Bobby Womack, If You Think You’re Lonely Now | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 186th edition of Throwback Vibez (2024), we recollect and reflect on “If You Think You’re Lonely Now” by Bobby Womack. 

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 186^th edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2024), we recollect and reflect on “If You Think You’re Lonely Now” performed by Bobby Womack.

“If you think you’re lonely now, huh / Wait until tonight, girl.” Why Bobby Womack? “I’ll be long gone / …And you’ll never find another man that’ll treat you right.” Noted – loud and clear.  The late, great soul musician dropped a gem in the early 80s with “If You Think You’re Lonely Now”.  The seventh track from his 1981 LP, The Poet, was a hit on the R&B charts.   However, sadly, “If You Think You’re Lonely Now” didn’t impact the pop charts.  Nonetheless, the Womack, Patrick Moten, and Sandra Sully penned track is one of the gems of Bobby’s awesome musical catalog.

First and foremost, Bobby Womack ‘brings the heat’ vocally.  He has the perfect topic to sing about: love.  Both lyrics and melodies are memorable.  The songwriting is relatable, given that ‘matters of the heart’ are universal.  Womack feels unloved by a woman he characterizes as ‘high maintenance’: “She’s always complaining ‘bout me never being at home / But when I’m home, I’m broke / She’s telling me ‘bout the things that her girlfriend’s got / What she ain’t got.”  In the second and third verses, there are elements of karma.  “When I ain’t there to rub your back /… Just remember I made it a known fact,” he sings in the second, adding in the third, “Girl, ain’t it funny how the tables turn? / When things aren’t going your way.” By the fifth verse, he’s completely done with her shenanigans: “‘Cause I’ve done my time / And it’s your turn now (Wait until tonight, girl).” Womack also gets a lift from fantastic background vocals that sing titular lyrics and the recurrent, “Wait until tonight, girl.” Aside from sweet, nuanced vocals and unforgettable lyrics, the musical accompaniment is swell. “If You Think You’re Lonely Now” embraces the 80s yet remains firmly steeped in the soul music he’s renowned for.  Two things can be true.  Ultimately, Womack shines on this ‘late-career’ hit. “If You Think You’re Lonely Now” was famously covered by K-Ci and has been sampled many times.

Bobby Womack // The Poet // ABKCO Music & Records, Inc. // 1981

Bobby Womack, If You Think You’re Lonely Now: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 186 (2024) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; ABKCO Music & Records, Inc.; OpenClipart-Vectors, Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Speedy McVroom from Pixabay]