii, and I was surprised Johnny Cash knew who I was. He said, ‘I’d like to meet your grandmother.'”
Luckily for his fans, Withers’ isolated vocal track for ‘Grandma’s Hands’ has been unearthed. It brings into complete focus both the strength of his vocal delivery and the candour with which he imbued the song via his sentimental lyrics. It’s such a profound listening experience that it also causes us to think about our own relationships with our grandmothers.
Listen below.
