The Poet (album)

The Poet
Studio album by Bobby Womack
Released	November 1981
Recorded	1981
Studio	Kendun Recorders, Burbank, California; Hit City West, Los Angeles, California
Genre	Soul [1] R&B
Length	39:37
Label	Beverly Glen Music
Producer	Bobby Womack
Bobby Womack chronology
Roads of Life (1979) The Poet (1981) The Poet II (1984)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[3]
Record Collector	[4]

The Poet is the thirteenth studio album by American musician Bobby Womack. The album was released in November 1981, by Beverly Glen Music. The album reached the top of the Billboard Top Black Albums chart due to the success of the single "If You Think You're Lonely Now", which peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart.

In a 2024 overview of Womack's output, Sebastian Zabel of Rolling Stone Germany wrote of The Poet that "Womack's classic songwriting and his warm, passionate voice work perfectly here with the contemporary, but also subtly personalised production...The album is one of the few outstanding soul albums of the eighties." ^[5]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"So Many Sides of You"	Bobby Womack, Jim Ford	3:44
2.	"Lay Your Lovin' on Me"	Bobby Womack, Patrick Moten, Sandra Sully	4:03
3.	"Secrets"	Bobby Womack, Jim Ford	3:54
4.	"Just My Imagination"	Bobby Womack	5:05
5.	"Stand Up"	Cecil Womack	3:30
6.	"Games"	Bobby Womack, Roger Dollarhide	6:51
7.	"If You Think You're Lonely Now"	Bobby Womack, Patrick Moten, Richard Griffin	5:30
8.	"Where Do We Go from Here"	Bobby Womack, Jim Ford	6:40

Personnel

• Bobby Womack - guitar, lead vocals
• Nathan East, David Shields - bass
• Dorothy Ashby - harp, percussion
• David T. Walker - guitar
• Eddie "Bongo" Brown, Paulinho da Costa - percussion
• James Gadson - drums
• Patrick Moten, Dale Ramsey - keyboards
• Regina Womack, Sally Womack, Vincent Womack, Tondalei - handclaps
• Cecil Womack, Curtis Womack, Friendly Womack, Jr., The Waters, Richard Griffin, Fernando Harkless, John Parham, Jon Rami - backing vocals

Technical

• Otis Smith - executive producer
• Avi Kipper, Barney Perkins, Robert Battaglia - engineer
• Ginny Livingston - art direction
• Norman Seeff - photography

Charts

Chart (1982)	Peak position
Billboard Pop Albums [6]	29
Billboard Top Black Albums [6]	1

Singles

Year	Single	Chart positions [7]
		US R&B
1981	"Secrets"	55
1982	"If You Think You're Lonely Now"	3
	"Where Do We Go From Here"	26

References

1. Harrington, Jim (2016). "Bobby Womack - The Poet". In Dimery, Robert (ed.). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . London: Cassell Illustrated. p. 482.
2. Kurutz, Steve. Bobby Womack: The Poet > Review at AllMusic. Retrieved 13 September 2011.
3. Colin Larkin (2006). "Womack, Bobby". The Encyclopedia of Popular Music . Vol. 8 (4th ed.). Muze, Oxford University Press. p. 751–2. ISBN   978-0-19-531373-4.
4. Kris Needs, "From Bad To Verse", Record Collector , no. 518 (May 2021), p. 111
5. "Womacks klassisches Songwriting, seine warme, leidenschaftliche Stimme macht hier perfekt mit der zeitgenössischen, aber eben auch subtil auf ihn ausgerichteten Produktion...Das Album gehört in die Reihe der wenigen herausragenden Soul-Alben der Achtziger." Sebastian Zabel (September 2024), "Guide to Bobby Womack", Rolling Stone Germany (in German), no. 359, pp. 86–7
6. "Bobby Womack US albums chart history". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2011-09-13.
7. "Bobby Womack US singles chart history". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2011-09-13.

External links

• The Poet (Adobe Flash) at Radio3Net (streamed copy where licensed)
• Bobby Womack-The Poet at Discogs