In the participatory lithology exercise, this song came to Jack O’Malley‘s mind back from this high school times…So Eighties. He remembered the chorus…solid, solid as a rock BOOMM..but he never actually listened to the lyrics. Having read them, Solid presents itself as a great soul tune with Christian nuances (these ars possibly not casual, given the story of this duo between gospel choirs, Baptist churches, etc.). The big tube gives us the original version, that Jack’s peers used to watch on MTV (or, before that existed in Italy, on a channel called Videomusic), and an interesting live version at Montreux. In the latter Nicholas Ashford is dressed like he just walked out of a Star Trek set, where is plays the bad guy.

Since we need to choose a sample from the Participatory Lithology collection, paired with the song, I will go with item A036 from Uncle Enzo’s collection. This is kind of brittle, and with a fingernail you can chip some pieces off of it. On A036, one of our classifiers, Cris Carlone from Turin commented: “A sample with numerous inclusions. The white ones look like quartz. It would be interesting to have photos from different angles.”… so we will make sure more photos appear soon.

A nice anecdote on Ashford & Simpson: they were invited to perform at President Obama’s inauguration in 2009, and for that event the proposed a modified version of this song, where the chorus said: “Solid…solid as Barack”. Talk tomorrow!

And for love’s sake, each mistake | e in nome dell’amore, ogni errore
Ah, you forgave | hai perdonato
And soon both of us learned to trust | e dopo poco tutti e due abbiamo imparato
Not run away, it was no time to play | a non scappare, non era il tempo di scherzare
We build it up and build it up and build it up | ci abbiamo costruito sopra

And now it’s solid | e ora è solido
Solid as a rock | solido come una roccia
That’s what this love is | è cosi questo amore
That’s what we’ve got, oh, mmm | è quello che abbiamo

Solid
(Oh)
Solid as a rock
And nothing’s changed it | e niente l’ha cambiato
(Ooh)
The thrill is still hot, hot, hot | l’emozione è calda
Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot

Oh, oh, oh, ah

You didn’t turn away | non hai voltato la schiena
When the sky went gray | quando il cielo si è fatto grigio
Somehow we managed | in qualche mondo l’abbiamo sfangata
We had to stick together | dovevamo restare insieme
(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)

You didn’t bat an eye | non hai mosso ciglio
When I made you cry | quando ti ho fatto piangere
We knew down the line | sapevamo che in fondo
We would make it better | le cose sarebbero migliorate
(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)

And for love’s sake, each mistake
Ah, you forgave
And soon both of us learned to trust
Not run away, it was no time to play
We build it up and build it up and build it up

Now it’s solid
Solid as a rock
(Ooh)
That’s what this love is
(Oh, oh)
That’s what we’ve got
(Oh, oh)
(Yes, it is)

Solid
Solid as a rock
And nothing’s changed it
(Oh)
The thrill is still hot, hot, hot
Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot

Oh, oh, oh, ah

Gone with the wind
Another friend
Got in between
Tried to separate us
(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)

Oh, knock-knock on wood
You understood
Love was so new
We did what we had to
(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)

And with that feeling
We were willing to take a chance
So against all odds, we made a start
We got serious, this wouldn’t turn to dust
(Ooh)
We build it up and build it up and build it up

And now it’s solid
(Ooh)
Solid as a rock
That’s what this love is
(Oh)
That’s what we’ve got, oh
(Oh, oh)

Solid
(Yes, it is)
Solid as a rock
(Ah)
And nothing’s changed it
(Ooh)
The thrill is still hot, hot, hot
Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot

Solid
(Oh)
Solid as a rock
(You know it)
(Well)
(You know it, baby)
Solid
Solid as a rock
(Lovin’ me, lovin’ me, oh)

Solid
(Don’t leave me, baby)
Solid as a rock
(Well, well, why, why)
(Oh)
Solid
Solid as a rock
(Every day it gets sweeter, now)
(Ooh)

Solid
(You know I like it)
Solid as a rock
(Good, good, well, it’s good, good, good)
Solid
(Solid, solid, solid, solid, solid)
As a rock