October 2, 2024 • 68 mins
In this episode of *Listen to This*, host Eric Leckey dives into the legendary sounds of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, the studio musicians behind some of the greatest hits in music history. From iconic tracks by Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett to classics by The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, Leckey showcases the unique groove and soulful influence that this Alabama-based group brought to countless records. Tune in as Leckey unpacks the magic behind these timeless tracks and the unsung heroes who helped shape the sound of rock, soul, and R&B.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to another episode of Listen to This. This is
the podcast that is dedicated to bringing you the stories
behind the artists, behind the songs, and hopefully we are
introducing you to old songs that have influenced all that
music that you hear today. The goal is we want
you to hear an artist that you might not normally
listen to and search out their music on whatever streaming
service you subscribe to or maybe go buy it on
(00:22):
physical media. We invite you to subscribe, comment, and of course,
as always, recommend this podcast to a friend. Every episode
has a theme, and today's theme is we will be
exploring the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Never in the history
of the United States a monster of such size and power.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Welcome to Listen to This, a podcast that brings you
the stories behind the songs and artists with.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
A theme to tie it all together.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Here's your hosts, Eric Leckey. The Swampers, also known as
the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, are a legendary group of
session musicians based in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. They gained fame
for their exceptional talent and distinctive sound that shaped the
landscape of popular music in the sixties and beyond. Formed
(01:13):
in the nineteen sixties, the core members of the Swampers
include David Hood on bass, Roger Hawkins on drums, Jimmy
Johnson on guitar, Barry Beckett on keyboards, and many others.
They became renowned for their versatility, contributing to recordings across
various genres including R and B, rock, soul, even country.
The Swampers are best known for their work at the
(01:35):
renowned recording studios Fame Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio.
They provided the musical foundation for numerous hits by pretty
iconic artists like Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, The Rolling Stones,
Leonard skinnern Paul Simon, and many more. Their ability to
infuse a soulful and rhythmic element into songs became a
(01:57):
pretty big hallmark of their sound. Unique style and tight
knit collaboration led to the creation of unforgettable tracks that
continue to resonate with audiences worldwide. The Swamper's influence had
left an indeblible mark on the music industry, solidifying their
place as a vital force and shaping the sound of
American popular music. You've heard me talk about the Wrecking Crew,
(02:19):
which I've never done an episode on, but the Muscle
Shoulder Them section was like the Wrecking Crew of the South.
There's a great mix of male and female artists on
today's episode, which makes me happy. The sound of Muscle
Shoals really lent itself to a female interpretation of a song.
There will be a couple of reoccurring artists on today's episode,
(02:41):
as I felt that the sound of the Swampers is
what I was focusing on, not the main artist. And
sometimes the best song I wanted to choose for a
spot was from an artist I already played. But the
heck with the rules. We are here to have fun,
and that brings us to our first song.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
He wants a dream like a young man with the
wisdom of an old man. He wants his home and security.
Speaker 5 (03:12):
He wants to live like a sailor At see Beautiful Loser,
where You're.
Speaker 6 (03:21):
Gonna fall you realize you just can't have it all.
Speaker 7 (03:33):
He you will understand your best friend.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
If you need him, He'll be there again.
Speaker 5 (03:40):
He's always willing to be second best, A perfect lodger,
a perfect has beautiful newser.
Speaker 8 (03:53):
Read it on the wall realize just can't.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
Just can't have it. It just can't have it at all.
Speaker 7 (04:16):
I can't have it all.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
That was Bob Seger with Beautiful Loser. This song is
about people who set their goals so low that they
never achieve anything. It's not about Seger personally, he said
in an interview in nineteen eighty six. A lot of
people think I wrote Beautiful Loser about myself. I got
the idea for that song from a book by Leonard
(04:41):
Cohen of his poetry by the same name. The song
was about underachievers in general. I very rarely write about
myself that much. I do draw on my own experiences
like anyone else would. But I'm not what you'd call autruistic.
I'm not like my songs at all. I'm a lot
more up person than what I write. Seeger took almost
a full year to write this song. He played around
(05:04):
with many different arrangements of the song until he got
it right. He explained, quote, I've never written the lyrics
and tried to build the music around that. It's usually
a feel or a verse or a chorus, and the
lyrics will come after I've decided that a certain pattern
or groove of the rhythm is cool, and I start
singing just gibberish over that until I can find a
(05:24):
lyrical idea that fits out the ideas that I started with.
Other times, I just sit down and say I want
to write a song called blank. And that's how Beautiful
Loser happened. I just loved the title and I wanted
to create art around it. Actually, I wrote four songs
called Beautiful Loser until I came up with the one
that worked. That's a pretty rare thing. It's not something
I've normally done. Radio stations usually play the live version
(05:48):
of Beautiful Loser together with the song travelin Man, off
the nineteen seventy six Live Bullet album. The two songs
are separate cuts on the CD, but they flow together
pretty seamlessly, so it makes great what radio people call
a piss break, where they can play it because they
know it's gonna play for a while and they can
go take a leak. Seeger spent a lot of time
on the road and didn't like to work on songs
(06:10):
when he was touring. When it came to making the album,
he would work with his Silver Bullet Band, but also
go off to muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama, where
he worked with those very talented musicians that served as
his backing band for the studio recordings. Beautiful Loser was
one of the tracks he recorded at Muscle Shoals, which
had two standout keyboard players in the ranks, Barry Beckett
(06:33):
and Spooner Oldham, which fitted nicely in this song.
Speaker 9 (06:43):
Oh nobody crying.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Nobody.
Speaker 9 (07:02):
He ain't no smiling faces, he did.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
No no, not to the raises.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Help me come home, come home.
Speaker 7 (07:17):
Somebody helping that.
Speaker 10 (07:19):
I'll do that.
Speaker 9 (07:22):
Help me up.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
I'll thank you that.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Shipping up.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
I'll thank you that.
Speaker 8 (07:30):
Okay, I'll thank you that.
Speaker 7 (07:35):
Oh Mercy, I'll thank you that.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Oh would men taken?
Speaker 11 (07:42):
Now?
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Thank you?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Oh let me take you out.
Speaker 12 (07:48):
The other.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
They're very.
Speaker 9 (07:53):
Say you say you beIN ann.
Speaker 12 (07:57):
All right.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
This was the first of two number one hits for
the Staple Singers. The other is Let's do It Again.
The Staple Singers were among the first group to move
from gospel to more inspirational soul music, said lead singer
Mavis Staples. When we heard doctor Martin Luther King preach,
we said, if he can preach this, we can sing it.
(08:25):
Stack's Records vice president Al Bell wrote this after attending
the funeral of his little brother, who was shot to death.
Said Bell, I went in the backyard of my father's home.
He had an old school bus there park that was
not running. I sat in the hood of that bus,
thinking about all that was happening, and all of a sudden,
I hear this gospel music in my head, and I
(08:45):
heard these lyrics. I know a place. Ain't nobody worried,
Ain't nobody crying, and ain't no smiling faces lying to
the races, And I'll take you there. I heard it.
I heard the music all in my head, and it
wouldn't leave. It stayed there, and I kept trying to
write other verses, but I couldn't. Nothing worked because that
was the only thing that was in my head at
the time. Bell brought this song out at the end
(09:07):
of a recording session with the band, says Bell. Mavis
couldn't get into it, she couldn't feel it. So I
stood there on the floor and tried to sing it
for the rest of the people as they got their music,
and finally got into it. After getting it down, I
came back and sat with MAVs and After a while,
she started feeling it and giving it her own rhythm.
Of course, she took it to heights that only Mayvas
(09:29):
Staples can take it. Nobody else could do it justice.
I don't care who else has covered this song. Her
version is always going to be the best version. Al
Bell signed the Staples Singers in nineteen sixty eight after
they had been released from Epic Records. Bell was an
old friend of the family, dating back from his time
in the nineteen fifties as a concert promoter in Little Rock, Arkansas.
(09:49):
At this point, the Staples moved away from protest songs
and recorded what they called message music. The first two
Staples albums for Stax Records were recorded with Steve Cropper,
who was a staff producer and guitarist. These albums, Soul
Folk in Action and Will Get Over It didn't sell
very well, so Bell then took them to Muscle Shoals
(10:12):
in Alabama and had them record with a Muscle Shoals
rhythm section, who were the group of session musicians that
were pretty famous for making things work. At Muscle Shoals,
the Staples found the sound that would make them stars,
and in August of nineteen seventy one they recorded the
hit I just played for you. I'll take you there.
Speaker 13 (10:43):
I should take my heart and the pome of your
hands and you squeezing. Then you take my mand and
play with all man. You take my pride? Can you
throw it up against wall? You take me in your arms,
(11:03):
ba ad, bounce me like a whole. I'm not complaining
what you're doing. You see, got just pad of feeling.
Speaker 12 (11:17):
So good to me?
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Don't you do it?
Speaker 12 (11:21):
Her so good?
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Don't you know it?
Speaker 12 (11:27):
Her soul?
Speaker 7 (11:33):
Take my name, scan of hazard in the streets.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Anything you want to do is say it's all right, then.
Speaker 13 (11:45):
Turn right around and make sweet love to me.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
Oh we treat that shown.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Up good to me? There this thanks you're doing to me?
Speaker 1 (12:03):
And I thought that that was Milli Jackson with it
Hurts So Good. Hurt So Good was written by Philip Mitchell,
a soul singer who wrote for many other artists in
the early seventies. It was Millie Jackson's biggest pop hit
(12:23):
and was featured in the movie Cleopatra Jones Great seventies
Black exploitation film. The song is similar to Bill Withers
use me and that it's how about you can use
someone who you love someone who is very bad for you.
The writer knew me well, and producer Brad Shapiro picked
the song, she said, and to be honest, that ended
(12:45):
up being in the movie because of timing. They needed
the songs and they knew of me, and they put two
of my songs in the movie only because they were
available to them at the time. The album was supposed
to be called something totally different, but since it came
out in the movie, they called it Hurts So Good.
My whole career is basically an accident, but I'll take it.
(13:06):
It Hurts So Good was Jackson's second album, and she
made sure to take control of the production and avoid
what happened on her debut album, said Jackson quote, my
first album is not in my natural voice. They speed
it up. My voice it was too low for a woman,
they thought, so they sped up all the tracks a
half step so everything would be higher than I actually
would sing it. In the first song that I recorded
(13:28):
came out and my natural voice was Hurts So Good.
On ask me what you want. I'm almost one of
the chipmunks.
Speaker 7 (13:53):
Come on, take me to.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Where the deepest.
Speaker 14 (14:00):
They wear the danceriously and dance music in the street
Wall Patch say.
Speaker 12 (14:13):
Hurry, take me.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
To the Murdy Rode.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
In the city of my dream.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
You can't legalize lose.
Speaker 15 (14:25):
You can wear some clothes.
Speaker 12 (14:28):
In the new hot I'm gon lay my burden.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Lets me when I want watch time.
Speaker 11 (14:47):
I won't be warning more.
Speaker 7 (14:57):
Take your Burdens to God.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
A top ten hit in the UK. This is one
of Paul Simon's lesser known songs in America. He says, quote,
it's a nice song that I don't think got much noticed.
That was the song Take Me to the Marti Gras.
The song is about a spiritually cleansing trip. Let's call
it to New Orleans, home of the famous Marti Gras festival.
(15:25):
It's a place free from judgment, where your troubles melt
away while you dance in your summer clothes and sweat
like crazy because of the humidity. Simon went to Mussel
Shulls Sound Studios in Alabama to record this song. The
four owners of the studio were also the house band
Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins, David Hood and Jimmy Johnson. Specifically,
(15:46):
they were renowned for playing on records by Aretha and
Eta James. At the time, and of course the staple
singers who I just played for you, and many other
popular artists that were willing to take the trip to
northern Alabama. The muscle shoals rhythm section was very efficient,
but Paul Simon had a very deliberate recording style. This
is a man who insisted on recording a vocal in
(16:07):
a church just to get the right sound on his
song The Boxer. Simon would book four days of studio
time to record the song Marty Graw, but thirty minutes
and two takes later, they were done. David Hood said, quote,
he had all this time left over, and he's not
gonna pay for four days with a studio time for
one song. So he says, what else can we record?
