Singer and incontrovertible soul man Lee Fields canât help but emanate positivity. Itâs not the annoying kind, the sickeningly sweet — almost naĂŻve — approach to life that willfully ignores the worldâs more deleterious moments in order to pretend everythingâs hunky dory. Fieldsâ positivity exhibits a greater degree of realism. Itâs a choice to recognize the bad while finding ways to work against it. To lead, in other words, with love.
Music helps do much of that leading. Since putting out his first album in 1969, the North Carolinian has dedicated himself to writing and recording songs tasked with spreading a little light. Arriving last November, his latest album, Special Night, co-written and recorded with his band the Expressions, offers an array of feel good songs at a time when that very purpose has become as necessary as ever. But Fields doesnât pen escapist fare. âIâm trying to say what people do,â he says. âIâm trying to write what people actually do.â On the titular track, Fields found inspiration in his 47-year marriage and, specifically, how he and his wife make time to appreciate one another, thereby making every night a special night. It could edge toward mawkish territory, but Fields isnât being blasĂ© about his relationship. It takes work and mindfulness and gratitude. With that underlying sentiment informing the lyrics, âSpecial Nightâ takes on an edifying note.
Iâve heard you talk about your intention to spread positivity with music, which seems like something we need now more than ever. But how do you stay positive?
Through prayer. I truly believe that my spiritual self is more important than my physical self because I think the spirit continues on and everything else is temporary. My spiritual beliefs keep me intact, keep me going.
Itâs so easy to get bogged down in the daily grind and forget there could be something more beyond this existence.
And thinking that way keeps me grounded because, as they say in the Bible, âWhat good is a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?â The spirit is the most important thing a person has.
On âMake the World,â you say people can improve the world by working together, but the country seems more divided than ever. Whatâs your take on how people can overcome that division?
If we love the spirit of God with all our heart and soul and mind, and if we love our neighbor as ourselves — in other words, do to people exactly how we would want to be treated — those two things right there. If we did that, weâd be promoting the product of love. When you have concerns about others, youâre not selfish. âMake the Worldâ came to me in a dream. Actually, it was a nightmare dream. I dreamed I took a trip in the future. In the nightmare part, I saw so much pollution: The water, the air, the fish were dying and there was anarchy. The air was so polluted, it was like a fog. I woke up out of that nightmare gasping and then, when I realized it was a dream, I went back to sleep. In that dream, I was going down the same road that I went over before in the nightmare, but this time, it was green and pretty, the water was clear and pristine, people were getting along, helping each other, and everything was just absolutely beautiful. Matter of fact, I couldâve stayed there.
I donât blame you. I wouldâve wanted to, as well.
Yeah. [Laughs] When I did awake, it came to me that those two roads were what we could take. We could take the bad road with the pollution and the anarchy, or we could take the good road. We could do things to prevent that bad situation. With love, that can be achieved. If we love and care about mankind, weâll find a way out to solve the problems.
But caring about mankind means first recognizing everyone as equal, and that has been a hard point to make across history. How do you encourage humanity and kindness when some people look down on those who are different?
Well, people who donât see things the way I just described. Theyâre very materialistic. A person has to be materialistic to a certain point in reality, but being totally materialistic brings out the beast in us. You see a dog with a bone and another dog comes along and starts growling. It makes people hostile. We need to have faith in a higher power and we should encourage the young ones to be more humane. See, what it is, as long as we worry about ourselves — being selfish — that breeds hate. Everything that you feel gets taken away from you. You hate it. Love is the panacea, and we are born in a time where we can actually make the world better. We can do that.
There was a sign recently outside a Quebec church that read, âIf you have more than you need, build a longer table not a bigger wall,â which speaks to your point. It strikes me that youâre doing more than spreading positivity through your music — youâre almost being prophetic.
Yes, itâs a bit. But that dream, I felt, came to me for a reason, so I put it in music and hopefully somebody hears it and can be a catalyst to make the world better. So I pray that that will be the consequence of the song, more so than even profits for me. I pray it will put people in more of a loving state of mind. Iâm hoping, through music, that I can give some sort of relief. Thatâs the reason I write the songs I write, like âSpecial Night.â My wife and I have been together for 47 yearsâŠ
Congratulations!
Oh, thank you. That song was based upon the way I see things between my wife and myself. Every night can be special. Everybody is changing as time unfolds; weâre changing physically and weâre changing mentally, and thatâs because of what we learn. Youâre not the same person you were five years ago because you know more than you knew five years ago. And youâre not the same person that you were five years ago because youâve changed physically. But every night can be a special night of appreciating these changes of your better half. Every night is special because, although youâre with the same person, youâre with a better model of the person you first met because the person is growing.
Thatâs how you grow together instead of apart? Appreciation?
Yeah, thatâs what Iâm talking about exactly. So that song came about trying to give that message. We have another song, âComing Home,â and, you know, everybody works hard and some people have extremely demanding days and, matter of fact, Iâm quite sure everybody has said at one time or another: âOh man, the boss nearly worked me to death today.â So you get home to your soul mate and now youâre away from that place and youâre so glad to be home in the company of that person.
Okay, on that note, you say at the end of âSpecial Nightâ that, essentially, listeners should go find someone special if theyâre lonely. But it seems harder than ever to make a special connection, especially with dating apps providing people with endless options. Whatâs your take on successfully enacting what you say at the end of the song? I guess Iâm asking for dating advice.
[Laughs] I think, nowadays, when you meet someone of interest, I think you have to allow things to be natural. A lot of people today are so ⊠itâs probably more difficult today because you have more people into the âme, me, meâ thing. Show really genuine concern about that person that you may have interest in, but if that person is all about the âme me meâ thing, then you got to count your losses.
Walk away, in other words.
âLet me move on.â
That is smart.
But I do believe that love is out there today, true genuine love, and I think a person should always keep that in mind. Stay positive.
I like that. Well, lastly, is there anything that still surprises you about your drive and ambition?
Well, my drive is still what it is because I enjoy when people tell me, âOh, I really love this songâ or âMy wife and I met over your music.â Those stories like that. That is the icing on the cake; that makes me feel so wonderful to hear. In Spain, we had three people on one tour propose onstage.
Oh my goodness! Youâre like a love ambassador.
Well, I donât know, that kind of puts things up there, but it makes me feel good that my music is a positive thing.
I think it all comes back to appreciation. Youâre spreading appreciation through your music and it comes back to you.
Oh, I never thought about it that way, but that was beautifully said.
Well, letâs end on that note then.
Photo credit: Sesse Lind
