I somehow missed that he’d died late in June, but the last few days came upon RIP Playlists and other indications that Womack had passed.

I came to know him via the Rolling Stones, whose cover of his (and Shirley Womack’s) tune It’s All Over Now was a favorite.

But of course, Bobby had started in a somewhat different place. His version of the song entered the charts in June 1964. The Stones recorded the song a few weeks later and by the end of July their cover was their first No. 1 song in the UK.

Womack hadn’t wanted the Stones to cover the tune. He reportedly told Jagger, “Get your own song,” but when the royalty check arrived at the end of the year he told the Stones they could have any song of his they wanted. He worked with the band years later, on their Dirty Work album.

In the meantime, Ry Cooder did an ace reggae cover of the song on his Paradise and Lunch album.