(16:28):
So he sits and plays, and we tape the song, coda,
chrome and a few other things right after that, and
knocked it out pretty fast. He was amazed because he
had always taken so long to record things. He couldn't
believe that we were able to get something that quickly
and nail it exactly how we wanted. But we had
our thing down to a real science by the time
we started working with him, because we had done so
(16:49):
much stuff. We could make a chord chart and you
can get a really good track in one or two takes.
With us, we were pretty much the best in the
business at this point. Despite being about New Orleans and
Marty Gras, this song doesn't incorporate the sound of the
area until the end we hear about thirty seconds of
horns played by the Onward brass band of New Orleans.
The line you can jingle to the beat of Jelly
(17:12):
Rolls a reference to the acclaimed New Orleans jazz musician
Jelly Roll Morton.
Speaker 7 (18:00):
Dan don't have an I got the best.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
The black.
Speaker 7 (18:22):
Dynastic coming out a bull. I said, excuse.
Speaker 8 (18:29):
But happy, don't.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
That was Rod Stewart and The song Stone Cold Sober
is part of Stuart's Atlantic Crossing album. The title represents
his move to America. His band The Faces had recently
broken up, with Ron Wood joining The Rolling Stones, so
Stuart was focused on his solo work. Sailing and his
(19:19):
cover of This Old Heart of Mine were pretty big
hits in the UK but didn't really rate very high
in America. But Tonight's the Night Gonna Be Alright, the
lead single from his next album, went to number one
in the US. Rod Stewart was anything but stone cold
sober in nineteen seventy five, So imagine his surprise when
he showed up in Alabama Muscle Shoals Sound Studios to
(19:42):
record and learned that it was located in what Americans
call a dry county, meaning no liquor is available. Well,
Stuart was forced into sobriety. He wrote this song at
the studio with guitarist Steve Cropper of the band. The
song is about the inevitable hangover that comes after the
indulgence at this point. Anyways, Stuart felt it was worth
(20:05):
it because he loved the sound he was getting from
Muscle Shoals. Finding himself and I guess you would call
it an alcohol desert wasn't Stuart's only surprise when he
came to Muscle Shoals Sound Studios. Quote. I was under
the impression that the musicians from Muscle Shols Studios, who
had back such luminaries as A. Wretha Franklin, Carla Thomas,
Wilson Pickett and many others, were black. Well, imagine my
(20:26):
surprise on arriving at the studio to find, in fact,
they were all a bunch of white guys.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
You let me here on your way there.
Speaker 15 (21:00):
You pulled aroun that up from under my last.
Speaker 6 (21:07):
I know where you go to anew when you came
home last night car thea had a missing from the
Smoke of a Distant Fire.
Speaker 12 (21:25):
Lord.
Speaker 6 (21:25):
I'm stone should have seen her come a long time ago.
When I real last the reality gave me rule if
things are the same, then explain why your kisses so cool?
(21:46):
And then this day Yard asked me, was like, right
on the fire, you mussel.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Not a super well known band, but after listening to
a few of their songs as research for this episode,
I kind of like them. They're pretty good. That was
Sandford Townsend Band with the song Smoke from a Distant Fire.
Of course, though, as I said, I'm not necessarily picking
these songs for the band, I'm picking it for the
music that is behind the band, since that's the theme
of the episode. Regarding the recording of this song, Jimmy
(22:34):
Townshend of Sandford Townsend Band said, quote, we had landed
a publishing deal in nineteen seventy four and made demos
with a lot of the great players of the day.
That again caught the attention of another big time New
York producer, Jerry Wexler. It was Wexler's idea to take
the band to Mussel Shoals to record. This time, we
used our band with Barry Beckett, one of the Mussel
(22:56):
Shoals guys, as producer and musical supervisor. The experience was
just incredible. We had some of our friends from the
Loggins and Messina band come in and play on the
record as well. I got my younger brother, Billy up
from Tuscaloosa to help with the background singing, and we
came up with quite a nice record. Those guys are
just amazing musicians. The most memorable song from that outing
(23:17):
was Smoke from a Distant Fire, still a big favorite
with a surprising amount of folks to this day.
Speaker 16 (23:22):
Starting all He's gonna be? So could we gonna make?
Starting all He's gonna be? Oh, but we got a fathing.
(23:51):
We love what we had and that's what we're a
soul band.
Speaker 12 (23:58):
Set up back a thousand ye but up.
Speaker 10 (24:07):
Then took e Raisin, starting.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
All over He's gonna be, but afray that the long
will help off, Starting all over again, He's gonna be so.
Speaker 12 (24:38):
We we both know.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
Then weekend.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
That was Mel and Tim with starting all over again
Love that song. The spoken intro on this track which
was removed on the edits that were sent to pop
radio stations, but on the record, that's the big, huge
spoken intro part. It set up the storyline in this
song with a little more clearer detail. The song is
(25:04):
about building a romance anew after an initial breakup. The
singer knows that it'll be an uphill climb, but with
help from above, he thinks they can get there. The
keys take it slow and don't fuss about who's wrong
and who's right. Pretty good advice overall. Mel and Tim
are cousins Mel Harden and Tim McPherson. Tim sings lead.
Speaker 17 (25:24):
On this track.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
They started writing songs when they were just teenagers growing
up in Mississippi. Some of their songs got the attention
of Gene Chandler, who signed them to his newly formed
Bamboo Record label. Chandler wanted them to sing the songs
that they wrote, and they quickly scored two hits for
the label, Backfield in Motion, which went up to number
ten in nineteen sixty nine, and Good Guys Only Win
(25:47):
in the Movies, which reach number forty five in nineteen seventy.
The label did run into problems, so Mel and Tim
waited out their contract and signed with Stax Records. In
nineteen seventy two, Stack's release Starting all Over Again as
their first single and apt title since the duo was
rebooting their career. Unfortunately, it would be their last hit.
(26:09):
This song was written by Philip Mitchell, who was the
staff songwriter at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios where Mel and
Tim recorded the track. The production and arrangement of this song,
including the sitar and the spoken intro, was modeled on
the song have You Seen Her by the Chaighlights, which
was a huge hit in nineteen seventy one.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
Something to Me?
Speaker 12 (26:49):
It was.
Speaker 15 (26:56):
When I saw you and.
Speaker 18 (27:04):
Something deep down in my soul shurprag girl.
Speaker 15 (27:13):
When I saw you and that girl walking down, I
would have ever.
Speaker 19 (27:23):
I would rather go blind boy, then to see you
walk away from me child, y'all.
Speaker 18 (27:40):
So you see, I love you so much that I
don't want to watch you need me big. Most of all,
I just don't. I just don't want to betreat'll.
Speaker 7 (27:57):
I was young, I.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
Was said, now.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Young, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
That was Edda James with I'd Rather Go blind. Eda
James penned this Southern blues classic. During a visit to
her friend Ellington Jordan in prison in nineteen sixty seven,
the Detroit singer and songwriter had already outlined the basics
of the song, in which he poured out his grief
from being incarcerated, not knowing when he would be released
(28:33):
and have his freedom. He recalled quote, I got tired
of losing and being down. I was in prison and
didn't know when I was gonna get out. I sat
at a piano room and begin to write. James and
Jordan then completed the song together, but for tax reasons,
she gave her songwriting credit to her partner at the time,
Billy Foster, who was a member of the nineteen fifties
(28:55):
la do wop group the Medallions. It was a decision
that she came to her read as the royalties accumulated
for many years. In nineteen sixty seven, during a brief
intermission from her heroin Addiction, Edda, James made an excursion
to the Fame Studios and Muscle Shoals, Alabama to lay
down Tell Mama. She recorded the I'd Rather Go Blind
(29:17):
as the B side of the single, and also cut
a cover of the Otis Redding song Security. The Alabama
studios were perfect for James since it was in an
isolated area with little to no access to drugs and alcohol,
and home to the best backing musicians in the business,
at least regionally. David Hood, who played bass on the sessions,
said in an interview that they did the song in
(29:38):
one take, with Fame owner Recall running the session. Said
Hood quote, it was a pretty simple song, but her
performance was great, and apparently our performances were pretty good
as well. They may have gone back and done some
revocals sometimes, but other than that, it was all done
in one take. Sometimes if there was a misnote or
something like that, you just wouldn't do anything about it,
(30:00):
let it go because it sounded authentic. Nowadays you would
just fix everything.
Speaker 12 (30:04):
Sitting on the.
Speaker 4 (30:05):
Doorstep of the house against a foe.
Speaker 8 (30:11):
Un figure you.
Speaker 20 (30:18):
Spinking of a reason, Well, it's really not very hot
love you even though elasma house. How can I explain
the meaning of alone?
Speaker 21 (30:38):
Its time closer than a gloss sitting on the bottle
by the ribber rain gets on? Won't you never ever
(31:02):
don get that bar?
Speaker 3 (31:08):
You know something b.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
That bel did a lot.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
I can see your.
Speaker 4 (31:25):
Things, the mas of my mind, we're you still read the.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
Really that's a cable, and.
Speaker 4 (31:40):
You seem to think Alla's got in trouble. So it's
on the lear the things go mine. You seem to
drink the pond.
Speaker 12 (31:58):
But do you know the finds a way.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
That was Julian Lennon singing his song Vallote. The album
was dedicated to quote my mother Cynthia and to my father. Julian,
of course, is John Lennon's first son. His mother is
Cynthia Lennon, who John was married to before Yoko. They
had a son named Sean. Julian sounds a lot like
(32:24):
his dad, and a lot of people were surprised to
learn it was not a John Lennon song when they
first heard it. This was Julian's first single in the
US and his second in the UK. His next American single,
Too Late for Goodbyes, did even better than this song,
getting all the way up to number five. Lennon wrote
this back in nineteen eighty three at a French chateau
(32:45):
called Manor de Vallote, which is how the song got
its title. The word vallot does not actually appear in
the lyrics. He told the story quote. The place where
this was written there was actually a beautiful little rundown
chateau in the middle of France, which is where the
label at the time decided was a good place to
send their artists to work out their writing skills. It
(33:06):
was really tranquil, beautiful spot and seemingly in the middle
of nowhere, where one could get a little lonely. I
guess the song initially came from that idea of just
being in this beautiful landscape and dreaming of the idea
that if you found love of your life, this is
something that you would aspire to to be in this place.
It's as simple as that. Julian recorded this at Muscle
(33:27):
Shoals in Alabama, which at the time was located along
the Tennessee River in Sheffield, Alabama. It moved later on
to a different studio. According to Jimmy Johnson, who was
one of the studio owners, Lennon's lyric quote sitting on
a pebble by the river playing guitar was inspired by
his time there. Muscle Shoals is a pretty tranquil place
(33:48):
where artists could record in relative seclusion. Was some of
the best musicians in the world available to back them up,
and another fun bit of trivia. The song Hey Jude
that everyone sings along to You was written by Paul
McCartney to Julian Lennon about his parents divorcing. Jude was
code for Julian. Now, someone sound the alarm, because here
(34:14):
comes three songs in a row from Miss Aretha Franklin.
Speaker 9 (34:23):
Sh If you won't I love it? If you.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Really do, oh, Ray, just ask. I know I'm gonna
give into you. Ah, I don't declare I do.
Speaker 8 (34:46):
I want to see you in any sat boy.
Speaker 12 (34:52):
You go get it, you.
Speaker 3 (34:57):
Babe.
Speaker 12 (34:58):
Baby Baby.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
Love written by Ronnie Shannon, who is also responsible for
Aretha's first top ten hit, I Never love demand the
way I love you. This horn laden soul track finds
the singer declaring her love and urging her man to
make the next move. The song is Baby, I Love You.
