Something He Can Feel

Curtis Mayfield wrote this for the soundtrack of the 1976 musical drama Sparkle. The film, starring Lonette McKee, Irene Cara, and Dwan Smith, followed an aspiring all-girl trio’s struggle for fame in ’60s Harlem. “Something He Can Feel” was part of the group’s sexy nightclub act. Curtis Mayfield told Billboard the song was based on “how I thought a woman might feel when she was to love a man.” In the original 1976 version of the film Sparkle, the song is performed by “Sister & the Sisters”, with Lonette McKee on lead vocal, and Irene Cara and Dwan Smith on backing vocals. The version of “Something He Can Feel” present on the film’s soundtrack album replaces the vocal tracks with those of Aretha Franklin and the Kitty Haywood Singers, with the instrumental tracks remaining the same.The soundtrack peaked at #18 in America and the song was a #1 R&B hit.