River Deep, Mountain High by Tina Turner

Saluting a legend for the 83 years she allowed us to bask in her presence.

Transcript

Love Lines From ‘River Deep - Mountain High’ by Tina Turner


I decided to do a second Love Lines message this week in honor of the legendary Tina Turner. The situation demands it. We cannot allow a music pioneer of her magnitude to leave us without due remembrance.

Like many in my generation, I was introduced to Tina Turner through Angela Bassett’s Oscar-nominated portrayal of her in the film, What’s Love Got to Do With It. My mother covered my eyes during sex scenes and physical violence, and physically abusive sex scenes like when Ike Turner, played by Laurence Fishburne, rapes his wife in her recording studio. I saw glimpses of the act through the spaces between my mother’s fingers. Yet, at age thirteen I had no clue what he was doing to her.

At first, I was enamored with Bassett’s non-traditional display of sexy. She was toned, every feature defined, her arms, her legs, her abs left seemingly no fat to be found on her hardbody. Yet, her aura remained sensual and warm, soft in the most beautiful ways. Even through a tumultuous, sadistic relationship you still saw her character as a pillar of strength who managed to simultaneously hold gentleness.

Next, I fell in love with the music. The onscreen dancing during “Proud Mary,” the transition from nice and easy to rough sent me wiggling in my seat. The energy of “Shake a Tail Feather” made me want to jump out of it. While the reenacted performance of “A Fool in Love,” the single tear that slides down Angela Bassett as Tina Turner’s cheek evoked every emotion inside me.

I watched the film again as an adult. I saw all the sex, all the abuse, all the vicious innuendo and manipulation. I saw a poor girl from Nutbush, Tennessee betrayed by her savior. But that is not her story.

Tina Turner’s story is about many things but ultimately, a girl from Nutbush, Tennessee named Anna Mae Bullock triumphed over all she endured to become the Queen of Rock and Roll. She dissolved her 14-year marriage, requesting nothing but use of the stage name she’d earned, and managed to reinvent its persona.

As I got older, I not only went back to What’s Love Got to Do With It, I learned about the real-life Tina Turner. I read her stories, watched her interviews and performances. I listened to her music. And I realized she’s even more astounding than made out to be.

It amazes me how someone enduring such persistent pain made such an impassioned love song. “River Deep – Mountain High” is haunting, tangibly reverberant. The string instruments dig down into your soul. Tina Turner’s voice, the powerful voice that always sounds as though it is aching to be set free, shepherds the thunderous melody to glory—whether its producer wanted her to or not. To me, her voice penetrates an arrangement designed to keep it covered. The voice, like the woman, was unstoppable.

My favorite lines from “River Deep – Mountain High” are:
Well, I'm gonna be as faithful as that puppy
And no, I ain't never gonna let you down

Tina Tuner took pride in her faithfulness, her loyalty. She was loyal to a fault. Loyal to her own detriment. She was loyal to her fans and her music and her family. Then, on the other side of it all, she was loyal to herself.

The icon moved to Switzerland and renounced her US citizenship. By all accounts, most importantly hers, Tina Turner found a love worthy of the lyrics in “River Deep – Mountain High.” A love fitting for one who gave this world 83 years of refined greatness and unflinching grace.