Aside from peaking at number four on the Hot one
(35:31):
hundred and it also held the number one spot on
the R and B chart for a few weeks. Aretha
recorded this with Atlantic producer Jerry Wexler in New York City.
During the same session she recorded Chain of Fools. Most
of the personnel from the song I Never Love Demand
were featured on this track as well, including engineer Tom
Dowd and Muscle Shoals players Jimmy Johnson Joe South on guitars,
(35:53):
Tommy Cogbill on bass, Spooner Oldman on electric piano, and
Roger Hawkins on drums. Truman Thomas also played the organ
on this song. Likewise, her sister Carolyn and Irma provided
backing vocals for Aretha Franklin, along with the band The
Sweet Inspirations and R and B Girl Group founded by
Sissy Houston, mother of Whitney Houston.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
I love you and I love you and I love
you too, baby?
Speaker 12 (36:24):
Will you call me you?
Speaker 3 (36:28):
Get there? They they and I love you and I
love you too and I love you.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
Baby.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
Will you love me? Get them? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (37:06):
That was a song call Me from Miss Aretha Franklin.
Aretha is famous for her voice, of course, but she
also excelled as a songwriter, penning many of her early
hits and taking an active role in the recording sessions.
She wrote the song call Me not long after divorcing
her husband of eight years, Ted White. The inspiration for
the song came when Aretha saw a young couple in
(37:27):
New York City, who were clearly in love. As they
parted each other said to the other, I love you,
followed by call me the moment you get there. Many
of Aretha's early recording sessions were with the Muscle Shoals
rhythm section, but only one of these sessions actually took
place in Muscle Shoals I Never loved a man the
way I Love You song. That's because the session ended
(37:48):
in a pretty big argument between Aretha's husband at the
time and one of the horn players. Since Aretha wouldn't
return to Mussel Shoals that Jerry Wexler at her label,
Atlantic Records, brought the musician to her usually in New
York City. The session for call Me, however, was at
Criteria Studios in Miami, which Atlantic was using for a
(38:09):
lot of their business at the time. Aretha played the
piano on this song, backed by the Muscle Shoals musicians.
This was the eighth of Aretha Franklin's twenty number one
R and B hits she has more than any other artist,
and her first since she divorced from Ted White.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
You're no good greaker, You're lie and your cheat.
Speaker 4 (38:42):
Now, how did you do these things to me.
Speaker 9 (38:50):
My friends keep telling me, now you ain't no.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
Good whoa, I don't know.
Speaker 15 (39:01):
That I leave you there. I guess I'm out and
I'm still like Lou. I ain't never, I ain't never.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
Look a man.
Speaker 7 (39:24):
I love you.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
Time of all. I thought you want to run out
of foods, but I was so long.
Speaker 22 (39:41):
You got one that you never lose. The way you're
treating is a shame. How God you've hurt me so bad.
I mean, you know that I'm the best thing.
Speaker 4 (39:58):
That you ever han.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
She has.
Speaker 3 (40:16):
Love man.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
I figured I talked about the song enough, I might
as well play it. That was I Never loved a
Man the Way I Love You, the first one that
she recorded with this group of musicians. Aretha Franklin recorded
for Columbia Records from nineteen sixty to nineteen sixty six,
never charting higher on the Hot one hundred the number
thirty seven. In nineteen sixty seven. She then signed with
Atlantic Records and released I Never Loved a Man the
(40:43):
Way I Love You as her debut single with the label,
and it became the first top ten hit for what
would become the Queen of Soul. The song was written
by Ronnie Shannon as has written some of her other stuff,
and her recording of the blues based ballad established the
singer as a superstar. Shannon also wrote the other song
I played for you Baby, I love you more than
(41:03):
any other artist. Aretha Franklin is known for bringing the
Muscle Shoals sound to the forefront, even though this was
the only song that she actually recorded in Muscle Shoals.
The session took place at Fame Studios in Muscle Sholes, Alabama.
The Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler sent Aretha to record
there and had engineer Tom Dowd there as kind of
(41:24):
a guiding hand to guide her through the process, and
he was very impressed with her, and she was very
impressed with the musicians who played. They pulled off the session,
but as I mentioned previous, Aretha's husband and manager, Ted White,
had some beef with the horn players, which it was
also a pretty legendary incident with David Hood recalled in
an interview. Hood became the bass player in the Muscle
(41:45):
Shoals rhythm section, but at this session he was actually
playing trombone, said Hood. Quote. Ken Laxton, the trumpet player,
was making remarks to Aretha that he thought were kind
of cool and hip and all that, and Aretha and
her husband Ted thought, who is this white guy talking
smart and trying to jive with us? And it was
taken all wrong. I think, I don't think anyone was
(42:06):
really trying to cause problems, but it was taken wrong.
And people were doing a lot of drinking on this session,
not me, but some people were, and it just got
blown out of proportion and it ended up being a
big argument and ended the session, and that's why she
didn't record at Muscle Shoals. After that, Aretha left and
the song was completed in New York. The song was
a perfect fit for Aretha, and Jerry Wexler decided that
(42:27):
instead of trying to send the singer back to Muscle Shoals,
he would continued to bring him to New York from
then on out.
Speaker 4 (42:36):
When I was a little boy, the devil call my name? Now,
who knew?
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Who do you think you're fooling?
Speaker 23 (42:49):
I'm a consecrative.
Speaker 7 (42:58):
She loves me, she can me her name, wants her
love rock.
Speaker 8 (43:08):
She robbed me.
Speaker 3 (43:09):
You love me?
Speaker 12 (43:12):
She love me?
Speaker 3 (43:14):
Love me?
Speaker 2 (43:16):
When it's grown to be man.
Speaker 4 (43:19):
And the devil would call a name.
Speaker 14 (43:23):
See now, who do who do you think you're fooding?
I'm a cons mean man, set a cuty.
Speaker 8 (43:36):
My mama mats me.
Speaker 9 (43:38):
She loves me, she can love me and her names
me like a rock.
Speaker 8 (43:47):
She robbed me, love me.
Speaker 1 (43:54):
That song, loves Me Like a Rock is one of
Paul Simon's more spiritual songs. It's about mother's love. Note
that Paul Simon was the rare songwriter who used rock
to actually mean a piece of stone rather than musical form.
He did the same thing on one of his first songs,
I Am a Rock. Background vocals were provided by a
popular gospel group called the Dixie Hummingbirds, which formed all
(44:18):
the way back in the nineteen thirties. They released their
own version of the song in nineteen seventy three on
their album We Love You Like a Rock, and toured
with both Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder A few years earlier,
the staple singer made the transition from gospel to pop,
but the Dixie Hummingbirds didn't catch on with a wider audience.
Here Comes Ryman. Simon was recorded at Muscle Shoals with
(44:42):
the Muscle Shoals rhythm section in late seventy two and
into seventy three. The line about the president and the
minute Congress calls my nameline seemed, however, intentionally to resonate
the big news story of the day, the Watergate investigation
that brought down President Nixon.
Speaker 5 (45:07):
Mustain sign it because you made a slow your mustained
what I said, now, Mustade said in my baby hold on,
(45:31):
guess you made a slow your Mustaine?
Speaker 4 (45:38):
My yeah, human right.
Speaker 3 (45:45):
Down.
Speaker 4 (45:48):
I guess I have to put your flat on that
brown When I said, now.
Speaker 7 (45:59):
Listen, do you want to do it around?
Speaker 12 (46:11):
Around you?
Speaker 1 (46:25):
Though this R and B classic was originally recorded by
mac Rice in nineteen sixty five, it saw much greater
popularity when Wilson Pickett covered it the following year. Once
the studios and those musicians in the studio caught the
attention of Jerry Wexler at Atlantic Records, he sent Pickett
there to record the song Mustang Sally, along with another
(46:47):
one of his classic hits, Land of a Thousand Dances,
which I played for you way back on another episode
many seasons ago. Pickett's session of Mustang Sally nearly ended
up on the cutting room floor, I mean like literally.
After Pickett finished his final take, the tape flew off
the reel and broke into pieces. The session engineer Tom
Dowd then cleared the room and painstakingly pieced the tape
(47:10):
back together, saving what would become one of the biggest
hits of the nineteen sixties. This song is about a
girl who lives a wild life and in her brand
new Mustang car. The singer bought the car, which transformed
into Mustang Sally, and now she's running around town paying
little attention to her sugar. Daddy Pickett warns her that
(47:31):
she needs to slow it down with one of the
great theets in soul music history, guess I have to
put your flat feet on the ground. One of the
more popular covers of Mustang Sally is by Buddy Guy
with Jeff Beck on guitar and the Memphis Horns. It's
included on Buddy Guy's nineteen ninety one album Damn Right,
I've Got the Blues, which won the Grammy for Best
(47:52):
Contemporary Blues Album and revived his career. Despite influencing heavyweights
like Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton, Guy didn't have a
record deal for most of the eighties. When he finally
landed one, the label had him cover Mustang Sally to
help expand his audience with a familiar up tempo song.
Speaker 12 (48:53):
You came, you know you're putting on your map. I'm
about next. So where did I see a sun? Get
a coming round a corner?
Speaker 3 (49:14):
Let me know the go preaches dollar?
Speaker 12 (49:27):
Where I see you for your window? Baver?
Speaker 3 (49:30):
Then a time? Yah, I'm looking on your back?
Speaker 12 (49:47):
Where did I seeing soucle? Try a color rather a corner?
I don't let you know, go wach a dollar.
Speaker 1 (50:03):
As any Leonard Skynyrd fan knows, their first album, called
Pronounced Lanyard SCANNRD, was released in nineteen seventy three. However,
diehards will know that an entirely different album was set
to be their debut, an album full of songs recorded
in muscle shoals. The early demos were recorded between nineteen
(50:23):
seventy one and nineteen seventy two, and were ultimately scrapped
in favor of what would become the album Pronounced. For years,
fans knew nothing of the recordings until a plane crash
claimed the lives of lead singer Ronnie van Zan and
guitarist Stephen Gaines. After the tragic accident, the surviving members
released the Muscle Shoals recordings and their entirety as Skynyrd's
(50:46):
first and last album when such song was the song
Preacher's Daughter which I Played for You, which highlights all
the best of the original Skinnerd lineup, not to mention
they enjoyed their time in Muscle Shoals so much that
they felt in flying to defend the state and what
is arguably one of the biggest anthems of all time,
Sweet Home Alabama. Now Muscle Shoals has got the swampers,
(51:08):
and they've been known to pick a song or two,
he says in the song the Swampers are the Muscle
Shoals rhythm section.
Speaker 7 (51:43):
Is they.
Speaker 4 (51:58):
About them? Real slesting?
Speaker 3 (52:12):
You know why?
Speaker 17 (52:19):
You know?
Speaker 11 (52:20):
I can lit.
Speaker 9 (52:26):
Slot reviving.
Speaker 3 (52:33):
Wow, Randy Wow Wow.
Speaker 8 (52:54):
Randy Way.
Speaker 3 (53:01):
Long Tune.
Speaker 1 (53:07):
Absolutely loved that song from The Rolling Stones Wild Horses.
The Rolling Stones took a trip down to Muscle Shoals
for a three day recording session that would result in
three of the album's sticky fingers most iconic tracks. Channeling
the swampy music of the area, The Stones wrote and
recorded the song Brown Sugar, you Gotta Move and the
(53:27):
track I Chose for You on this list. Wild Horses
all three bangers of songs quote Muscle Shoals studio was
in a rather interesting place, and being there does inspire
you to do things slightly differently, Jagger once said, crediting
the studio for sticky fingers now iconic sound. Departing from
their usual blues tinged material on Wild Horses, the Stones
(53:52):
took a hard left into classic country music with a
simple acoustic riff in what they call Nashville tuning. Seems
the trip down south was worth it, as it's hard
to imagine this song would have come from the Stones
in any other way. This started as a song for
Keith Richards' newborn son, Marlin. It was nineteen sixty nine
(54:12):
and Keith regretted that he had to leave his son
to go out on tour. Mick Jagger rewrote Keith's lyrics,
keeping only the line wild Horses Couldn't drag Me away.
