Sunday, January 4, 2009

tight people of the day: sam and dave



I like duos. Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. David Crosby and Graham Nash. Me and a jar of peanut butter. But as far as duos go, it really doesn't get any better than these two ballers right here. Sam and Dave. Extreme soul and rhythm all the way. I would give anything to time travel and see these guys live, because apparently their performances were quite legendary aka leaving ginormous puddles of sweat on the stage. Dang!

These guys recorded some of the biggest hits Stax had in the sixties, including "Soul Man" and "I Thank You." They are truly hit making machines. Mostly because they know the definition of wailing into a microphone so hard that I almost have an h attack while driving (true story). Sam had the higher voice and Dave sang the lower parts on these massive hit songs. Everyone knows these songs. I want to be in a horn section just to play on these songs. They were definitely made more popular (or maybe more well-known to some white folks) by the Blues Brothers, who took "Soul Man" and made it their own. The Blues Brothers are ballers, too! They brought much needed attention BACK to true soul.

Throughout the seventies, their singing partnership became strained, and their last performance was New Year's Eve 1981. They walked off the stage after the show and never spoke again. So crazy! However, we have these amazing tunes to help us relive all the magic. I can't even lie to you, I chose to share this song with you today because of the story behind it. Supposedly, one of the songwriters was in the bathroom and his songwriting partner yelled to him to come out so they could finish composing for the day. He yelled back, "Hold on a minute, I'm coming!" and then they wrote the song in minutes. Hello! That is hilarious. I always thought this song had a deeper, more sexual meaning but maybe I'm just disgusting.

Enjoy a little Sam & Dave today and maybe put on your dancing shoes. I know you will be satisfied.

Sam & Dave - Hold On, I'm Comin'

1 comment:

Duchess said...

Dave Prater's daughter speaks about her feelings towards Sam Moore...check it out here:

"http://www.theihatesammooreblog.blogspot.com/"

P.S. Yeah, they're tight (well, at least Dave is, anyway).