Monday March 21, 2022 “634-5789 (Soulsville, USA)” Wilson Pickett

March is a busy month and we have some catching up to do so let’s get started with Alexander Graham Bell who was born in this month and coincidentally patented the telephone and made that very first phone in March as well.  So this week we’re going to take a look at telephone related songs.

Before we begin our telephone songs I feel obligated to tell you that although we are all familiar with Mr. Bell’s images which appear to resemble one or both of the Smith Brothers on those ancient cough drop boxes, it turns out he was a young man, only 28 when he invented and patented the telephone and placed that first call.

But let’s start our phone related songs with the  ‘Wicked’ Wilson Pickett, also born in March and his telephone song ‘634-5789’ a song co-written by Steve Cropper, Stax session guitarist extraordinaire and member of the band Booker T & the MGs.  Cropper had also worked with Otis Redding and wrote “Dock of the Bay” with Redding, a song which would be released only days after Redding was killed in a plane crash.

Wilson Pickett, a major soul star in the sixties would have hard driving, iconic and soulful hits like “Mustang Sally”, “In the Midnight Hour” and “Land of 1000 Dances” where he gave us ‘na na na na na na” even before Paul McCartney spent three and one half minutes ending his classic “Hey Jude” with those very same lyrics.

Although Wilson Pickett spent much of his time in Detroit he was not a member of the Motown label but rather did most of his recording for Jerry Wexler’s Atlantic label and spent much of his studio time in Memphis and Muscle Shoals.

Muscle Shoals studio musicians were talented locals in a rural area of Alabama and although Pickett was very familiar with their soul sound he did not know that the band was white and when he first arrived at the studio he asked someone what all the grocery clerks were doing there and was astonished to learn that those ‘grocery clerks’ were the musicians that would deliver the very funky sounds that he needed.

At one of Pickett’s sessions a guest guitarist, Duane Allman, pre Allman Brothers, showed up to play on some of Pickett’s tracks.

It probably wasn’t a good moment in America to have the phone number 634-5789 as you were guaranteed to be receiving very frequent calls asking for Mr. Pickett.

Stay safe and well…and if you hit pause on today’s video at 1:11 be sure to check out the young left handed guitarist to the right of Wilson Pickett in the photo and yes, that is James Marshall (Jimi) Hendrix.

If you need a little lovin'

Call on me, all right

And if you want a little huggin'

Call on me baby, hmm-hmm

Oh, I'll be right here at home

 All you got to do is

Pick up your telephone

And dial, now (six-three-four-five-seven-eight-nine)

What's my number? (six-three-four-five-seven-eight-nine)

 If you need a little huggin'

Call on me

That's all you got to do now

And if you want some kissin'

Call on me baby, all right

No more lonely nights

Will you be alone

 All you got to do is

Pick up your telephone

And dial, now (six-three-four-five-seven-eight-nine)

That's my number (six-three-four-five-seven-eight-nine)

 Oh, I'll be right there

Just as soon as I can

Oh, and if I be a little bit late, now

I hope that you'll understand

Oh yeah, all right, ooh

 And if you need a little lovin'

Call on me

Lord have mercy

And if you want some kissin'

Call on me, baby

That's all you got to do now

No more lonely nights

Will you be alone

 All you got to do is

Pick up your telephone

And dial, now (six-three-four-five-seven-eight-nine)

That's my number (six-three-four-five-seven-eight-nine)

 Oh, yeah (six-three-four-five-seven-eight-nine)

Call me on the telephone (six-three-four-five-seven-eight-nine)

No more will you be alone (six-three-four-five-seven-eight-nine)

What's my number? (six-three-four-five-seven-eight-nine)

That's my number (six-three-four-five-seven-eight-nine)