There was no plan for keyboards to be on the song, but Oldham listened to the demo and worked out a way he could contribute (and thereby get paid). “What if I pretended I was on a Harley Davidson?” Pickett was joined by Memphis guitarist Chips Moman and FAME regulars Roger Hawkins on drums, guitarist Jimmy Johnson, bassist Tommy Cogbill and keyboardist Dewey “Spooner” Oldham, who was himself a noted songwriter, with credits for songs such as I’m Your Puppet and Cry Like A Baby under his belt. He cut his version at FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, with producer Rick Hall and engineer Tom Dowd at the controls, and members of the legendary The Swampers backing band in support. When Pickett recorded the song, in October 1966, it became a phenomenon – one that eventually made Rolling Stone’s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Franklin had one last inspired suggestion: change the song’s title to Mustang Sally.
“I wasn’t that knocked out on that myself, but I agreed and said, ‘Cool, cool,’” Rice recalled. When Rice sang the chorus of “Rise, Sally, rise/Wipe your weeping eyes”, Franklin offered a brilliant piece of advice, suggesting he changed the line to “Ride, Sally, ride”. He sang a version to Aretha Franklin, who ended up playing piano on Rice’s first demo of the song.
When Rice returned to Detroit he mulled on the popularity of the car that had been introduced at the 1964 World’s Fair and wrote a song that began life as Mustang Mama. I said, ‘Man, that little shit? What are you gonna do with it – are you gonna ride in it by yourself?’” “I wasn’t that knocked out” “He looked over at this poster and said, ‘Hey, that’s the Mustang!’ I said, ‘Oh shit, man, that car there? No, no, no, it’s too little for me!’ You know, we’re used to driving big cars in Detroit – we drive Cadillacs, Lincolns and Benzs. ‘What is the Mustang? I’ve never heard of it,’” Rice told Rock Cellar Magazine in 2012. “Calvin was always talking about the Mustang car. The subject came up when Rice took a drive with Shields. Shields had wanted a Ford Mustang sports car instead. Mustang Sally’s origins dated to the time Rice visited the singer Della Reese in New York and she told him she was thinking of buying a new Lincoln Continental for her husband, drummer Calvin Shields, for his birthday. Richard Kimble in "The Fugitive" may look familiar to blues fans.“What is the Mustang? I’ve never heard of it” "I appreciate it more than I did at the time." "I listen back to all that old stuff now, man. Let's write that, man!"' "Respect Yourself" proved a 1971 smash for the Staple Singers, but even obscure tunes grow significant as time passes. I said, 'You first got to respect yourself out here today.' "Luther Ingram and I, we were in my office down at Stax," says Rice. Rice eventually moved to Memphis and became a staff writer for Stax Records. "Schofield heard Pickett singing on the porch or something and approached him about singing with the Falcons." "My bass singer, Willie Schofield, discovered Pickett," says Rice. Pickett replaced Stubbs-brother of Four Tops lead Levi Stubbs-in 1962. "It was so small that the lead singer, which was Joe Stubbs, we had to put him in the bathroom." "We cut that song in a room as small as a bedroom," says Rice.
0 kommentar(er)
