Song of the Day 4/19: The Bar-Kays, “Soul Finger”

Is Bear man the local version of Florida man?

Back in the Before Times, in December 2017, Bear man Michael Rohana went to an Ugly Christmas Sweater party at the Franklin Institute. The then-24-year-old drank too much, snuck into the roped-off display of 10 of China’s famous terra cotta warriors and, horsing around, broke off one statue’s finger. Not knowing what to do, he took it home, setting off an international incident.

When Rohana finally got his day in court this week he took a guilty plea in a deal that let him avoid felony charges. When he’s sentenced in August we’ll learn the weight of a finger on the scales of justice.

I always thought of this as a disco song, but “Soul Finger” long predates the age of the glitter ball. The Bar-Kays, a Stax house outfit, turned their instrumental jam into their first single as a stand-alone band back in 1967, when it hit No. 17 on the Hot 100. The title phrase, shouted by a chorus of neighborhood children, was the suggestion of Stax songwriters Isaac Hayes and David Porter (“Soul Man”).