That record, like his acceptance speech and even the passages in his book recounting his regret over not protecting his mother from his abusive father, contains an underlying fear of the world that sometimes manifests in hyper-vigilant love.įrom the first time the doctor placed you in my arms
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He also barely mentioned his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, who in the past has dismissed at least one of his grand gestures of love as a “ disgusting display of ego ,” as reported by GQ and Wesley Lowery.īut in evoking the image of his onscreen daughters and framing protection as something he’s not only been called to do in moments like Sunday night but throughout his entire life, Smith’s imperfect speech felt like the closing of a full circle that began a quarter-century ago with a song dedicated to his first-born son.
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In the six minutes he spoke with his trophy in hand, he never explained how appearing in a movie with other actors constitutes protection. Of course, there are issues one could take with this part of Smith’s statement. I’m being called on in my life to love people and to protect people and to be a river to my people.” “I got to protect Saniyya and Demi, the two actresses that played Venus and Serena. “Making this film, I got to protect Aunjanue Ellis,” he said of the actress who played Richard Williams’ wife, Oracene Price. In his Oscars speech, Smith went on to explain his life’s work as a protector. Twenty-five years after the song’s release and less than a week removed from the 53-year-old’s misty-eyed sermon, certain lyrics from “Just The Two Of Us” now hold a different weight, particularly the ones in which he vows to protect his boy from harm. Thankfully, someone heard the hit potential in the tune, trimmed it down to a more radio-friendly length – just under four minutes – and released it into the marketplace.Rotimi Tells Us What It Means To "Love Somebody"Ī rework of Bill Withers’ song of the same name, “Just the Two of Us” subverts the romantic love described in the original and instead depicts the love Smith as a father has for his eldest son. On the album, “Just the Two of Us” had a run time of 7 minutes and twenty-three seconds, making it decidedly long for a single. I didn’t like what was said leading up to ‘Just the Two of Us.’” I probably threw in the stuff like ‘the crystal raindrops.’ The Just the Two of Us’ thing was already written. “I said, ‘Yeah, if you’ll let me go in and try to dress these words up a little bit.’ Everybody that knows me is kind of used to me that way. “I’m a little snobbish about words, so they sent me this song and said, ‘We want to do this with Grover, would you consider singing it?’” Withers told SongFacts. Salter and MacDonald were the primary writers, but Withers joined the credits after he was asked if he’d agreeable to being the vocalist. Written by Bill Withers, William Salter, and Ralph MacDonald, “Just the Two of Us” made its debut on Grover Washington, Jr.’s 1980 album WINELIGHT.
And yet both individuals responsible for bringing “Just the Two of Us” into the world make such a distinct impression during the course of the tune that it’s hard not to think of it as a proper duet. When is a duet not a duet? When one of the key individuals is a vocalist and the other is a sax player.