Album: Be Altitude: Respect Yourself
Year: 1972
. . .
Here’s a thing I don’t understand: why is that this lovely gospel-soul-reggae combination never listed along with the songs that helped reggae crossover to a mainstream U.S. audience? I mean, sure you’ve got your Desmond Dekker “Israelites” and your Johnny Nash “I Can See Clearly Now” and even your godsdamned Eric Clapton “I Shot The Sheriff,” but none of those songs are as great as this one, not even close.
With an opening lifted absolutely wholesale from Harry J All-Stars “The Liquidator,” and the Muscle Shoals cats turning into a riddim section — bassist David Hood kills it from start to finish — “I’ll Take You There” is more of a groove than a song. But wow, wotta groove!
Underwritten but incredibly produced by ace Stax producer Al Bell, “I’ll Take You There” gets over on the aforementioned riddim as well as the vocals, which are basically Mavis with some help from Cleotha, Yvonne & Pops Staple on one of the most infectious call-and-responses ever.
Oh, mmm..
I know a place
Ain’t nobody cryin’, ain’t nobody worried
Ain’t no smilin’ faces, mmm, naw, naw
Lyin’ to the races
Help me, come on, come on
Somebody help me now
(I’ll take you there)
Help me, y’all
(I’ll take you there)
Help me now
(I’ll take you there)
Oh!
(I’ll take you there)
Oh, oh! mercy
(I’ll take you there)
Oh, let me take you there!
(I’ll take you there)
Oh, oh, let me take you there!
(I’ll take you there)
And outside of Mavis exhorting pianist Barry Beckett and guitarist Eddie Hinton during their solos (who, in a bit of kayfabe, she pretends is her father), as well as bassist Hood, that’s basically the entire song: a verse, a solo section, and then the verse again. And that’s it.
But that’s also enough: not only was “I’ll Take You There” the first #1 from the Staple Singers, it’s become a standard and easily the most popular Staple Singers song. Oh, and in doing research for this piece, I discovered something that surprised me: General Public covered this song in 1994, and had their biggest hit, as it topped out at #22. Naturally, it’s really good, and I’m not sure what surprised me more, that it was a big hit or that General Public got back together in 1994.
“I’ll Take You There”
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