Just the Two of Us

MacDonald and Salter wrote the instrumental for Washington, but a pure sax-instrumental take didn’t feel right, so Washington sought someone who could “half-talk and half-sing” it — landing on Withers, introduced by his close friend MacDonald. After hearing the demo, Withers felt the lyrics needed dressing up: “I thought it had overalls on and I thought I could put a tuxedo on it.” No lyrics reproduced.

Despite recording one of R&B’s most famous duets, Withers and Washington barely knew each other — Withers has said the day he went in to record his vocal was the first time he ever met Washington in person. He admired Washington partly because Washington had recorded the first-ever cover of any Withers song: an instrumental “Ain’t No Sunshine” (already in this catalogue).