Talk:Bill Withers

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Contents

[edit] Inspiration, Content, and Authorship of Songs

What on earth is the last sentence talking about? Who in his right mind would sing Use Me in a church? The song isn't about uniting people; it's about emotional masochism in pursuit of sex. Is there some other song that the writer was thinking of? (Lean on Me, of course, makes perfect sense in this context.)
--Dgilman 01:40, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

This: "It is interesting to note that "Lean on Me" was actually inspired by the church hymns Withers listened to when he was growing up in Slab Fork", contradicts this, on Lean on Me (song): "The song was written by Paul Hill, a college student at St. John's Lutheran College in Winfield, Kansas." Anyone got a source on who actually wrote the song?
--Anon —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.202.162.8 (talk) 05:57, 31 January 2007
Yeah, I noticed this too. Someone needs to clear it up.
--Raph89 15:18, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Lockheed/Boeing

Since when did Lockheed assemble Boeing 747s? The cited source simply state he assembled toilets for jumbo jets. Nothing about Boeing or Lockheeds...
--mristroph 5 December 2007

The stringent requirements imposed by an aircraft's function of flying and the relative irrelevance of what's inside mean that the fates of airliner-sized planes will inevitably be as polymorphic as those of A4 or 8½×11 sheets of paper, which come from very few companies but become pictures or letters or adds, in many scripts, and in black and white or red and white or full color. In addition to building (exclusively?) military aircraft that it designed, Lockheed was probably, for instance, the prime contractor for most or all of the AWACS aircraft, most or all of which are packed into airframes developed for sale primarily to the passenger airline and air-freight industries. (See that article for pictures of AWACS with either "737" or "767" in their names.) It would be surprising if, in filling "jumbo jet" tin cans with electronics likely to dwarf the cost of a commercial airliner, Lockheed would not meet the need for toilet facilities by (possibly) hiring people, or (more likely) subcontracting companies, to "assemble" them (the heads, not the planes) "for Lockheed".
--Jerzy•t 17:49, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] POV / Sources

I have added POV and Cite-Sources banners to this article for the following reasons:

-This article displays not only biographical facts but also motivations (he refused to give up his job at Ford because of his belief) without citing sources. This is to be avoided in all articles as per Wikipedia guidelines but especially in biographical articles where it may be construed as libel.

-This article uses very charged words and phrases to describe Mr. Withers (one of the best live albums to be released during the 1970s; one of the most significant and respected singer/songwriters of the 20th Century). These type of statements are merely the opinion of the writer and are not verifiable.

Âme Errante 15:07, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Relationship

His relationship with Brett Maslin is referred to in the "Awards and recognition" section. This would assume that the reader knows who this Maslin person is and what kind of relationship (romantic or professional?). If it is of the romantic nature, it should be a "trivia" reference. If professional, the writer should further expound on his/her (?) role in Mr. Withers' life. 17:44, 30 April 2007 (UTC) Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.82.105.98 17:44, 30 April & 18:23, 2 May 2007

his/her (?)
should be changed to falsely make it appear to have been contributed in the form of
his (?)
at 17:44, 30 April 2007, without acknowledging that 2 IPs had roles 11 months apart.
(Specifically, the real situation was that it started as "his", the original editor changed it to "his/her (?)" two days later, and eventual the forger changed it to their own third version.)
--Jerzy•t 18:49, 23 April 2008 (UTC)
  • The Maslin ref was added at 03:45, 27 April 2007 by 207.237.8.137 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · block user · block log) -- whose sole other contrib, a few weeks later -- was more clearly vandalism, and removed as vand at 11:03, 8 May 2007 by Larry 1624 (talk · contribs).
    --Jerzy•t 18:49, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Popularity

I personally have enjoyed his songs. "Lovely Day" is striking for his being able to hold that note so long, but I digress. The statement about his popularity increasing as a result of the use of his songs in commercials seems subjective. His songs may be more "visible," but to say that his popularity has increased seems more "opinional" in nature.65.82.105.98 17:53, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Dead link