Album: Dusty in Memphis (Deluxe Edition)
Year: 1969
The slugline afforded to Dusty in Memphis — Pop Chanteuse Records With Authentic Musicians — was so powerful and the results so stellar that it’s been a go-to move ever since.
Waiting for Katy Perry’s album with The Roots to drop at anytime now.
That said, my favorite track from that era — a song I love even more deservedly massive hit “Son of A Preacher Man” — didn’t even make the original album.
Like many of the songs from Dusty in Memphis, “That Old Sweet Roll (Hi-De-Ho)” was written by Gerry Goffin and Carol King, but it was recorded in 1969 for a follow-up that never saw the light of day, and ended up as a b-side.
But man, it would have totally fit on the original album. A slow burning fucksong, “That Old Sweet Roll (Hi-De-Ho)” is fully of weird guitar burbles as Dusty explains exactly what she’s looking for:
Hi-de-ho, hi-de-hi
Got to find me a piece of the sky
Gonna find me some of that old sweet roll
Singing hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-hi-de-ho
Of course, it was Blood Sweat and Tears who had the big hit single with this song, but their version is overblown and overlong, and more about showing off their musical chops than actually servicing the song.
And the end of their version, it looks like they’ve hired every single choir singer on the entire East Coast to sing along, and the original intent — mama needs to get laid, pronto — is lost in the cacophony.
Whereas with Dusty’s version, slow and sparse, you have no doubt that she ended up getting what she wanted.
“That Old Sweet Roll (Hi-De-Ho)”