What's the greatest love song of all time? Odario Williams makes his case

Valentine's Day is tomorrow and Odario Williams, former wedding DJ and current host of CBC Radio's Afterdark, makes the case for his favourite love song — and, spoiler alert: it's an Etta James tune, but probably not the one you're thinking of.

Williams also reflected on the legacy of De La Soul's Trugoy the Dove, who passed away at the age of 54.

The excerpt of their conversation below has been edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow the Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud podcast, on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: Let's talk about love. Let's talk about the love that you, I guess, injected into dancefloors when you were a wedding DJ. What was the song that people requested the most?

Odario: I would say the second-most popular song requested was Elton John's Your Song—

Elamin: Ooh. 

Odario: That's a good one. 

Elamin: Beautiful. 

Odario: And hands-down the most requested love song or dance – the single dance, or maybe dance with your father-type song, is–

Elamin: Crocodile Rock.

Odario: No, it was At Last by Etta James.

Elamin: Ooh, of course.

Odario: It's her signature song. Beautiful, beautiful song. An American standard that goes back to 1940s, but Etta James' version, I completely get it. I completely understand. It's a classic.

Elamin: What did you see on the dance floor when you played At Last?

Odario: What do I see? Oh man, I see drunk aunts and drunk uncles falling in love all over again. I see couples tearing up and apologizing for being mean to one another earlier while getting dressed.

Elamin: And yet, it is not the one that you picked [as your favourite love song], right? You, in fact, picked I'd Rather Go Blind. Why?

Odario: Oh, man. It's the pain, my friend. This track is a perfect example of passion and emotion in one song. What makes this song so special is there's not really a chorus, there's not really a structure to it. She just told the band, "Just play and just let me sing." It's the sentiment that's so strong – she'd rather go blind than to watch her lover walk away. That hits me every time. When that song comes on, I have to repeat it at least three or four times…You could hear all of that pain, that heartbreak in her voice. 

Elamin: Yeah, I do. Speaking of heartbreak, you're a big De La Soul's fan. You've also opened for De La Soul. And yesterday, we learned that Dave from De La Soul had died, he was only 54 years old. How are you remembering him today?

Odario: Well, it's bittersweet. I would not have been a hip-hop artist myself if it wasn't for De La Soul. They changed a lot of lives. They showed up in 1989 at a time when hip-hop was trying to find itself, and they were always on the other side of that. That was their number one rule: never follow the trend. Let's do our own thing. They embraced their fate as outsiders, and they influenced an entire generation, like what is known as alternative hip-hop came from what De La Soul was doing since 1989.

Elamin: Odario, thank you so much for that.

The excerpt has been edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow the Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud podcast, on your favourite podcast player.