Song of the Day 8/12: The Staple Singers, “I’ll Take You There”

The Staple Singers’ first No. 1 hit, and the song they’re best remembered for, didn’t really have much to do with the group. Mavis Staples is the only one who appears on the record. All the instruments are played by the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. When Mavis calls for “Daddy,” it’s Eddie Hinton, not Pops Staples, playing the guitar solo. The song was written by Stax producer Al Bell, who signed the group to the label – well, the lyrics were, anyway.

The song is just a two-chord vamp, but Bell swiped it wholesale, including the distinctive bass intro, from a reggae record credited to the Harry J All Stars, the house band of producer Harry Johnson. “Liquidator” was an instrumental, featuring Winston Wright on organ and “Family Man” Aston Barrett on bass; it rose to No. 9 on the UK charts in 1969 and still gets played by several British football clubs. Johnson later produced records for a who’s who of reggae stars.

The nub of the song didn’t originate with Harry J, either. The genesis of both the beat and the bass line can be traced to Jamaican singer/songwriter Alton Ellis’ 1967 rocksteady hit, “Girl I’ve Got a Date.”