Friday, July 1, 2011

Old Stuff Friday - The Soul Corner - Arthur Conley (and Clarence Clemons) "Sweet Soul Music"

We're headed into the July 4 holiday weekend. Confession: July 4 is my favorite holiday of the year. British readers fear not, it is not some jingoistic "USA! USA!" nonsense. No, I like it because it is a holiday without the stress or strain of gift buying, anyone dying for my sins, bland turkey dinners, people dying in wars long before my lifetime, none of that heavy stuff.

The weather is good, I get to sleep late, BBQ and spend the day drinking great Oregon beer and listening to American music. There will be no Who, Stones, Smiths or Jesus and Mary Chain played around my house this weekend. It'll be CCR, James Brown, R.E.M., Replacements, Jayhawks, Ray Charles and many more.

So the day deserves a fitting Soul Corner selection, one we've been holding in our hip pocket for awhile, patiently waiting for just the right moment. And here it is: Arthur Conley from Atlanta GA with his great name-dropping 1967 classic, "Sweet Soul Music", which was produced by and co-written with Otis Redding. The tune was lifted from a Sam Cooke song called "Yeah Man".

It's all great, every second of this song, but pay particular attention to the bass lines, among my favorite ever.



And in honor of the beloved and very sadly departed Clarence Clemons, we're also sending out this live version showing a very fit Bruce Springsteen and the Big Man.

To our US readers- Happy 4th of July! To our friends overseas, thanks for reading and we leave you with one just one simple question: Do you like good music?

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