What do you think of when you hear the word SOUL?(as related to music)

[Toneseeker361]

I think of letting my inside out.
Anyone else?

[Neer]

The merging of the sacred and the profane. You cannot have soul without both. It is that torment between righteousness and wickedness that is soul.

[A-Bone]

Originally Posted by Neer

The merging of the sacred and the profane. You cannot have soul without both. It is that torment between righteousness and wickedness that is soul.

Could not have said it better myself. It is the dichotomy of the church and the juke joint, that mix of sweet and sour, sorrow and joy, all bound up in one note or a series of notes.

Too many acts across too many styles and genres to single them out, but a lot of great examples already in this thread.

Since this is at the forefront on my mind with the passing of Levon Helm, I'll add this as an example of soul to me:

[Lone Bear]

Originally Posted by Neer

The merging of the sacred and the profane. You cannot have soul without both. It is that torment between righteousness and wickedness that is soul.

You read that too?

[Neer]

Originally Posted by Lone Bear

You read that too?

Read what? There is nothing uncommon about that phrase. I've read many books on Soul. Check out the book Saints and Sinners. Really excellent.

[Lone Bear]

Originally Posted by Neer

Read what? There is nothing uncommon about that phrase. I've read many books on Soul. Check out the book Saints and Sinners. Really excellent.

There was a reference in the new Guitar Player of a similar nature in a column about Carlos Santana. Carlos was quoted about his meeting Bill Graham. I thought that was your point, where spirituality meets sensuality. Evidently we got to nearly the same place from different starting points.

[A-Bone]

Originally Posted by Lone Bear

There was a reference in the new Guitar Player of a similar nature in a column about Carlos Santana. Carlos was quoted about his meeting Bill Graham. I thought that was your point, where spirituality meets sensuality. Evidently we got to nearly the same place from different starting points.

Billy Graham the evangelist? Just making sure it is not about Santana meeting Bill Graham, the legendary SF concert promoter who was also a significant actor in Santana's career for a number of years, as well as his personal friend.

[A-Bone]

Originally Posted by Lone Bear

You read that too?

Do you mean Mircea Eliade's book of the same name, or are you referring to some other text?

[chervokas]

Originally Posted by Neer

The merging of the sacred and the profane. You cannot have soul without both. It is that torment between righteousness and wickedness that is soul.

I dunno, I don't think it needs anything profane in it to be soul. Gospel music is the original soul music in every way. Soul music, as we think of it as a musical genre, is just secularized gospel, formally it's pretty much indentical. Yeah, secular soul gets a lot of its zing and tension from that potent mixture of the secular and the profane, but gospel, and religious ecstasy also has a kind of physical, maybe even sexual energy of it's own.

Soul to me is about surrender to the spirit, the holy spirit really, but if it's some kind of spirit of love, that works too, I'm not sure it's so much something you pull from yourself as it is something you summon and gather and channel.

[dhdfoster]

It’s an intangible quality, but I know it when I hear it. I think Hank Williams Sr. was incredibly soulful, for instance. Oddly I usually don’t think of electric blues guitar/bloozy jazzy/funky, guitar faced indulgence as particularly soulful.

Sly Stone is soulful.

[frotdob]

Bernard Pretty Purdie

[rwe333]

Honesty

[HerrRentz]

Train

[dhdfoster]

Originally Posted by HerrRentz

Trane

Fixed

[Lolaviola]

Lets get it on...