I Want It Close - Vintage Soul Ballad (Etta James, Dinah Washington) - Clara Vance

Recorded in Chicago in the mid-1960s, I Want It Close finds Clara Vance asking for something smaller and more immediate than a promise. She notices him reach for the rail. He smiles as though it is nothing. Clara smiles back. But her hand still wants his. That quiet moment sets the whole record in motion. She does not ask what the years are going to bring, and she does not turn the evening into a speech about forever. She simply wants the distance between them shortened while they are sitting there together. A knee touching hers. A hand that stays. Someone close enough that the silence does not feel quite so large. Piano carries the record with low organ color, warm upright bass, dry brushes and occasional tenor-sax answers, leaving Clara plenty of room to sing with weight rather than drama. Even when he tells her she worries too soon, the song refuses to argue the point. He grows quiet too. And Clara knows exactly where she wants to be. Not somewhere in the future. Close. Tonight. Chapters 0:00 Come Sit Close, Baby 0:29 You Reached for the Rail 0:58 My Hand Kept Wanting Yours 1:27 I Don’t Need Forever Said 1:56 Come Sit Close to Me 2:25 You Stayed Quiet After That 2:54 I Know Where I Want to Stand 3:23 Whatever Time We’re Given 3:52 The Sweetness Before the Ache 4:21 That’s Enough Tonight #ClaraVance #IWantItClose #EttaJames #NinaSimone #DinahWashington #ChicagoSoul #SoulBallad #1960sSoul #VintageSoul #AmericanSoulArchive