THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

498-Timmy Thomas-Why Can’t We Live Together.

1972-Number 12 single.

Best Bit-At 1.35. The message on the ‘Hotline Bling’ remains the same as it did back in 1972.

Timothy Earle Thomas was born on November 13th, 1944, in Evansville, Indiana, United States, he died of cancer on March 11th, 2022, at the age of 77. Thomas who was born one of 12 siblings, was a singer, songwriter, musician, and music producer. Prior to finding commercial success with this song, he had started his career as a session musician, and also released a few unsuccessful solo singles on the ‘Goldwax Records’ label. His fledgling career also included being a member of a group called ‘Phillip & the Faithfuls,’ whom he also released music with on ‘Goldwax Records,’ in Memphis, Tennessee. He found success when relocating to Miami Florida, in 1972, initially playing sessions for the artists on ‘TK Records,’ and then signing to the ‘TK’ subsidiary label ‘Glades Records,’ where he recorded this song ‘Why Can’t We Live Together.’

The discography of Timmy Thomas includes seven Albums released between 1972-1994, and 23 singles released between 1972-1991. His only charting Album was his debut ‘Why Can’t We Live Together,’ which reached Number 53 in America on Billboard, in 1972. He achieved three Billboard Hot 100 entries, with ‘Why Can’t We Live Together,’ being his only top 40 hit single, when reaching Number 3, while in the UK, ‘Why Can’t We Live Together,’ is also his only top 40 entry, although ‘New York Eyes,’ with the American R&B singer Nicole, just missed out, when peaking at Number 41 in 1985. As well as working as a session musician for ‘TK Records,’ in later years he also turned his hand to producing, most notably the ‘TK’ artist Gwen McCrae. In the 1990’s he worked as a producer for ‘LaFace Records,’ and released his final Album ‘With Heart and Soul.’

‘Why Can’t We Live Together’ was the only single released from Timmy Thomas’ debut Album of the same name from 1972. It was written and produced by Timmy Thomas, who also played all of the musical instruments on the track. Timmy Thomas has explained how the idea for the song came about, ‘I was sitting in my study, and I heard Walter Cronkite (1916-2009, American broadcaster.) I’ll never forget this, he said, ‘35,000 Viet Cong died today, 15,000 Americans.’ I said ‘WHAT,’ you mean that many mothers’ children died today. In a war that we can’t come to the table and sit down and talk about this, without so many families losing their loved ones, I said, ‘Why can’t we live together?’ And I did it as a one-man band. That was my foot playing bass, that was my left-hand playing guitar. Could never believe that as a one-man band, something like that would’ve been played that much. But I do believe that the world was ready to start changing a little bit, and that song made the change.’

‘Why Can’t We Live Together’ was released in it’s original ‘demo’ form. The idea was to take the song into the studio and add a full band, but after listening to it, the ‘TK Records’ staff producer Steve Alaimo suggested that the song would be best released without any further work. Timmy Thomas had recorded the song in mono, and had played every instrument on the track, predominantly using a ‘Lowrey organ.’ He also used an early version of a drum machine, which was highly unusual at that time. He recorded the track in around 15 minutes, and it went on to sell over two million copies worldwide.

Steve Alaimo whose idea it was to release ‘Why Can’t We Live Together’ in it’s original ‘demo’ form, was born Charles Stephen Alaimo, on December 6th, 1939. He joined ‘TK Records’ in 1969, and in 1974 formed a business partnership with Harry Casey, Richard Finch, and ‘TK Records’ label owner Henry Stone, (1921-2014) to oversee the career of ‘KC & the Sunshine Band’ (see also best songs 893.) Prior to joining ‘TK Records,’ Steve Alaimo had a career as a singer, releasing seven studio Albums between 1961-1966, and 25 singles between 1962-1972, where he was promoted as a ‘teen idol.’ He had nine of his singles reach the Billboard Hot 100, charting between Number 46 to Number 100, which is a record amount of chart entries for an artist, without ever reaching the top 40.

‘Why Can’t We Live Together’ has been covered on many occasions, with the English R&B group ‘Sade’ recording a version for their 1984 debut Album ‘Diamond Life,’ they later played the song at the 1985 ‘Live Aid’ concert. In 1982 the American music producer Mike Anthony recorded a ‘Disco’ version which became a hit in Belgium, and Holland. He was sued by the owners of the original Timmy Thomas recording for using elements from the original recording. A judge ordered a re-recording of the song with all the original parts removed. This ruling marked one of the first court cases in which the use of original samples in new recordings played a role, as a precursor to the many court cases in the 1990’s and 2000’s. In 2015 the Canadian Rapper Drake (see also best songs 1043-921 and 858) heavily sampled ‘Why Can’t We Live Together’ with different lyrics, as ‘Hotline Bling,’ reaching Number 2 on Billboard, and Number 3 in the UK. Timmy Thomas admitted that he had no idea what Drake was rapping about. He recalled: ‘I was excited that my kids had to say ‘Daddy, here’s what he’s saying.’ It’s like I had to get into a rap dictionary to find out some of the things he was saying.’

‘Everybody wants to live together,why can’t we be together. No matter, no matter what colour, you are still my brother.