"A Nickel And A Nail" by O.V. Wright

Author: The Best Song Ever (The Week)

"A Nickel And A Nail" by O.V. Wright

The greatest soul song, by the greatest soul singer, you never heard. Here's the story of O.V. Wright and the Memphis soul maestro who gave him his moment of pop song greatness by harkening back to Gospel roots.

You can hear "A Nickel And A Nail" along with other songs by Willie Mitchell and the Memphis Horns here .

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello, and welcome to the bestsong ever this week, A short deep
dive into a song and what makesit special? The best song ever this
week this week is A Nickel anda Nail by Ovie Wright, which is
maybe the greatest soul song you've neverheard. We won't be listening to the

(00:27):
song together here sadly. In theshow notes, there's a link to a
playlist of this and other songs relevantto the episode one I hope you'll enjoy.
So let's get going, shall we. Willie Mitchell produced a string of
classic soul records for al Green,songs like Let's Stay Together, Love and
Happiness and Tired of Being Alone,songs that made the former gospel singer Mitchell

(00:50):
met as Albert Green with an extraE into one of popular music's iconic voices.
Mitchell also made High Records into aseven dy Southern soul hit factory with
records by Anne Peoples, Otis Clay, and sil Johnson. And he also
produced records for Hall of famers likeBobby Blue Bland and Nicentina Turner. But

(01:10):
the greatest singer he ever worked with, Mitchell said that was ov Wright.
Overton Vertice. Wright also had beena gospel singer, joining the Sunset Travelers
in nineteen fifty six while still inhigh school and later fronting the Harmony Echoes,
The Spirit of Memphis and the HighwayQCs. Secular music beckoned, however,
and Wright recorded the single That's HowStrong My Love Is for the Gold

(01:34):
Wax label nineteen sixty four as ovWright and the Keys, but an old
existing recording contract with Peacock Records wasstill in force, which meant that the
single was re routed to Peacock's Rand B subsidiary Backbeat. In that label
shuffle, the single was more ofa near miss than a hit. Otis
writing made the song a hit thenext year, and the ballad was covered

(01:57):
in short order by The Rolling Stonesand The High. Mitchell meanwhile had a
crossover popit in nineteen sixty four withInstrumental twenty seventy five. As the High
Records in house producer, musician arranger. He was cranking out dance tracks at
such a steady clip that the rumorwas that High was an acronym for hit
instrumentals. Mitchell was also leading bandsfor gigs from Beal Street blues clubs to

(02:21):
suburban country clubs as well as playingin small jazz combos around Memphis. I
came up playing jazz. My chordswere always different, Mitchell said. They
got a little more melody or harmony, but still had that laid back rhythm
underneath it. His song Soul Serenadewas a number ten R and B and
number twenty three pop hit and chartedin the UK. When High founder Joe

(02:45):
Kogi died in nineteen seventy, Mitchelltook the reins of the label. Right
meanwhile went on to a few minorR and B hits with songs like eight
Men four Women, which was writtenwith Peacock Backbeat Records boss Don Roby.
Roby had said told Right he wastoo ugly to tour. The lack of
touring perhaps explains why Wright, whowas no Sam Cook but certainly no Gargoyle,

(03:07):
struggled to break out of the midSouth. The song is kind of
a slow burner, more blues thanrhythm, that relied heavily on the reservoir
of ache and Write's voice. Mitchellheard a bit more and Right, and
he heard what was missing. FromCook to Green to lou Brawls, eb
hard pressed to find a significant soulsinger of the sixties and seventies who didn't

(03:28):
start in gospel. Leaving gospel forpopular music often meant leaving the sanctuary of
the church. Singing secular music wasseen as a betrayal. Some bore that
weight easier than others. Green returnedto gospel by the end of the seventies,
taking his injuries from falling up astage and Cincinnati as a final sign
from God. The first was innineteen seventy four, when his ex girlfriend

(03:52):
threw a pot of scolding hot gritson him in the bathtub, then shot
herself to death in the bedroom withhis gun. The pain that's so present
in Wright's voice is certainly due toan ingrained rasp, but also what feels
like a gnawing need for absolution.He sings not like a man who's lost
a lover, but one who's losthis way. Mitchell didn't bring right back

(04:15):
into the church, but he didbring some church to write. Listen to
their cover above Dylan's Blown in theWind. The song was the b side
to Love The Way You Love,which is a satisfyingly fat slab of Southern
souls, spurred along by Wayne Jacksonand Andrew Love famously known as the Memphis
Horns. The doing cover, however, surrounds Right with a choir. The

(04:40):
song is played at a walking paceby a band small enough to fit behind
a small town pulpit. You stillget the hurt in Right's voice. The
man could sing a mother's day cardand make it feel like the last act
of Macbeth. But you also hearthe soaring joy of a soul feeling it's
worth. The song Ace of Spadesfollowed in nineteen seven. It's just electric.

(05:01):
The tough mid tempo groove is alwaystugging at the track to make it
go a little faster, spurred alongby Right, who flexes that Redding and
Wilson Pickett had nothing on him.As a producer. William Mitchell didn't have
a singular sound as much as asuperloative band and an ear for what worked.
The famed high rhythm section included theHodges Brothers bassist Leroy and organist Charles

(05:25):
and guitarist Mayvon Teeny Hodges and stackdrummer Al Jackson Junior aka the Human Timekeeper,
the same group that created the sophisticatedsoul that helped put a Kennedy Center's
honors. Rainbow around Al Green's neckhad no problem cranking through the song's gritty
funk and Nickel and a Nail wasreleased a year later, and part of

(05:46):
what makes it such a marvel isthat both Right and the high rhythm section
packed so much of what they coulddo into one song. The sensitivity and
the power a horn fanfare gives wayto Jackson, who produces Right's vocal with
a snare roll, which isn't tosay we're exactly prepared for it. At
the end of the first line,Wright holds a note, singing the word

(06:08):
love would be too long, bendingit achingly upward. Just before the end
of the first verse, the bandis laying down a head nodding groove as
Right stretches out the phrase all Ihave for a full five seconds, most
of it spent making the first wordinto an invocation. When you gave over
write a song, the song belongedto him. Willie Mitchell said he's half

(06:30):
right, because deep in Wright's talentis an ability to give a song to
you. When he sings about losingeverything but five cents and a nail to
make it sound like more in hispocket, you feel all you could lose.
You don't have to know that Wrightdid lose everything not long after his
superlative song doing a stretch in prisonfor narcotics and dying in the back of

(06:53):
an ambulance in nineteen eighty. Whatright calls up in a nickel and a
nail isn't just there but for thegrit of God go I heartbreak so much
as a fierce desire to hug yourchildren and make everything right with your partner.
To listen to him is to bepossessed by the same spirit over.
Wright was never not a gospel singer. Thanks for listening, and Nikolin andail

(07:23):
is I guess, obviously a songabout which I'm particularly passionate. Ov Wright
can just snatch my heart out ofmy chest and soul of that error is
the music I most often returned to. That whole thing about who's underrated or
overrated or properly rated. That allfeels a bit too much like sports talk
radio to me. Music er allof art isn't a competition. Arguing about

(07:47):
who's better is more about the peopledoing the arguing than the artists themselves.
My hope is just that I canget other people to appreciate a song,
even if it's not one that's asenduringly popular as others from that era or
scene. Thanks again, Please dogive us a follow on your podcast platform

(08:07):
of choice. It will effortless seeyou get new episodes to you and I
said, great help to us.See you next week.