I was recently introduced to the music of Betty Davis, and I have to say that I was blown away.  Although she was perhaps most well known for her one-year marriage to Miles Davis in the late 1960s, she holds her own as a ground-breaking seventies funk musician.

Raw and powerful, her music was imbued with an unprecedented passion.  As a vocalist she had a very unique style, whispering and purring one moment and screeching and growling the next.  She has been widely compared to Madonna; Santana stated that “she was the first Madonna, but Madonna is more like Marie Osmond compared to Betty Davis.  Betty Davis was a real ferocious Black Panther woman.  I could see why Miles was very attracted to her. You couldn’t tame Betty Davis.”

One of my favorite Betty Davis songs is the “Anti Love Song,” which was included in her 1973 debut album Betty Davis.  The song begins with the following lyrics:

Anti Love Song

No I don’t want to love you
Cause I know how you are
That’s why I have been staying away from you
That’s why I haven’t called ya
Cause I know you could possess my body
I know you can make me scrawl
I know you can have me shaking
I know you could have me climbing the walls
That’s why I don’t want to love you
Cause I know how you are
Sure you say you’re right on and you’re righteous
But with me I know you’d be right off
Cause you know I could possess your body too, don’t cha?
You know I could make you crawl
And just as hard as I’d fall for you, boy
Well you know you’d fall for me harder
That’s why I don’t want to love you…

Right on, sister.