His rewrite was based on his relationship with the artist
Maryanne Faithful, which was disintegrating. This was first release though
by Graham Parsons Flying Burrito Brothers in nineteen seventy. The
(54:35):
Stones version was written in sixty nine but had to
wait for the album Sticky Fingers, to come out in
nineteen seventy one. Parsons was really good friends with Keith Richards,
and the musicians often cited each other as an influence,
said Parsons. I picked up some rock and roll from
Keith Richards, and Mick Jagger knows an awful lot about
country music. I learned a lot about singing and performing
(54:57):
from Mick. Muscle Shoals Sound Studios WOU, which was actually
located in Sheffield, Alabama at the time, opened to nineteen
sixty nine when Jerry Wexler at Atlantic Records, which was
the Rolling Stones label, loaned money to four of the
musicians at nearby Fame Studios so they could start their
own company and install an eight track recording equipment. Fame
was only using a four track. Wexler sent many of
(55:20):
Atlantic's acts to Muscle Shoals since the musicians were fantastic
and it was a dry county in with nothing to do,
It meant the artists were more likely to stay focused.
The studio also had a real distinctive sound that can
be heard on this track, especially on Jagger's vocals. You
can hear almost like a slight distortion well that was
caused by the console that they used in was kind
(55:40):
of heard in almost any song that was played there.
When the Stones left Muscle Shoals, they headed for Alta Mount, California,
where they gave a free concert on December sixth, nineteen
sixty nine, a disastrous show where a fan was stabbed
to death by a Hell's Angels security guard, and the
documentary Gave Me Shelter, which les the concert. There is
(56:01):
a scene where the band is listening to the playback
of Wild Horses that they had just recorded a week
earlier at Muscle Shoals.
Speaker 20 (56:18):
I found.
Speaker 4 (56:23):
I been not toed the she was in everyday.
Speaker 1 (56:31):
I've ever been dreaming.
Speaker 12 (56:34):
But she was bad. I didn't know.
Speaker 24 (56:39):
Her.
Speaker 4 (56:39):
British mom never.
Speaker 12 (56:42):
Did show it.
Speaker 7 (56:44):
All I knew is what I see, and.
Speaker 1 (56:48):
I knew I wanted her.
Speaker 12 (56:50):
Boss took her home to Mama.
Speaker 11 (56:55):
Mama want to see my future pride. She looked at
us bold, and then she called me to a side.
She said, so take time to.
Speaker 3 (57:12):
Snod and all and that thing. Take time.
Speaker 11 (57:20):
Please don't regression, do the thing. But I didn't listen
to my comor. I went stay to the tune.
Speaker 24 (57:33):
I just couldn't read.
Speaker 8 (57:35):
T when I got a home.
Speaker 11 (57:39):
From work, A preaching from there. It's open by future Bride.
He looked at us bold, then he called me to
his side.
Speaker 25 (57:50):
Take time to.
Speaker 12 (57:54):
Snod and all.
Speaker 1 (57:56):
Take time to Know Her is a song written by
Steve Davis and performed by Percy Sledge from February of
nineteen sixty eight. By the way, he is best known
for the song When a Man Loves a Woman, a
number one smash hit on both the Billboard Hot one
hundred and R and B Singles charts in nineteen sixty six.
Just two years before this song came out, Percy Sledge
(58:16):
worked as a hospital orderly before he was discovered. While
working at the hospital during the week, a former patient
and mutual friend of Sledge and record producer Quinn Ivy
introduced the two. An audition followed, and Sledge was signed
to a recording contract. Percy Sledge's soul for voice was
perfect for the series of soul ballads that produced by
(58:38):
Ivy and the artist Marlon Green, which rock critic David
Marsh called quote emotional classics for romantics of all ages.
When a Man Loves a Woman was Sledge's first song
recorded under the track This one was his second.
Speaker 5 (58:57):
Just stake those all show, I said, listen to by
myself today's music game.
Speaker 12 (59:07):
You got the same song.
Speaker 8 (59:09):
Now I got a time of I can row.
Speaker 12 (59:13):
Don't trying to take them to it.
Speaker 5 (59:15):
Just go.
Speaker 3 (59:17):
You'll never even get there out.
Speaker 7 (59:19):
On the floor, the ten minutes out, the letting go
the dog.
Speaker 3 (59:24):
Now I got a time off.
Speaker 8 (59:26):
I can roll still, I had a time off.
Speaker 4 (59:30):
I can't row.
Speaker 7 (59:32):
That kind of music just suits the sop.
Speaker 8 (59:36):
I'm been a lintle after days of more from that
all time off.
Speaker 3 (59:41):
I can't roll.
Speaker 1 (59:59):
That His old time rock and Roll by Bob Seger.
This was one of the few songs Seeger recorded that
he didn't write. It was written by the songwriters George
Jackson and Thomas Jones. They worked for Muscle Shoals Sound
Studios where the song was recorded. Although Seger worked on
the lyrics, he didn't take any of the songwriter credit.
(01:00:19):
This means that Segar doesn't own the publishing rights to
the song, and Jackson and Jones control when it is
used in movies and commercials. According to Seger, he was
feeling generous that day and not seeking composer credit was
the dumbest thing I ever did. Seeger claims he changed
all the original lyric except for the old time rock
and roll part. He made sure to take a dig
(01:00:41):
at disco music, which was fading in popularity at the time.
Jerry Masters, who was a recording engineer at Muscle Shoals,
told the story quote, we cut a demo of the
writer of the song, George Jackson there at the studio
when we didn't have anything else to do. It was
a great demo, along with some others that we cut
that day. Segar liked the song so much he tried
(01:01:02):
to cut it himself, but after numerous tries with the
Swampers and with his band, he finally gave up. He
and Punch Andrews, which was Seger's manager, decided to buy
the demo track from us and put his vocal on
top of it, and that ended up being the record
It's a classic. We also did the song Catman Do
and several more that were on The Night Moves and
(01:01:23):
Stranger in Town LPs. So the Classic Old Time was
really a demo that we cut, and he just put
his voice over.
Speaker 4 (01:01:43):
My midmo love last night.
Speaker 3 (01:01:49):
She seems so glad to see me.
Speaker 4 (01:01:53):
I'll just smile and we talked about some old times,
and we drank or sell some abuse.
Speaker 17 (01:02:03):
Still crazy to all theseies? What was still crazy after old.
Speaker 2 (01:02:12):
The I'm not the kind a man whoretends to socialize.
Speaker 25 (01:02:27):
I seemed to lean on all familiar ways, and I
awful fog of songs that whisper in my eyes.
Speaker 17 (01:02:40):
Still crazy after all THESEI was still crazy after old e.
Speaker 1 (01:02:53):
That was Paul Simon was still crazy after all these years.
And I've always wanted to say this, Simon says, it's
still crazy after all these years. That title phrase came
to me first, and it didn't come with the melody either.
It just came to me as a line all by itself,
and then I had to create a story around it.
Regarding the kind of unusual chord changes, he added quote,
(01:03:15):
I was studying with a bass player and composer named
Chuck Israel's at the time, and I was doing so
with some more interesting changes. I was studying harmony with him.
Instead of using a minor chord, I use a major
chord and go up a step. It's hard to get
an interesting key change. I also like writing a bridge
and just a jump up of the whole tone. Still
(01:03:35):
crazy has that in it. On the second episode of
Saturday Night Live, which aired on October eighteenth, nineteen seventy five,
Paul Simon hosted the show, and he opened the show
by singing this song all alone on stage. This was
the song's debut, as the album wasn't even released until
a week later. When Simon returned on the show of
(01:03:55):
November twentieth of nineteen seventy six, he once again opened
with a performance of the same song, this time though
in a Turkey costume. It was the week before Thanksgiving.
During this performance, he stops in mid song and is
then followed backstage griping to producer Lauren Michaels about making
him wear the costume. In fact, it was Paul's idea
(01:04:16):
to do this, including the walk off. He wanted to
show he had a sense of humor and didn't take
himself as seriously as most people thought. Simon won the
nineteen seventy five Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance
of this song, and the album won the Grammy for
Album of the Year. At the ceremony, Paul Simon got
up to make his acceptance speech and thanked Stevie Wonder,
(01:04:37):
who'd won the previous two years for not making an
album that year, and the next year's album of the Year,
by the way, went to Stevie Wonder again because he
actually released another album. Paul Simon recorded the song with
the Muscle Shoals rhythm section, Barry Beckett on piano, David
Hood on bass, Roger Hawkins on drums. These guys owned
a recording studio in Alabama where Simon recorded Coda Chrome
(01:04:58):
and take Me to the Marty Raw the song I
played for you earlier but for still Crazy after all
these years. He actually flew the guys to New York.
This changed the dynamic as Simon, who tends to do
take after take and work very deliberately on a track,
was taking his sweet time while in Alabama they got
Marty Gross Dunn and just a take or two. As
the President once said, it is time to drain the
(01:05:20):
swamp ers, so we must have this episode on the
Swampers come to an end. I'm gonna leave you with
an unusual genre for the Swampers to play on as
our final song. The song is by Jimmy Cliff and
the song is the Harder They Come. This was written
by Cliff and was used in the Jamaican produced film
of the same name. The movie starred Cliff as a
(01:05:43):
naive country boy who goes to town and becomes a gangster.
The film contains two other songs written by Cliff, let
Your Yeah Be Yeah and Wonderful World Beautiful People. The
song tells a story that matter how hard life can be,
you can still succeed. Cliff stars in the film as
Ivanhoe Martin and helps out a local church he has
(01:06:03):
seen in the film recording the title track Harder They Come.
He gets ripped off by the producer and ends up
on the wrong side of the law, eventually dying in
a shootout with the police. It's a pretty crackling film
and a pretty killer soundtrack. Well, I hope you enjoyed
this exploration and deep dive into the swampers also known
as the Muscle Shoals rhythm section down there in Alabama.
(01:06:24):
And one day, maybe one day, we will tackle the
wrecking crew that's just so near and dear to my heart.
I want to make sure I do it right. But
as for this episode, it is really important that you
recommend it to a friend so that they can enjoy
the show as well. And of course give it a rating,
leave reviews, and of course has always turned this last
song up. We'll see you next week.
Speaker 2 (01:06:53):
Will.
Speaker 3 (01:07:00):
For me when I die.
Speaker 23 (01:07:03):
But between the day abode and when you die, they
never seem to hear even look right.
Speaker 24 (01:07:13):
So as sure as the sun will share, I'm gonna
get my machine of what's mine. Give them the horror
they go, the horror they on who the horror they go,
(01:07:34):
the horror they'll fall wana.
Speaker 23 (01:07:41):
Well, the oppressers are trying to keep me down, trying
to drive under ground, and they think that they have
got the battle wall.
Speaker 3 (01:07:55):
I say, forgive them long.
Speaker 12 (01:07:57):
They know not what they done.
Speaker 4 (01:08:00):
Call ashore as the sud You.
Speaker 23 (01:08:03):
Will share the bonneget sin once mine and then.
Speaker 24 (01:08:10):
The horder they come, the hot of the one n ooh,
the horda, then calla.
Speaker 3 (01:08:28):
Thank you for listening.
Speaker 8 (01:08:29):
To listen to this, please recommend to a friend.
Speaker 1 (01:08:32):
And don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe.
Speaker 8 (01:08:35):
For more podcasts and online content, please visit this is
Funner dot com.
