Album: Hold On, I’m Comin’
Year: 1966
. . .
While Sam Moore & Dave Prater had been releasing singles since 1962, it wasn’t until 1966 when they tasted any significant chart success, having hooked up with the Stax machine to produce the utterly dynamite “Hold On, I’m Comin’.”
Co-written by Dave Porter & Isaac Hayes, “Hold On, I’m Comin'” was anchored by a massive and thrilling horn hook by Mar-Keys Don Nix, Wayne Jackson and Charles “Packy” Axton, which dug instantly into your mind and dominated the song so much that you might not even notice just how deep of a groove that Al Jackson, Jr was digging. But good lord, man, just listen to that snare: it drives so deep, hard and insistent that it’s even dirtier than the double entendre of the title.
And in fact, at least for me, I’m so busy listening to that groove — kudos, as always, to Duck Dunn’s bass, both leading and following — I realize that I don’t know any of the words of the verses. But I sure as shit know the chorus, shouted in unison if not harmony by Sam and Dave.
Just hold on, I’m comin’
Hold on, I’m comin’
Hold on, I’m comin’
Hold on, I’m comin’
And of course, you can just enjoy the chorus, that groove and those horns, but then you’d miss Booker T’s piano, Isaac Hayes’s (ahem) organ and Steve Cropper’s mixed way low guitar solo in the middle of the song. Either way, it’s a gut punch of a song — one of the greatest things ever produced by Stax, which is really saying something — and it was funky enough to top the R&B charts and catchy enough to peak on the pop charts at #21, setting Sam & Dave up for the bigger successes to come.
“Hold On, I’m Comin'”
“Hold On, I’m Comin'” Live
“Hold On, I’m Comin'” performed by Sam Moore & Isaac Hayes at the 2002 Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame Ceremony
Did you miss a Certain Song? Follow me on Twitter: @barefootjim
The Certain Songs Database
A filterable, searchable & sortable somewhat up to date database with links to every “Certain Song” post I’ve ever written.
Certain Songs Spotify playlist
(It’s recommended that you listen to this on Spotify as their embed only has 200 songs.)
Support “Certain Songs” with a donation on Patreon
Go to my Patreon page