Good Truckin'

Sam and Dave - Soul Man



Ladies beware, Sam (or Dave) has a truck load of good lovin' for you. And he's a soul man. Please, form an orderly queue.

Written by Isaac Hayes, this song was one of the biggest singles (and the biggest at the time) on the famous Stax record label. The backing music was courtesy of the legendary Booker T. and the MGs, although technically only the MGs as Booker was away at university, and the Mar-Keys horns. Unsuprisingly, influences on later music abound - the guitar intro is very Hendrix-y and the horn lines have been recycled and sampled endlessly. The song has also been covered a fair number of times, including one (ill-advised) cover by Sam and Lou Reed for a movie of the same name. This does, however, bring us to the creation of a new rule - if something is covered by the Blues Brothers, then it's automatically cool. A nod to the greats by Mssrs Blues imbues any song with the kind of cool that could, almost, override it being covered by Bruce Willis. So, by association, this song is cool.

Luckily, it would have been cool anyway. Sam and Dave know how to belt it out - they were reknowned for sweat-soaked live performances that resulted in them wearing through 100 outfits a year when touring - and anyone who can be described as one of the greatest live acts of all time while wearing lime green three piece suits could probably teach modern musicians a thing or two about showmanship. And there were no Iggy Pop rolling-around-in-broken-glass-theatricals either, these guys were dancing. No wonder they had a truckful of good loving, it was probably in the truck behind the truckful of colourful suits and the truckful of dance moves.

The only thing that this song misses is even a blip on the Rock Nutter Scale (tm). These dudes were so tame that they make Prince look like a drunken football hooligan.

Still, maybe I should buy a truck.

Verdict: Sweat-soaked Soul

Tomorrow: The Ramones - Sheena Is A Punk Rocker