"I'd Rather Go Blind" (Etta James)

First of all, go read Rage to Survive, Etta James's 1995 autobiography, written in collaboration with music journalist David Ritz.  It's a blunt, often funny, sometimes heartbreaking account of James's life and substance-fueled career in first person.
In the book, James talks a little about the song "I'd Rather Go Blind," which was recorded 1967 and released on her album Tell Mama in 1968.  Her friend Ellington Jordan was in prison, feeling hopeless and trapped by his situation, so he turned to song to express himself.  James visited him in prison and helped him complete the song, but because she was mired in tax problems, she gave the songwriting credit to Billy Foster, a singer with doo-wop group The Medallions and, briefly, James's abusive husband.  
It was a decision that James later regretted.  As she says in her book, "It bugs me to this day that [Foster] still receives royalties."
On the surface, the song is a ballad about lost love: our heroine tells her man that she would rather be blind than see him with another woman.  But for Jordan, it was a lament about being stuck in jail and not knowing when he'd see freedom again.  For James, it was a confession about feeling that she was stumbling blindly through her relationships and life choices but not knowing how to turn things around.
Despite her battle with heroin addiction, James's voice is in top form.  Yet as confident as her instrument sounds, there's real pain beneath.  The sense of loss and fear in her voice reaches into your soul, and there's no turning away.  It's captivating, heart-wrenching, and beautiful, all at the same time.  It's what the best soul music is all about.