Speaker 12 (01:08:40):
This is Funner
Welcome to another episode of Listen to This. This is
the podcast that is dedicated to bringing you the stories
behind the artists, behind the songs, and hopefully we are
introducing you to old songs that have influenced all that
music that you hear today. The goal is we want
you to hear an artist that you might not normally
listen to and search out their music on whatever streaming
service you subscribe to or maybe go buy it on
(00:22):
physical media. We invite you to subscribe, comment, and of course,
as always, recommend this podcast to a friend. Every episode
has a theme, and today's theme is we will be
exploring the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Never in the history
of the United States a monster of such size and power.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Welcome to Listen to This, a podcast that brings you
the stories behind the songs and artists with.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
A theme to tie it all together.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Here's your hosts, Eric Leckey. The Swampers, also known as
the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, are a legendary group of
session musicians based in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. They gained fame
for their exceptional talent and distinctive sound that shaped the
landscape of popular music in the sixties and beyond. Formed
(01:13):
in the nineteen sixties, the core members of the Swampers
include David Hood on bass, Roger Hawkins on drums, Jimmy
Johnson on guitar, Barry Beckett on keyboards, and many others.
They became renowned for their versatility, contributing to recordings across
various genres including R and B, rock, soul, even country.
The Swampers are best known for their work at the
(01:35):
renowned recording studios Fame Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio.
They provided the musical foundation for numerous hits by pretty
iconic artists like Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, The Rolling Stones,
Leonard skinnern Paul Simon, and many more. Their ability to
infuse a soulful and rhythmic element into songs became a
(01:57):
pretty big hallmark of their sound. Unique style and tight
knit collaboration led to the creation of unforgettable tracks that
continue to resonate with audiences worldwide. The Swamper's influence had
left an indeblible mark on the music industry, solidifying their
place as a vital force and shaping the sound of
American popular music. You've heard me talk about the Wrecking Crew,
(02:19):
which I've never done an episode on, but the Muscle
Shoulder Them section was like the Wrecking Crew of the South.
There's a great mix of male and female artists on
today's episode, which makes me happy. The sound of Muscle
Shoals really lent itself to a female interpretation of a song.
There will be a couple of reoccurring artists on today's episode,
(02:41):
as I felt that the sound of the Swampers is
what I was focusing on, not the main artist. And
sometimes the best song I wanted to choose for a
spot was from an artist I already played. But the
heck with the rules. We are here to have fun,
and that brings us to our first song.
Speaker 4 (03:00):
He wants a dream like a young man with the
wisdom of an old man. He wants his home and security.
Speaker 5 (03:12):
He wants to live like a sailor At see Beautiful Loser,
where You're.
Speaker 6 (03:21):
Gonna fall you realize you just can't have it all.
Speaker 7 (03:33):
He you will understand your best friend.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
If you need him, He'll be there again.
Speaker 5 (03:40):
He's always willing to be second best, A perfect lodger,
a perfect has beautiful newser.
Speaker 8 (03:53):
Read it on the wall realize just can't.
Speaker 4 (04:03):
Just can't have it. It just can't have it at all.
Speaker 7 (04:16):
I can't have it all.
Speaker 1 (04:21):
That was Bob Seger with Beautiful Loser. This song is
about people who set their goals so low that they
never achieve anything. It's not about Seger personally, he said
in an interview in nineteen eighty six. A lot of
people think I wrote Beautiful Loser about myself. I got
the idea for that song from a book by Leonard
(04:41):
Cohen of his poetry by the same name. The song
was about underachievers in general. I very rarely write about
myself that much. I do draw on my own experiences
like anyone else would. But I'm not what you'd call autruistic.
I'm not like my songs at all. I'm a lot
more up person than what I write. Seeger took almost
a full year to write this song. He played around
(05:04):
with many different arrangements of the song until he got
it right. He explained, quote, I've never written the lyrics
and tried to build the music around that. It's usually
a feel or a verse or a chorus, and the
lyrics will come after I've decided that a certain pattern
or groove of the rhythm is cool, and I start
singing just gibberish over that until I can find a
(05:24):
lyrical idea that fits out the ideas that I started with.
Other times, I just sit down and say I want
to write a song called blank. And that's how Beautiful
Loser happened. I just loved the title and I wanted
to create art around it. Actually, I wrote four songs
called Beautiful Loser until I came up with the one
that worked. That's a pretty rare thing. It's not something
I've normally done. Radio stations usually play the live version
(05:48):
of Beautiful Loser together with the song travelin Man, off
the nineteen seventy six Live Bullet album. The two songs
are separate cuts on the CD, but they flow together
pretty seamlessly, so it makes great what radio people call
a piss break, where they can play it because they
know it's gonna play for a while and they can
go take a leak. Seeger spent a lot of time
on the road and didn't like to work on songs
(06:10):
when he was touring. When it came to making the album,
he would work with his Silver Bullet Band, but also
go off to muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama, where
he worked with those very talented musicians that served as
his backing band for the studio recordings. Beautiful Loser was
one of the tracks he recorded at Muscle Shoals, which
had two standout keyboard players in the ranks, Barry Beckett
(06:33):
and Spooner Oldham, which fitted nicely in this song.
Speaker 9 (06:43):
Oh nobody crying.
Speaker 3 (06:58):
Nobody.
Speaker 9 (07:02):
He ain't no smiling faces, he did.
Speaker 4 (07:06):
No no, not to the raises.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Help me come home, come home.
Speaker 7 (07:17):
Somebody helping that.
Speaker 10 (07:19):
I'll do that.
Speaker 9 (07:22):
Help me up.
Speaker 4 (07:24):
I'll thank you that.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
Shipping up.
Speaker 4 (07:28):
I'll thank you that.
Speaker 8 (07:30):
Okay, I'll thank you that.
Speaker 7 (07:35):
Oh Mercy, I'll thank you that.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
Oh would men taken?
Speaker 11 (07:42):
Now?
Speaker 4 (07:43):
Thank you?
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Oh let me take you out.
Speaker 12 (07:48):
The other.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
They're very.
Speaker 9 (07:53):
Say you say you beIN ann.
Speaker 12 (07:57):
All right.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
This was the first of two number one hits for
the Staple Singers. The other is Let's do It Again.
The Staple Singers were among the first group to move
from gospel to more inspirational soul music, said lead singer
Mavis Staples. When we heard doctor Martin Luther King preach,
we said, if he can preach this, we can sing it.
(08:25):
Stack's Records vice president Al Bell wrote this after attending
the funeral of his little brother, who was shot to death.
Said Bell, I went in the backyard of my father's home.
He had an old school bus there park that was
not running. I sat in the hood of that bus,
thinking about all that was happening, and all of a sudden,
I hear this gospel music in my head, and I
(08:45):
heard these lyrics. I know a place. Ain't nobody worried,
Ain't nobody crying, and ain't no smiling faces lying to
the races, And I'll take you there. I heard it.
I heard the music all in my head, and it
wouldn't leave. It stayed there, and I kept trying to
write other verses, but I couldn't. Nothing worked because that
was the only thing that was in my head at
the time. Bell brought this song out at the end
(09:07):
of a recording session with the band, says Bell. Mavis
couldn't get into it, she couldn't feel it. So I
stood there on the floor and tried to sing it
for the rest of the people as they got their music,
and finally got into it. After getting it down, I
came back and sat with MAVs and After a while,
she started feeling it and giving it her own rhythm.
Of course, she took it to heights that only Mayvas
(09:29):
Staples can take it. Nobody else could do it justice.
I don't care who else has covered this song. Her
version is always going to be the best version. Al
Bell signed the Staples Singers in nineteen sixty eight after
they had been released from Epic Records. Bell was an
old friend of the family, dating back from his time
in the nineteen fifties as a concert promoter in Little Rock, Arkansas.
(09:49):
At this point, the Staples moved away from protest songs
and recorded what they called message music. The first two
Staples albums for Stax Records were recorded with Steve Cropper,
who was a staff producer and guitarist. These albums, Soul
Folk in Action and Will Get Over It didn't sell
very well, so Bell then took them to Muscle Shoals
(10:12):
in Alabama and had them record with a Muscle Shoals
rhythm section, who were the group of session musicians that
were pretty famous for making things work. At Muscle Shoals,
the Staples found the sound that would make them stars,
and in August of nineteen seventy one they recorded the
hit I just played for you. I'll take you there.
Speaker 13 (10:43):
I should take my heart and the pome of your
hands and you squeezing. Then you take my mand and
play with all man. You take my pride? Can you
throw it up against wall? You take me in your arms,
(11:03):
ba ad, bounce me like a whole. I'm not complaining
what you're doing. You see, got just pad of feeling.
Speaker 12 (11:17):
So good to me?
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Don't you do it?
Speaker 12 (11:21):
Her so good?
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Don't you know it?
Speaker 12 (11:27):
Her soul?
Speaker 7 (11:33):
Take my name, scan of hazard in the streets.
Speaker 3 (11:39):
Anything you want to do is say it's all right, then.
Speaker 13 (11:45):
Turn right around and make sweet love to me.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
Oh we treat that shown.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Up good to me? There this thanks you're doing to me?
Speaker 1 (12:03):
And I thought that that was Milli Jackson with it
Hurts So Good. Hurt So Good was written by Philip Mitchell,
a soul singer who wrote for many other artists in
the early seventies. It was Millie Jackson's biggest pop hit
(12:23):
and was featured in the movie Cleopatra Jones Great seventies
Black exploitation film. The song is similar to Bill Withers
use me and that it's how about you can use
someone who you love someone who is very bad for you.
The writer knew me well, and producer Brad Shapiro picked
the song, she said, and to be honest, that ended
(12:45):
up being in the movie because of timing. They needed
the songs and they knew of me, and they put two
of my songs in the movie only because they were
available to them at the time. The album was supposed
to be called something totally different, but since it came
out in the movie, they called it Hurts So Good.
My whole career is basically an accident, but I'll take it.
(13:06):
It Hurts So Good was Jackson's second album, and she
made sure to take control of the production and avoid
what happened on her debut album, said Jackson quote, my
first album is not in my natural voice. They speed
it up. My voice it was too low for a woman,
they thought, so they sped up all the tracks a
half step so everything would be higher than I actually
would sing it. In the first song that I recorded
(13:28):
came out and my natural voice was Hurts So Good.
On ask me what you want. I'm almost one of
the chipmunks.
Speaker 7 (13:53):
Come on, take me to.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Where the deepest.
Speaker 14 (14:00):
They wear the danceriously and dance music in the street
Wall Patch say.
Speaker 12 (14:13):
Hurry, take me.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
To the Murdy Rode.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
In the city of my dream.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
You can't legalize lose.
Speaker 15 (14:25):
You can wear some clothes.
Speaker 12 (14:28):
In the new hot I'm gon lay my burden.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Lets me when I want watch time.
Speaker 11 (14:47):
I won't be warning more.
Speaker 7 (14:57):
Take your Burdens to God.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
A top ten hit in the UK. This is one
of Paul Simon's lesser known songs in America. He says, quote,
it's a nice song that I don't think got much noticed.
That was the song Take Me to the Marti Gras.
The song is about a spiritually cleansing trip. Let's call
it to New Orleans, home of the famous Marti Gras festival.
(15:25):
It's a place free from judgment, where your troubles melt
away while you dance in your summer clothes and sweat
like crazy because of the humidity. Simon went to Mussel
Shulls Sound Studios in Alabama to record this song. The
four owners of the studio were also the house band
Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins, David Hood and Jimmy Johnson. Specifically,
(15:46):
they were renowned for playing on records by Aretha and
Eta James. At the time, and of course the staple
singers who I just played for you, and many other
popular artists that were willing to take the trip to
northern Alabama. The muscle shoals rhythm section was very efficient,
but Paul Simon had a very deliberate recording style. This
is a man who insisted on recording a vocal in
(16:07):
a church just to get the right sound on his
song The Boxer. Simon would book four days of studio
time to record the song Marty Graw, but thirty minutes
and two takes later, they were done. David Hood said, quote,
he had all this time left over, and he's not
gonna pay for four days with a studio time for
one song. So he says, what else can we record?
