Billy Paul – Let The Dollars Circulate
Before recently leaving town for Cuba, I’d meant to post something brief in tribute to Billy Paul, who passed at the age of 81 a little over a week ago. Just the day before his death I had finally run across this album, When Love Is New, at Amoeba (where against all hope, I also ran into the 12″ version of “Take Me With U” from Prince). I’d been looking for this album for years and years because it features my favorite Billy Paul song, eternally linked to one of Dilla’s greatest productions, “Let The Dollar Circulate.” As I sit and write this from Cuba, unable to get my money changed over because the banks are closed for fumigation (even the Hotel is out of money), the general message of the song still rings true. In fact, it could be a good anthem for ending the Embargo, since letting the Dollars circulate more freely would do a lot for the Cuban people and the Cuban economy, as long as it happens on their terms…sense of hope that this will happen is palpable in Havana and Santiago, and that, along with Paul’s passing, has kept this song in my mind of late.