SLS: Telephone Numbers

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For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, as he tells us in his post with a very long title, Jim is inviting us to play a song that mentions a telephone or any other type of communication device. That would seem to rule out traditional English folk music, wouldn’t it, as Ye Olde iPhone didn’t exist. And I don’t know many songs about smoke signals, or two tin cans connected by string. So instead of relying on my usual suspects I’m doing something a little different for me: I’m playing you two soul music tunes. Shock! Horror! But my tastes are fairly wide-ranging and these are two songs I’ve always loved.

 

 

Here’s the first, after that rather large clue:

As that was a lyric video you probably don’t need them again, but in belt and braces style here they are anyway, courtesy of genius.com.

Judy Clay & William Bell released Private Number as a single in 1968, and it reached #75 in the US, but fared much better here in the UK, entering the chart in November 1968 and peaking at #8 in January 1969. The song was written by William Bell and Booker T Jones, who also produced the record. Information about it is a little hard to come by: most of what I can find is about the dreadful cover by the English boyband 911, who my daughters loved and went to see at the Wembley Arena. I worked near there and as it was a Sunday I drove them to the gig, to which my wife accompanied them, and spent the evening in the office reading the paper and terrifying the cleaner. It was also the day of a Cup Final at Wembley Stadium: traffic chaos! There have been several other cover versions, notably (for me) by the band Brinsley Schwarz, which is where Nick Lowe began his career – their version was eventually released in 2017 on a career retrospective. But the original remains supreme for me: I loved it then and still do.

 

For my second song today I’m turning to one that was written by Eddie Floyd and Steve Cropper, which was first recorded by Wilson Pickett in late 1965. I always liked it, and especially the cover version by Ry Cooder on his 1980 album, Borderline. I was thinking of playing that version until I found this one and just had to go with it:

Tina Turner & Robert Cray with a live performance of 634-5789. You can probably see why I chose this – they do it so well. And before I forget, here are Eddie Floyd’s original lyrics.

This live version of the track was recorded in 1986 as part of a segment in Tina’s Break Every Rule TV special, in which she interpreted classic soul songs with guitarist and singer Robert Cray, including 634-5789, Sam Cooke’s A Change Is Gonna Come and Wilson Pickett’s Land of a Thousand Dances and In the Midnight Hour. The four tracks were later included on her 1988 album Tina Live in Europe (UK #8, US #86). 634-5789, in this duet with Robert Cray, was also issued as a single in a few countries, reaching #14 in The Netherlands and #25 in Belgium. It is a popular song, having also been recorded by Otis Redding and Bon Jovi, among others.

That’s all from me today, and as always I hope you have enjoyed my selections. And I’ve kept pretty close to the brief for once, which is nice. My thanks to Jim for hosting the show, as ever. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, and I hope to see you again for some more Tuesday Tunes. Take care 🎶

39 thoughts on “SLS: Telephone Numbers”

  3. Two of my favourites from ‘back in the day’, especially Judy Clay and William Bell. I played that one to death! I was 16 at the time, had a steady girlfriend, was doing well at school, and had my whole life ahead of me. That song seemed so ‘cool’ to me then. The other one I had by Wilson Pickett of course, the original recording of the Steve Cropper/Eddie Floyd song. So that’s the best version for me. I also had it by Otis Redding, and then it surfaced again in the film ‘Blues Brothers 2000’, with the wonderful Eddie (He is still alive! Wilson died relatively young) singing along with Wilson. Great stuff, and more fodder for my own blog and ‘Songs I Like’ features. Thanks, Clive, my kind of music! Best wishes, Pete.

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    • I thought this one would play well with you, Pete! It’s not often that I play soul songs but those two cried out to me for this theme. ‘Private Number’ is an underrated classic, in my view. ‘634-5789’ has been covered many times, and I never grow tired of hearing it.

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  4. Two class tracks Clive, a good way to start my day. Robert Cray is an excellent artist but I wish we saw this side of him more often. I wasn’t aware of this with Tina, thanks for including it.

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    • Thank you, Marina, I’m pleased you liked them. That version of the second one is great, isn’t it. No American reader has yet said they knew the first one: one of those oddities, given that it was a big hit here!

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  16. Love both of these, Clive, especially 634-5789, considering I featured it myself, as you already know. It’s funny …. I almost featured Wilson Pickett and Tina but I couldn’t find a video with the lyrics and it’s so much easier for me with my gimpy hand not having to type the words. You can imagine how the dictation app butchers lyrics! 😆 Tina and Robert Cray did a fab job on this song.

    I did not know your first song, but I really liked it. Excellent tunes today.

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  17. Good morning, Clive. You got me on both of these today. The first I had never heard of the song or the artist. Now the second I had not heard, but TINA! You gotta love her.

    Nice choices for this week’s prompt.

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