(16:28):
So he sits and plays, and we tape the song, coda,
chrome and a few other things right after that, and
knocked it out pretty fast. He was amazed because he
had always taken so long to record things. He couldn't
believe that we were able to get something that quickly
and nail it exactly how we wanted. But we had
our thing down to a real science by the time
we started working with him, because we had done so
(16:49):
much stuff. We could make a chord chart and you
can get a really good track in one or two takes.
With us, we were pretty much the best in the
business at this point. Despite being about New Orleans and
Marty Gras, this song doesn't incorporate the sound of the
area until the end we hear about thirty seconds of
horns played by the Onward brass band of New Orleans.
The line you can jingle to the beat of Jelly
(17:12):
Rolls a reference to the acclaimed New Orleans jazz musician
Jelly Roll Morton.
Speaker 7 (18:00):
Dan don't have an I got the best.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
The black.
Speaker 7 (18:22):
Dynastic coming out a bull. I said, excuse.
Speaker 8 (18:29):
But happy, don't.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
That was Rod Stewart and The song Stone Cold Sober
is part of Stuart's Atlantic Crossing album. The title represents
his move to America. His band The Faces had recently
broken up, with Ron Wood joining The Rolling Stones, so
Stuart was focused on his solo work. Sailing and his
(19:19):
cover of This Old Heart of Mine were pretty big
hits in the UK but didn't really rate very high
in America. But Tonight's the Night Gonna Be Alright, the
lead single from his next album, went to number one
in the US. Rod Stewart was anything but stone cold
sober in nineteen seventy five, So imagine his surprise when
he showed up in Alabama Muscle Shoals Sound Studios to
(19:42):
record and learned that it was located in what Americans
call a dry county, meaning no liquor is available. Well,
Stuart was forced into sobriety. He wrote this song at
the studio with guitarist Steve Cropper of the band. The
song is about the inevitable hangover that comes after the
indulgence at this point. Anyways, Stuart felt it was worth
(20:05):
it because he loved the sound he was getting from
Muscle Shoals. Finding himself and I guess you would call
it an alcohol desert wasn't Stuart's only surprise when he
came to Muscle Shoals Sound Studios. Quote. I was under
the impression that the musicians from Muscle Shols Studios, who
had back such luminaries as A. Wretha Franklin, Carla Thomas,
Wilson Pickett and many others, were black. Well, imagine my
(20:26):
surprise on arriving at the studio to find, in fact,
they were all a bunch of white guys.
Speaker 3 (20:53):
You let me here on your way there.
Speaker 15 (21:00):
You pulled aroun that up from under my last.
Speaker 6 (21:07):
I know where you go to anew when you came
home last night car thea had a missing from the
Smoke of a Distant Fire.
Speaker 12 (21:25):
Lord.
Speaker 6 (21:25):
I'm stone should have seen her come a long time ago.
When I real last the reality gave me rule if
things are the same, then explain why your kisses so cool?
(21:46):
And then this day Yard asked me, was like, right
on the fire, you mussel.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Not a super well known band, but after listening to
a few of their songs as research for this episode,
I kind of like them. They're pretty good. That was
Sandford Townsend Band with the song Smoke from a Distant Fire.
Of course, though, as I said, I'm not necessarily picking
these songs for the band, I'm picking it for the
music that is behind the band, since that's the theme
of the episode. Regarding the recording of this song, Jimmy
(22:34):
Townshend of Sandford Townsend Band said, quote, we had landed
a publishing deal in nineteen seventy four and made demos
with a lot of the great players of the day.
That again caught the attention of another big time New
York producer, Jerry Wexler. It was Wexler's idea to take
the band to Mussel Shoals to record. This time, we
used our band with Barry Beckett, one of the Mussel
(22:56):
Shoals guys, as producer and musical supervisor. The experience was
just incredible. We had some of our friends from the
Loggins and Messina band come in and play on the
record as well. I got my younger brother, Billy up
from Tuscaloosa to help with the background singing, and we
came up with quite a nice record. Those guys are
just amazing musicians. The most memorable song from that outing
(23:17):
was Smoke from a Distant Fire, still a big favorite
with a surprising amount of folks to this day.
Speaker 16 (23:22):
Starting all He's gonna be? So could we gonna make?
Starting all He's gonna be? Oh, but we got a fathing.
(23:51):
We love what we had and that's what we're a
soul band.
Speaker 12 (23:58):
Set up back a thousand ye but up.
Speaker 10 (24:07):
Then took e Raisin, starting.
Speaker 4 (24:18):
All over He's gonna be, but afray that the long
will help off, Starting all over again, He's gonna be so.
Speaker 12 (24:38):
We we both know.
Speaker 4 (24:41):
Then weekend.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
That was Mel and Tim with starting all over again
Love that song. The spoken intro on this track which
was removed on the edits that were sent to pop
radio stations, but on the record, that's the big, huge
spoken intro part. It set up the storyline in this
song with a little more clearer detail. The song is
(25:04):
about building a romance anew after an initial breakup. The
singer knows that it'll be an uphill climb, but with
help from above, he thinks they can get there. The
keys take it slow and don't fuss about who's wrong
and who's right. Pretty good advice overall. Mel and Tim
are cousins Mel Harden and Tim McPherson. Tim sings lead.
Speaker 17 (25:24):
On this track.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
They started writing songs when they were just teenagers growing
up in Mississippi. Some of their songs got the attention
of Gene Chandler, who signed them to his newly formed
Bamboo Record label. Chandler wanted them to sing the songs
that they wrote, and they quickly scored two hits for
the label, Backfield in Motion, which went up to number
ten in nineteen sixty nine, and Good Guys Only Win
(25:47):
in the Movies, which reach number forty five in nineteen seventy.
The label did run into problems, so Mel and Tim
waited out their contract and signed with Stax Records. In
nineteen seventy two, Stack's release Starting all Over Again as
their first single and apt title since the duo was
rebooting their career. Unfortunately, it would be their last hit.
(26:09):
This song was written by Philip Mitchell, who was the
staff songwriter at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios where Mel and
Tim recorded the track. The production and arrangement of this song,
including the sitar and the spoken intro, was modeled on
the song have You Seen Her by the Chaighlights, which
was a huge hit in nineteen seventy one.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
Something to Me?
Speaker 12 (26:49):
It was.
Speaker 15 (26:56):
When I saw you and.
Speaker 18 (27:04):
Something deep down in my soul shurprag girl.
Speaker 15 (27:13):
When I saw you and that girl walking down, I
would have ever.
Speaker 19 (27:23):
I would rather go blind boy, then to see you
walk away from me child, y'all.
Speaker 18 (27:40):
So you see, I love you so much that I
don't want to watch you need me big. Most of all,
I just don't. I just don't want to betreat'll.
Speaker 7 (27:57):
I was young, I.
Speaker 4 (28:02):
Was said, now.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Young, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
That was Edda James with I'd Rather Go blind. Eda
James penned this Southern blues classic. During a visit to
her friend Ellington Jordan in prison in nineteen sixty seven,
the Detroit singer and songwriter had already outlined the basics
of the song, in which he poured out his grief
from being incarcerated, not knowing when he would be released
(28:33):
and have his freedom. He recalled quote, I got tired
of losing and being down. I was in prison and
didn't know when I was gonna get out. I sat
at a piano room and begin to write. James and
Jordan then completed the song together, but for tax reasons,
she gave her songwriting credit to her partner at the time,
Billy Foster, who was a member of the nineteen fifties
(28:55):
la do wop group the Medallions. It was a decision
that she came to her read as the royalties accumulated
for many years. In nineteen sixty seven, during a brief
intermission from her heroin Addiction, Edda, James made an excursion
to the Fame Studios and Muscle Shoals, Alabama to lay
down Tell Mama. She recorded the I'd Rather Go Blind
(29:17):
as the B side of the single, and also cut
a cover of the Otis Redding song Security. The Alabama
studios were perfect for James since it was in an
isolated area with little to no access to drugs and alcohol,
and home to the best backing musicians in the business,
at least regionally. David Hood, who played bass on the sessions,
said in an interview that they did the song in
(29:38):
one take, with Fame owner Recall running the session. Said
Hood quote, it was a pretty simple song, but her
performance was great, and apparently our performances were pretty good
as well. They may have gone back and done some
revocals sometimes, but other than that, it was all done
in one take. Sometimes if there was a misnote or
something like that, you just wouldn't do anything about it,
(30:00):
let it go because it sounded authentic. Nowadays you would
just fix everything.
Speaker 12 (30:04):
Sitting on the.
Speaker 4 (30:05):
Doorstep of the house against a foe.
Speaker 8 (30:11):
Un figure you.
Speaker 20 (30:18):
Spinking of a reason, Well, it's really not very hot
love you even though elasma house. How can I explain
the meaning of alone?
Speaker 21 (30:38):
Its time closer than a gloss sitting on the bottle
by the ribber rain gets on? Won't you never ever
(31:02):
don get that bar?
Speaker 3 (31:08):
You know something b.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
That bel did a lot.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
I can see your.
Speaker 4 (31:25):
Things, the mas of my mind, we're you still read the.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
Really that's a cable, and.
Speaker 4 (31:40):
You seem to think Alla's got in trouble. So it's
on the lear the things go mine. You seem to
drink the pond.
Speaker 12 (31:58):
But do you know the finds a way.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
That was Julian Lennon singing his song Vallote. The album
was dedicated to quote my mother Cynthia and to my father. Julian,
of course, is John Lennon's first son. His mother is
Cynthia Lennon, who John was married to before Yoko. They
had a son named Sean. Julian sounds a lot like
(32:24):
his dad, and a lot of people were surprised to
learn it was not a John Lennon song when they
first heard it. This was Julian's first single in the
US and his second in the UK. His next American single,
Too Late for Goodbyes, did even better than this song,
getting all the way up to number five. Lennon wrote
this back in nineteen eighty three at a French chateau
(32:45):
called Manor de Vallote, which is how the song got
its title. The word vallot does not actually appear in
the lyrics. He told the story quote. The place where
this was written there was actually a beautiful little rundown
chateau in the middle of France, which is where the
label at the time decided was a good place to
send their artists to work out their writing skills. It
(33:06):
was really tranquil, beautiful spot and seemingly in the middle
of nowhere, where one could get a little lonely. I
guess the song initially came from that idea of just
being in this beautiful landscape and dreaming of the idea
that if you found love of your life, this is
something that you would aspire to to be in this place.
It's as simple as that. Julian recorded this at Muscle
(33:27):
Shoals in Alabama, which at the time was located along
the Tennessee River in Sheffield, Alabama. It moved later on
to a different studio. According to Jimmy Johnson, who was
one of the studio owners, Lennon's lyric quote sitting on
a pebble by the river playing guitar was inspired by
his time there. Muscle Shoals is a pretty tranquil place
(33:48):
where artists could record in relative seclusion. Was some of
the best musicians in the world available to back them up,
and another fun bit of trivia. The song Hey Jude
that everyone sings along to You was written by Paul
McCartney to Julian Lennon about his parents divorcing. Jude was
code for Julian. Now, someone sound the alarm, because here
(34:14):
comes three songs in a row from Miss Aretha Franklin.
Speaker 9 (34:23):
Sh If you won't I love it? If you.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Really do, oh, Ray, just ask. I know I'm gonna
give into you. Ah, I don't declare I do.
Speaker 8 (34:46):
I want to see you in any sat boy.
Speaker 12 (34:52):
You go get it, you.
Speaker 3 (34:57):
Babe.
Speaker 12 (34:58):
Baby Baby.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
Love written by Ronnie Shannon, who is also responsible for
Aretha's first top ten hit, I Never love demand the
way I love you. This horn laden soul track finds
the singer declaring her love and urging her man to
make the next move. The song is Baby, I Love You.
