Old Stuff Friday - The Soul Corner - "Cool Jerk"

Time for the Soul Corner to get its toes tappin' and fingers poppin' with an irresistible dance jam.

The back story here is "the Jerk" had become a popular dance, but in Detroit's clubs, a lewder version of it, called the "Pimp Jerk" had caught on. A fairly obscure Detroit band called the Capitols, who were not affiliated with Motown Records but rather a tiny local label, wrote a song called "Pimp Jerk" in 1966 in the style of dance craze songs of that era.

They realized they had a great song on their hands, changed the name and lyrics to "Cool Jerk" and asked their friends in the Motown house band to moonlight and help them record the song. That recording became a national smash hit and an enduring classic, covered by many - including Todd Rundgren, The Go-Go's, and Bootsy Collins - and used in a Cool Whip commercial.

I am particularly down with Earl Van Dyke's piano playing here, or as it's referred to in the song, on "those 88s".

Now come on everybody, I wanna hear y'all - can you do it, can you do it?