Song of the Day 6/2: Charles Bradley, “Lucifer”

Two posthumous singles by the late Charles Bradley, the Screaming Eagle of Soul, have been released in the past month. They were recorded in late 2016, shortly after Bradley learned he had stomach cancer and was undergoing chemotherapy. He died less than a year later. Bradley, who had little education, usually wrote by ad-libbing vocals over the instrumental tracks, and it sounds as if Bradley wrote “Lucifer” the same way. These were the waning days of the Obama presidency, which might be why Obama gets a shout-out. Mostly, though, the guy who used to spend part of his concerts mingling with the audience and hugging everyone in sight sings about his desire to love and be loved. This, along with “Lonely as You Are,” released in late April, were the last songs he recorded — in a very real sense, the last words of a dying man.