Aside from peaking at number four on the Hot one
(35:31):
hundred and it also held the number one spot on
the R and B chart for a few weeks. Aretha
recorded this with Atlantic producer Jerry Wexler in New York City.
During the same session she recorded Chain of Fools. Most
of the personnel from the song I Never Love Demand
were featured on this track as well, including engineer Tom
Dowd and Muscle Shoals players Jimmy Johnson Joe South on guitars,
(35:53):
Tommy Cogbill on bass, Spooner Oldman on electric piano, and
Roger Hawkins on drums. Truman Thomas also played the organ
on this song. Likewise, her sister Carolyn and Irma provided
backing vocals for Aretha Franklin, along with the band The
Sweet Inspirations and R and B Girl Group founded by
Sissy Houston, mother of Whitney Houston.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
I love you and I love you and I love
you too, baby?
Speaker 12 (36:24):
Will you call me you?
Speaker 3 (36:28):
Get there? They they and I love you and I
love you too and I love you.
Speaker 4 (36:48):
Baby.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
Will you love me? Get them? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (37:06):
That was a song call Me from Miss Aretha Franklin.
Aretha is famous for her voice, of course, but she
also excelled as a songwriter, penning many of her early
hits and taking an active role in the recording sessions.
She wrote the song call Me not long after divorcing
her husband of eight years, Ted White. The inspiration for
the song came when Aretha saw a young couple in
(37:27):
New York City, who were clearly in love. As they
parted each other said to the other, I love you,
followed by call me the moment you get there. Many
of Aretha's early recording sessions were with the Muscle Shoals
rhythm section, but only one of these sessions actually took
place in Muscle Shoals I Never loved a man the
way I Love You song. That's because the session ended
(37:48):
in a pretty big argument between Aretha's husband at the
time and one of the horn players. Since Aretha wouldn't
return to Mussel Shoals that Jerry Wexler at her label,
Atlantic Records, brought the musician to her usually in New
York City. The session for call Me, however, was at
Criteria Studios in Miami, which Atlantic was using for a
(38:09):
lot of their business at the time. Aretha played the
piano on this song, backed by the Muscle Shoals musicians.
This was the eighth of Aretha Franklin's twenty number one
R and B hits she has more than any other artist,
and her first since she divorced from Ted White.
Speaker 3 (38:33):
You're no good greaker, You're lie and your cheat.
Speaker 4 (38:42):
Now, how did you do these things to me.
Speaker 9 (38:50):
My friends keep telling me, now you ain't no.
Speaker 3 (38:55):
Good whoa, I don't know.
Speaker 15 (39:01):
That I leave you there. I guess I'm out and
I'm still like Lou. I ain't never, I ain't never.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
Look a man.
Speaker 7 (39:24):
I love you.
Speaker 3 (39:30):
Time of all. I thought you want to run out
of foods, but I was so long.
Speaker 22 (39:41):
You got one that you never lose. The way you're
treating is a shame. How God you've hurt me so bad.
I mean, you know that I'm the best thing.
Speaker 4 (39:58):
That you ever han.
Speaker 2 (40:02):
She has.
Speaker 3 (40:16):
Love man.
Speaker 1 (40:20):
I figured I talked about the song enough, I might
as well play it. That was I Never loved a
Man the Way I Love You, the first one that
she recorded with this group of musicians. Aretha Franklin recorded
for Columbia Records from nineteen sixty to nineteen sixty six,
never charting higher on the Hot one hundred the number
thirty seven. In nineteen sixty seven. She then signed with
Atlantic Records and released I Never Loved a Man the
(40:43):
Way I Love You as her debut single with the label,
and it became the first top ten hit for what
would become the Queen of Soul. The song was written
by Ronnie Shannon as has written some of her other stuff,
and her recording of the blues based ballad established the
singer as a superstar. Shannon also wrote the other song
I played for you Baby, I love you more than
(41:03):
any other artist. Aretha Franklin is known for bringing the
Muscle Shoals sound to the forefront, even though this was
the only song that she actually recorded in Muscle Shoals.
The session took place at Fame Studios in Muscle Sholes, Alabama.
The Atlantic Records producer Jerry Wexler sent Aretha to record
there and had engineer Tom Dowd there as kind of
(41:24):
a guiding hand to guide her through the process, and
he was very impressed with her, and she was very
impressed with the musicians who played. They pulled off the session,
but as I mentioned previous, Aretha's husband and manager, Ted White,
had some beef with the horn players, which it was
also a pretty legendary incident with David Hood recalled in
an interview. Hood became the bass player in the Muscle
(41:45):
Shoals rhythm section, but at this session he was actually
playing trombone, said Hood. Quote. Ken Laxton, the trumpet player,
was making remarks to Aretha that he thought were kind
of cool and hip and all that, and Aretha and
her husband Ted thought, who is this white guy talking
smart and trying to jive with us? And it was
taken all wrong. I think, I don't think anyone was
(42:06):
really trying to cause problems, but it was taken wrong.
And people were doing a lot of drinking on this session,
not me, but some people were, and it just got
blown out of proportion and it ended up being a
big argument and ended the session, and that's why she
didn't record at Muscle Shoals. After that, Aretha left and
the song was completed in New York. The song was
a perfect fit for Aretha, and Jerry Wexler decided that
(42:27):
instead of trying to send the singer back to Muscle Shoals,
he would continued to bring him to New York from
then on out.
Speaker 4 (42:36):
When I was a little boy, the devil call my name? Now,
who knew?
Speaker 2 (42:46):
Who do you think you're fooling?
Speaker 23 (42:49):
I'm a consecrative.
Speaker 7 (42:58):
She loves me, she can me her name, wants her
love rock.
Speaker 8 (43:08):
She robbed me.
Speaker 3 (43:09):
You love me?
Speaker 12 (43:12):
She love me?
Speaker 3 (43:14):
Love me?
Speaker 2 (43:16):
When it's grown to be man.
Speaker 4 (43:19):
And the devil would call a name.
Speaker 14 (43:23):
See now, who do who do you think you're fooding?
I'm a cons mean man, set a cuty.
Speaker 8 (43:36):
My mama mats me.
Speaker 9 (43:38):
She loves me, she can love me and her names
me like a rock.
Speaker 8 (43:47):
She robbed me, love me.
Speaker 1 (43:54):
That song, loves Me Like a Rock is one of
Paul Simon's more spiritual songs. It's about mother's love. Note
that Paul Simon was the rare songwriter who used rock
to actually mean a piece of stone rather than musical form.
He did the same thing on one of his first songs,
I Am a Rock. Background vocals were provided by a
popular gospel group called the Dixie Hummingbirds, which formed all
(44:18):
the way back in the nineteen thirties. They released their
own version of the song in nineteen seventy three on
their album We Love You Like a Rock, and toured
with both Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder A few years earlier,
the staple singer made the transition from gospel to pop,
but the Dixie Hummingbirds didn't catch on with a wider audience.
Here Comes Ryman. Simon was recorded at Muscle Shoals with
(44:42):
the Muscle Shoals rhythm section in late seventy two and
into seventy three. The line about the president and the
minute Congress calls my nameline seemed, however, intentionally to resonate
the big news story of the day, the Watergate investigation
that brought down President Nixon.
Speaker 5 (45:07):
Mustain sign it because you made a slow your mustained
what I said, now, Mustade said in my baby hold on,
(45:31):
guess you made a slow your Mustaine?
Speaker 4 (45:38):
My yeah, human right.
Speaker 3 (45:45):
Down.
Speaker 4 (45:48):
I guess I have to put your flat on that
brown When I said, now.
Speaker 7 (45:59):
Listen, do you want to do it around?
Speaker 12 (46:11):
Around you?
Speaker 1 (46:25):
Though this R and B classic was originally recorded by
mac Rice in nineteen sixty five, it saw much greater
popularity when Wilson Pickett covered it the following year. Once
the studios and those musicians in the studio caught the
attention of Jerry Wexler at Atlantic Records, he sent Pickett
there to record the song Mustang Sally, along with another
(46:47):
one of his classic hits, Land of a Thousand Dances,
which I played for you way back on another episode
many seasons ago. Pickett's session of Mustang Sally nearly ended
up on the cutting room floor, I mean like literally.
After Pickett finished his final take, the tape flew off
the reel and broke into pieces. The session engineer Tom
Dowd then cleared the room and painstakingly pieced the tape
(47:10):
back together, saving what would become one of the biggest
hits of the nineteen sixties. This song is about a
girl who lives a wild life and in her brand
new Mustang car. The singer bought the car, which transformed
into Mustang Sally, and now she's running around town paying
little attention to her sugar. Daddy Pickett warns her that
(47:31):
she needs to slow it down with one of the
great theets in soul music history, guess I have to
put your flat feet on the ground. One of the
more popular covers of Mustang Sally is by Buddy Guy
with Jeff Beck on guitar and the Memphis Horns. It's
included on Buddy Guy's nineteen ninety one album Damn Right,
I've Got the Blues, which won the Grammy for Best
(47:52):
Contemporary Blues Album and revived his career. Despite influencing heavyweights
like Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton, Guy didn't have a
record deal for most of the eighties. When he finally
landed one, the label had him cover Mustang Sally to
help expand his audience with a familiar up tempo song.
Speaker 12 (48:53):
You came, you know you're putting on your map. I'm
about next. So where did I see a sun? Get
a coming round a corner?
Speaker 3 (49:14):
Let me know the go preaches dollar?
Speaker 12 (49:27):
Where I see you for your window? Baver?
Speaker 3 (49:30):
Then a time? Yah, I'm looking on your back?
Speaker 12 (49:47):
Where did I seeing soucle? Try a color rather a corner?
I don't let you know, go wach a dollar.
Speaker 1 (50:03):
As any Leonard Skynyrd fan knows, their first album, called
Pronounced Lanyard SCANNRD, was released in nineteen seventy three. However,
diehards will know that an entirely different album was set
to be their debut, an album full of songs recorded
in muscle shoals. The early demos were recorded between nineteen
(50:23):
seventy one and nineteen seventy two, and were ultimately scrapped
in favor of what would become the album Pronounced. For years,
fans knew nothing of the recordings until a plane crash
claimed the lives of lead singer Ronnie van Zan and
guitarist Stephen Gaines. After the tragic accident, the surviving members
released the Muscle Shoals recordings and their entirety as Skynyrd's
(50:46):
first and last album when such song was the song
Preacher's Daughter which I Played for You, which highlights all
the best of the original Skinnerd lineup, not to mention
they enjoyed their time in Muscle Shoals so much that
they felt in flying to defend the state and what
is arguably one of the biggest anthems of all time,
Sweet Home Alabama. Now Muscle Shoals has got the swampers,
(51:08):
and they've been known to pick a song or two,
he says in the song the Swampers are the Muscle
Shoals rhythm section.
Speaker 7 (51:43):
Is they.
Speaker 4 (51:58):
About them? Real slesting?
Speaker 3 (52:12):
You know why?
Speaker 17 (52:19):
You know?
Speaker 11 (52:20):
I can lit.
Speaker 9 (52:26):
Slot reviving.
Speaker 3 (52:33):
Wow, Randy Wow Wow.
Speaker 8 (52:54):
Randy Way.
Speaker 3 (53:01):
Long Tune.
Speaker 1 (53:07):
Absolutely loved that song from The Rolling Stones Wild Horses.
The Rolling Stones took a trip down to Muscle Shoals
for a three day recording session that would result in
three of the album's sticky fingers most iconic tracks. Channeling
the swampy music of the area, The Stones wrote and
recorded the song Brown Sugar, you Gotta Move and the
(53:27):
track I Chose for You on this list. Wild Horses
all three bangers of songs quote Muscle Shoals studio was
in a rather interesting place, and being there does inspire
you to do things slightly differently, Jagger once said, crediting
the studio for sticky fingers now iconic sound. Departing from
their usual blues tinged material on Wild Horses, the Stones
(53:52):
took a hard left into classic country music with a
simple acoustic riff in what they call Nashville tuning. Seems
the trip down south was worth it, as it's hard
to imagine this song would have come from the Stones
in any other way. This started as a song for
Keith Richards' newborn son, Marlin. It was nineteen sixty nine
(54:12):
and Keith regretted that he had to leave his son
to go out on tour. Mick Jagger rewrote Keith's lyrics,
keeping only the line wild Horses Couldn't drag Me away.
