Soulsville, U. S. A.

• Heavily influenced by blues and gospel
• Retains elements of R&B
– Horn section
– Tendency toward shuffle rhythms
– Emotional, “attitude” songs
• Rougher, blues/gospel singing style of most performers

• Studio at center of soul - Stax Records in
Memphis
• Named for founders Jim
ST ewart and
Estelle AX ton
• Recorded for Atlantic Records from 1960
– Memphis
– Muscle Shoals, Alabama

• Integrated band
– Booker T. Jones (piano), Al Jackson (drums)
African-American
– Donald “Duck” Dunn (bass), Steve Cropper
(guitar) white
– Memphis Horns - all white
• Stressed electric guitar, active bass lines, horn lines
• Often worked out arrangements on spot, based on head arrangements or lead sheets
• Essential part of Stax sound

MOTOWN
• “Hitsville”
• Black owned
• All black performers
• Aimed at white audience
• Top-down decisions
• Songs by professional songwriters
STAX
• “Soulsville”
• White owned (at first)
• Integrated
• Aimed at R&B audience
• Collaborative
• Songs by performers, arranged in sessions

MOTOWN
• Producer/composer most important
• Smooth, refined pop sound
• Complex textures
• Wall of Sound
• 8 beat style beat, moving to 16-beat
• Clean, crisp rhythms
STAX
• Performer most important
• Rawer, blues-gospel sound
• Simpler textures
• Horn/rhythm sections
• 8 beat style beat, moving to 16-beat
• Pulsating “funky” rhythms

• Began as gospel singer
• Signed by Columbia in 1960 to be black pop singer - fails
• Jerry Wexler at Atlantic records buys contract in 1966
– Sends to Stax studio at Muscle Shoals, AL to record own material

• Cover version of Otis Redding hit
• Minimal instrumental accompaniment
– Focus on lead, backing vocals
• 4 bar intro: bass (beat), horns (harmonic rhythms), guitar riff (style beat)

• Form: A A A sax solo A B (R-E-S-P-E-C-
T), vamp on A section as outro
– Improvised elaboration of previously heard material
• Backing vocals play active role
– Call and response, style beat
• Many details worked out in session

4 bar intro
Verse
Chorus: a a
Bridge
Elec tric piano (organ sound)
and active bass line
Snare accents thir d beat
You’re a no good heartbreaker
You’re a liar an d a cheat
And I don’t know why
I let you do these things to me.
My friends keep tellin’ me
That you ain’t no good
Ooh, but they don’t know
That I’d lea ve you if I could
Change in harmony (V)
Return to tonic
Change in harmony
I guess I’m uptight
I’m stuck like glue
Pia no triple ts lead into….
Horns enter - sustained notes
‘Cuz I ain’t never
I ain’t never
Horn riffs,
Loved a man the way, the way that I love you +backing vocals
New horn riff leads back to….

Verse
Bridge
Chorus
Contrasting
Section [C]
Tag
Some time ago I thought
That you would run out of fools
But I was so wrong,
You got one that you’ll never lose.
The way you treat me is a shame
How could you hurt me so bad
Baby you know
I’m the best thing that you ever had
Kis s me one more time
Don’t you ever say that we’re through
‘Cuz I ain’t never
I ain’t never
Loved a man the way, the way that I love you
More active keyboard line based on
on triplets, sounds more like
a piano
Pia no only
No horns
Horns return
Exposed guitar line I can’t sleep at night
And I can’t eat a bit
I guess I’ll never be free
Since you got your hooks in me
I’ve never loved a man --
Hard triplets drum shots lea d to
Vocal vamps over horn riff,
bass line, guitar until fade out

• Started career as backup singer for Little
Richard
• Commanded wide variety of styles
– Soulful ballads like Percy Sledge
– Blues/gospel fusion
• Gritty tone
• Impassioned style
• Breakout performance at Monterey Pop
• Killed in plane crash later that year

• Opens with memorable, syncopated riff
• Another riff layered on top
• Vocals also based on riff
• Strong beat AND strong backbeat
• Gospel influence evident

• Isaac Hayes
– Songwriter/producer for Stax
– Theme from Shaft won Grammy, Oscar for best song
• Wilson Pickett - In The Midnight Hour
• Percy Sledge - When A Man Loves a
Woman
• Sam and Dave (Sam Moore and Dave
Prater)

Certain similarities to Motown sound
– Riff-based, verse and refrain, end-weighted
• Differences
– More gospel-influenced vocal
– Not a “story song” - about attitude
– Groove
• eight beat rock rhythm in bass line
• back beat in tambourine (refrain) or drums (verse)
• horn riffs
• double time guitar riff

• Age 5: starts dancing on streets for tips
• Age 20: Joins gospel quartet
– Brown emerges as leader
– Change name to the Famous Flames
• First hit
Please, please, please (1956) gospel-inspired doo-wop
• Style changes in mid 1960s

• Fuses tight, riff-based jump blues and R&B horn sections
• Fervid, gospel performing style
• Up-tempo dance numbers
• Emphasize rhythm over melody
– Polyrhythmic
– Each part maintains own repetitive pattern

• Harsh, declamatory vocals and falsetto shrieks
• Solid rock beat in drums
• Well-defined sections, set off by tone colors and vocals
– Arrangement of these blocks of sound gives form to song

a Whoa-oa-oa! I feel good, I knew that I would, now a I feel good, I knew that I would, now b So good, so good, I got you a Whoa! I feel nice, like sugar and spice a I feel nice, like sugar and spice b So nice, so nice, I got you sax solo
When I hold you in my arms
I know that I can't do no wrong and when I hold you in my arms
My love won't do you no harm
Whoa! I feel nice, like sugar and spice
I feel nice, like sugar and spice
So nice, so nice, I got you sax solo
When I hold you in my arms
I know that I can't do no wrong and when I hold you in my arms
My love won't do you no harm
Whoa! I feel nice, like sugar and spice
I feel nice, like sugar and spice
So nice, so nice, I got you
Whoa-oa-oa! I feel good, I knew that I would, now
I feel good, I knew that I would, now
So good, so good, I got you

• Same organizing principle as I Got You
• Riff-based horn parts
• Double-time guitar riff at end of chorus: sixteen-beat style beat for one measure
• Choked rhythm guitar