Betty Harris, Nearer to You | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 88th edition of Throwback Vibez (2025), we recollect and reflect on “Nearer to You” by Betty Harris.   

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 88^th edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2025), we recollect and reflect on “Nearer to You” performed by Betty Harris.

“I may do things you don’t understand.” Oh, really, Betty Harris (1939 – )? The southern soul singer continues singing in the first verse of “Nearer to You”, “But remember, I’m only doing the best I can.” Word.  “Nearer to You” is the seventh track on her 1969 album, Soul Perfection. The legendary Allen Toussaint (1938 – 2015) composed it. Toussaint also produced it, alongside Marshall Sehorn.

“Nearer to You” oozes with soul – that southern soul, to be precise! Set in compound duple meter, the lilt is real! Betty Harris ‘brings it’ with her robust, gospel-infused vocals.  There is no shortage of confidence as Harris belts it out.  “I’m sorry if I seem, ooh, yeah, a little bit stubborn sometimes / I hope I’m not being a nuisance to you,” Harris sings in the second verse, continuing, “I know you said that you’d be home soon / I got to be nearer, nearer to you / Yeah.” Harris gets awesome support from background vocals.  The section to beat is the chorus.  “Everything I do, I’m just trying to get closer to you,” Betty sings, concluding, “I got to be nearer, nearer to you.” Beyond the vocals and memorable songwriting, marvelous orchestration and production go a long, long way.  Highlighted within the backdrop are piano, organ, and horns, namely the cutting baritone saxophone.  I love the punch that the drums play with (and how loudly they are mixed). Arguably, the organ has the best part.  The solo is playful with some sick riffs.  Of course, the fellow keyboard instrument, the piano, provides awesome accompaniment.  Ultimately, Betty Harris ‘tears it up’ on “Nearer to You”, one of the underrated gems from the soul catalog. Notably, Christina Aguilera sampled “Nearer to You” on the song “Understand” from her 2006 album, Back to Basics.  Also, Grammy-winner Elvis Costello (1954 – ), alongside Allen Toussaint, covered Toussaint’s legendary composition on their 2006 Grammy-nominated collaborative album, The River In Reverse.