His rewrite was based on his relationship with the artist
Maryanne Faithful, which was disintegrating. This was first release though
by Graham Parsons Flying Burrito Brothers in nineteen seventy. The
(54:35):
Stones version was written in sixty nine but had to
wait for the album Sticky Fingers, to come out in
nineteen seventy one. Parsons was really good friends with Keith Richards,
and the musicians often cited each other as an influence,
said Parsons. I picked up some rock and roll from
Keith Richards, and Mick Jagger knows an awful lot about
country music. I learned a lot about singing and performing
(54:57):
from Mick. Muscle Shoals Sound Studios WOU, which was actually
located in Sheffield, Alabama at the time, opened to nineteen
sixty nine when Jerry Wexler at Atlantic Records, which was
the Rolling Stones label, loaned money to four of the
musicians at nearby Fame Studios so they could start their
own company and install an eight track recording equipment. Fame
was only using a four track. Wexler sent many of
(55:20):
Atlantic's acts to Muscle Shoals since the musicians were fantastic
and it was a dry county in with nothing to do,
It meant the artists were more likely to stay focused.
The studio also had a real distinctive sound that can
be heard on this track, especially on Jagger's vocals. You
can hear almost like a slight distortion well that was
caused by the console that they used in was kind
(55:40):
of heard in almost any song that was played there.
When the Stones left Muscle Shoals, they headed for Alta Mount, California,
where they gave a free concert on December sixth, nineteen
sixty nine, a disastrous show where a fan was stabbed
to death by a Hell's Angels security guard, and the
documentary Gave Me Shelter, which les the concert. There is
(56:01):
a scene where the band is listening to the playback
of Wild Horses that they had just recorded a week
earlier at Muscle Shoals.
Speaker 20 (56:18):
I found.
Speaker 4 (56:23):
I been not toed the she was in everyday.
Speaker 1 (56:31):
I've ever been dreaming.
Speaker 12 (56:34):
But she was bad. I didn't know.
Speaker 24 (56:39):
Her.
Speaker 4 (56:39):
British mom never.
Speaker 12 (56:42):
Did show it.
Speaker 7 (56:44):
All I knew is what I see, and.
Speaker 1 (56:48):
I knew I wanted her.
Speaker 12 (56:50):
Boss took her home to Mama.
Speaker 11 (56:55):
Mama want to see my future pride. She looked at
us bold, and then she called me to a side.
She said, so take time to.
Speaker 3 (57:12):
Snod and all and that thing. Take time.
Speaker 11 (57:20):
Please don't regression, do the thing. But I didn't listen
to my comor. I went stay to the tune.
Speaker 24 (57:33):
I just couldn't read.
Speaker 8 (57:35):
T when I got a home.
Speaker 11 (57:39):
From work, A preaching from there. It's open by future Bride.
He looked at us bold, then he called me to
his side.
Speaker 25 (57:50):
Take time to.
Speaker 12 (57:54):
Snod and all.
Speaker 1 (57:56):
Take time to Know Her is a song written by
Steve Davis and performed by Percy Sledge from February of
nineteen sixty eight. By the way, he is best known
for the song When a Man Loves a Woman, a
number one smash hit on both the Billboard Hot one
hundred and R and B Singles charts in nineteen sixty six.
Just two years before this song came out, Percy Sledge
(58:16):
worked as a hospital orderly before he was discovered. While
working at the hospital during the week, a former patient
and mutual friend of Sledge and record producer Quinn Ivy
introduced the two. An audition followed, and Sledge was signed
to a recording contract. Percy Sledge's soul for voice was
perfect for the series of soul ballads that produced by
(58:38):
Ivy and the artist Marlon Green, which rock critic David
Marsh called quote emotional classics for romantics of all ages.
When a Man Loves a Woman was Sledge's first song
recorded under the track This one was his second.
Speaker 5 (58:57):
Just stake those all show, I said, listen to by
myself today's music game.
Speaker 12 (59:07):
You got the same song.
Speaker 8 (59:09):
Now I got a time of I can row.
Speaker 12 (59:13):
Don't trying to take them to it.
Speaker 5 (59:15):
Just go.
Speaker 3 (59:17):
You'll never even get there out.
Speaker 7 (59:19):
On the floor, the ten minutes out, the letting go
the dog.
Speaker 3 (59:24):
Now I got a time off.
Speaker 8 (59:26):
I can roll still, I had a time off.
Speaker 4 (59:30):
I can't row.
Speaker 7 (59:32):
That kind of music just suits the sop.
Speaker 8 (59:36):
I'm been a lintle after days of more from that
all time off.
Speaker 3 (59:41):
I can't roll.
Speaker 1 (59:59):
That His old time rock and Roll by Bob Seger.
This was one of the few songs Seeger recorded that
he didn't write. It was written by the songwriters George
Jackson and Thomas Jones. They worked for Muscle Shoals Sound
Studios where the song was recorded. Although Seger worked on
the lyrics, he didn't take any of the songwriter credit.
(01:00:19):
This means that Segar doesn't own the publishing rights to
the song, and Jackson and Jones control when it is
used in movies and commercials. According to Seger, he was
feeling generous that day and not seeking composer credit was
the dumbest thing I ever did. Seeger claims he changed
all the original lyric except for the old time rock
and roll part. He made sure to take a dig
(01:00:41):
at disco music, which was fading in popularity at the time.
Jerry Masters, who was a recording engineer at Muscle Shoals,
told the story quote, we cut a demo of the
writer of the song, George Jackson there at the studio
when we didn't have anything else to do. It was
a great demo, along with some others that we cut
that day. Segar liked the song so much he tried
(01:01:02):
to cut it himself, but after numerous tries with the
Swampers and with his band, he finally gave up. He
and Punch Andrews, which was Seger's manager, decided to buy
the demo track from us and put his vocal on
top of it, and that ended up being the record
It's a classic. We also did the song Catman Do
and several more that were on The Night Moves and
(01:01:23):
Stranger in Town LPs. So the Classic Old Time was
really a demo that we cut, and he just put
his voice over.
Speaker 4 (01:01:43):
My midmo love last night.
Speaker 3 (01:01:49):
She seems so glad to see me.
Speaker 4 (01:01:53):
I'll just smile and we talked about some old times,
and we drank or sell some abuse.
Speaker 17 (01:02:03):
Still crazy to all theseies? What was still crazy after old.
Speaker 2 (01:02:12):
The I'm not the kind a man whoretends to socialize.
Speaker 25 (01:02:27):
I seemed to lean on all familiar ways, and I
awful fog of songs that whisper in my eyes.
Speaker 17 (01:02:40):
Still crazy after all THESEI was still crazy after old e.
Speaker 1 (01:02:53):
That was Paul Simon was still crazy after all these years.
And I've always wanted to say this, Simon says, it's
still crazy after all these years. That title phrase came
to me first, and it didn't come with the melody either.
It just came to me as a line all by itself,
and then I had to create a story around it.
Regarding the kind of unusual chord changes, he added quote,
(01:03:15):
I was studying with a bass player and composer named
Chuck Israel's at the time, and I was doing so
with some more interesting changes. I was studying harmony with him.
Instead of using a minor chord, I use a major
chord and go up a step. It's hard to get
an interesting key change. I also like writing a bridge
and just a jump up of the whole tone. Still
(01:03:35):
crazy has that in it. On the second episode of
Saturday Night Live, which aired on October eighteenth, nineteen seventy five,
Paul Simon hosted the show, and he opened the show
by singing this song all alone on stage. This was
the song's debut, as the album wasn't even released until
a week later. When Simon returned on the show of
(01:03:55):
November twentieth of nineteen seventy six, he once again opened
with a performance of the same song, this time though
in a Turkey costume. It was the week before Thanksgiving.
During this performance, he stops in mid song and is
then followed backstage griping to producer Lauren Michaels about making
him wear the costume. In fact, it was Paul's idea
(01:04:16):
to do this, including the walk off. He wanted to
show he had a sense of humor and didn't take
himself as seriously as most people thought. Simon won the
nineteen seventy five Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance
of this song, and the album won the Grammy for
Album of the Year. At the ceremony, Paul Simon got
up to make his acceptance speech and thanked Stevie Wonder,
(01:04:37):
who'd won the previous two years for not making an
album that year, and the next year's album of the Year,
by the way, went to Stevie Wonder again because he
actually released another album. Paul Simon recorded the song with
the Muscle Shoals rhythm section, Barry Beckett on piano, David
Hood on bass, Roger Hawkins on drums. These guys owned
a recording studio in Alabama where Simon recorded Coda Chrome
(01:04:58):
and take Me to the Marty Raw the song I
played for you earlier but for still Crazy after all
these years. He actually flew the guys to New York.
This changed the dynamic as Simon, who tends to do
take after take and work very deliberately on a track,
was taking his sweet time while in Alabama they got
Marty Gross Dunn and just a take or two. As
the President once said, it is time to drain the
(01:05:20):
swamp ers, so we must have this episode on the
Swampers come to an end. I'm gonna leave you with
an unusual genre for the Swampers to play on as
our final song. The song is by Jimmy Cliff and
the song is the Harder They Come. This was written
by Cliff and was used in the Jamaican produced film
of the same name. The movie starred Cliff as a
(01:05:43):
naive country boy who goes to town and becomes a gangster.
The film contains two other songs written by Cliff, let
Your Yeah Be Yeah and Wonderful World Beautiful People. The
song tells a story that matter how hard life can be,
you can still succeed. Cliff stars in the film as
Ivanhoe Martin and helps out a local church he has
(01:06:03):
seen in the film recording the title track Harder They Come.
He gets ripped off by the producer and ends up
on the wrong side of the law, eventually dying in
a shootout with the police. It's a pretty crackling film
and a pretty killer soundtrack. Well, I hope you enjoyed
this exploration and deep dive into the swampers also known
as the Muscle Shoals rhythm section down there in Alabama.
(01:06:24):
And one day, maybe one day, we will tackle the
wrecking crew that's just so near and dear to my heart.
I want to make sure I do it right. But
as for this episode, it is really important that you
recommend it to a friend so that they can enjoy
the show as well. And of course give it a rating,
leave reviews, and of course has always turned this last
song up. We'll see you next week.
Speaker 2 (01:06:53):
Will.
Speaker 3 (01:07:00):
For me when I die.
Speaker 23 (01:07:03):
But between the day abode and when you die, they
never seem to hear even look right.
Speaker 24 (01:07:13):
So as sure as the sun will share, I'm gonna
get my machine of what's mine. Give them the horror
they go, the horror they on who the horror they go,
(01:07:34):
the horror they'll fall wana.
Speaker 23 (01:07:41):
Well, the oppressers are trying to keep me down, trying
to drive under ground, and they think that they have
got the battle wall.
Speaker 3 (01:07:55):
I say, forgive them long.
Speaker 12 (01:07:57):
They know not what they done.
Speaker 4 (01:08:00):
Call ashore as the sud You.
Speaker 23 (01:08:03):
Will share the bonneget sin once mine and then.
Speaker 24 (01:08:10):
The horder they come, the hot of the one n ooh,
the horda, then calla.
Speaker 3 (01:08:28):
Thank you for listening.
Speaker 8 (01:08:29):
To listen to this, please recommend to a friend.
Speaker 1 (01:08:32):
And don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe.
Speaker 8 (01:08:35):
For more podcasts and online content, please visit this is
Funner dot com.
Speaker 12 (01:08:40):
This is Funner
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