Jerry Butler & Betty Everett, Let It Be Me | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 204^th edition of Throwback Vibez (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Let It Be Me” by Jerry Butler and Betty Everett.

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 204^th edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Let It Be Me” performed by Jerry Butler and Betty Everett. 

“I bless the day I found you / I want to stay around you / And so I beg you, let it be me.” “Let It Be Me” is a timeless, often-covered pop classic. The original version was named “Je t’appartiens” by Gilbert Bécaud.  Transformed and translated into “Let It Be Me,” it was written by Bécaud, Pierre Delanoë, and Mann Curtis.  One of the finest interpretations of “Let It Be” is by Jerry Butler and Betty Everett.  The cover appears on Butler’s 1961, album, Aware of Love.  This predates Butler’s “Only The Strong Survive”, his biggest hit. “Let” is one of three top 10 hits by Butler.  It peaked at no. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Among the most elegant features of “Let It Be Me” is the production, specifically the gorgeous, lush strings.  The orchestration is delightful.  The main attractions are Butler and Everett, who exhibit superb vocal chemistry. They duet consistently in the verses. Each deliver commanding lead vocals when singing separately in the bridge. “Each time we meet, love / I find complete love,” Everett sings, drawing first blood. Butler responds, soulfully, “Without your sweet love / What would life be?” Ultimately, Jerry Butler and Betty Everett ‘put their foot’ into this unforgettable classic.  Where love is so much more complicated and explicit in the 21^st century, this 20^th-century oldie is refreshing because love feels easy.  “Let It Be Me” will always be the ‘bomb diggity!’

Jerry Butler // Aware of Love // Concord Music Group, Inc. // 1961

Jerry Butler & Betty Everett, Let It Be Me: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 204 (2024) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Concord Music Group, Inc.; OpenClipart-Vectors, Speedy McVroom from Pixabay]