This is one of my favourite soul tunes. I am trying to get to listen to as many good versions as possible.

 

So far I've managed to track down great renditions by the following artists:

 

James Carr

Aretha Franklin

Percy Sledge

Roy Hamilton

Little Milton

Prince Buster

Clarence Carter

Dorothy Moore (probably the weakest of all the above-mentioned)

 

Any other good version by soul(ful) artists you would recommend?

Edited July 2, 201411 yr by soulfuljules

This is one of my favourite soul tunes. I am trying to get to listen to as many good versions as possible.

 

So far I've managed to track down great renditions by the following artists:

 

James Carr

Aretha Franklin

Percy Sledge

Roy Hamilton

Little Milton

Prince Buster

Clarence Carter

Dorothy Moore (probably the weakest of all the above-mentioned)

 

Any other good versions by soul(ful) artists you would recommend?

ah one of my favourite subjects - I once put together a c90 of all the versions I could find...........

 

As well as the above check out Willie Hobbs, Phil Dino, Lee Bates, Oscar Toney Jnr,  Bobby King & Terry Evans

 

Also check out the many Country and rock versions....... Ry Cooder (voc & inst) Flying Burrito Brothers, Mud Boy & Thr Neutrons, Richard & Linda Thompson, Cat Power..............................................

 

all of these off the top of my head - i have a list somewhere...

 

Mike

The Glories

Joe Tex

Oscar Toney Jr

Sorry, only got a reggae version but Pat kelly is a great singer

 

Dan Penn must have recorded a version himself surely?

Dan Penn must have recorded a version himself surely?

The only recorded version by Dan Penn that I know of was on his Do Right Man CD from a 2010.  Him and Chips Momon, must have earned a few quid out of this tune over the years. 

Edited June 30, 201411 yr by John Reed

The only recorded version by Dan Penn that I know of was on his Do Right Man CD from a 2010.  Him and Chips Momon, must have earned a few quid out of this tune over the years. 

A great version too - from a great CD - it was actually released in 1994 John.  Highly recommended

A great version too - from a great CD - it was actually released in 1994 John.  Highly recommended

Mike, yes you're correct.  I got mine from Amazon in mp3's format    

Mike, yes you're correct.  I got mine from Amazon in mp3's format    

Pre mp3 for me John - bought it on a family holiday in Orlando - 1994 !!!!!

Lee Moses does a reasonable gritty version on a gates 45 (flip side to his recut of Bad Girl)

Lee Moses does a reasonable gritty version on a gates 45 (flip side to his recut of Bad Girl)

Lee Moses was the one I meant  Soulfreak - not Lee Bates!   Great double sider with the Dark End side done in the style of Clarence Carter's version....

Great song and Roy Hamilton gets my vote.

 

Perhaps it's obvious and every one knows it , but is the song about an inter-racial couple and not one or both of them being married.

 

If it is, the people who are going to find them could be the girl's parents or ,even worse , a lynch mob. For a married couple the line would be "he's gonna find us".

 

They have to hide in the shadows because it would be dangerous to be seen together by anyone in the town not just a husband or wife.

 

Also they can't talk if they meet downtown because a white girl couldn't be seen talking to a black boy.

 

At the time the song was written a number of films such as To Kill a Mockingbird and In the Still of Night dealt with the subject, so it was being talked about. I don't know if Dan Penn has been asked about this but maybe someone has read interviews with him. Or possibly I'm talking rubbish and should just listen to the music.

 

 

Rick

Rick, It's the first time that i have actually read those lyrics from a different perspective, a very interesting point of view.

But there are also a couple of verses that go like

It's a sin and we know it's wrong

Oh, our love keeps going on strong

And i don't think they would have talked about sins and being wrong if it had been about an interracial love.

Anyway, songs and lyrics like these click on so many emotional levels that they can always be interpreted in several ways, none being the "right" one.

Edited July 1, 201411 yr by soulfuljules

Rick, It's the first time that i have actually read those lyrics from a different perspective, a very interesting point of view.

But there are also a couple of verses that go like

It's a sin and we know it's wrong

Oh, our love keeps going strong on

And i don't think they would have talked about sins and being wrong if it had been about an interracial love.

Anyway, songs and lyrics like these click on so many emotional levels that they can always be interpreted in several ways, none being the "right" one.

Yeh ,that's where it seems more like married people as that would be one of the seven deadly sins. But in the US deep South of the early 60s inter racial relationships could be a sin in the eyes of a lot of the population. I don't suppose it matters too much now but it would be interesting to know if it was interpreted that way in the US when the song first came out. Maybe RobK would know.

 

Rick

Found this piece of info today on wikipedia. It says that in the intentions of the writers this was meant to be an out and out "cheatin' song".

The song was co-written by Penn, a professional songwriter and producer, and Moman, a former session guitarist at Phil Spector's Gold Star Studio, and also the owner of American Sound Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. The song itself was ultimately recorded across town at Royal Studios, home of HI Records.

In the summer of 1966, while a DJ convention was being held in Memphis, Penn and Moman were cheating while playing cards with Florida DJ Don Schroeder,[1] and decided to write the song while on a break. Penn said of the song “We were always wanting to come up with the best cheatin’ song. Ever.”[2] The duo went to the hotel room of Quinton Claunch, another Muscle Shoals alumnus, and founder of Hi Records, to write. Claunch told them, "Boys, you can use my room on one condition, which is that you give me that song for James Carr. They said I had a deal, and they kept their word.” The song, lyrics and all, was written in about thirty minutes.[3]

The song is the lament from an adulterer to his illicit lover, told from the adulterer's point of view. According to the lyrics, they continue their sins, "hiding in shadows where [they] don't belong" because their "love keeps coming on strong." At the climax of the song, the narrator fears "they're gonna find us some day."

Edited July 1, 201411 yr by soulfuljules

I can understand why many performers would want to attempt this song as its so perfect in its construction, but the James Carr original is so definitive that it can never, ever be beaten. One of the true masterpieces of 60s soul.

 

I wonder who the wailing female vocalist is on it? I know an uncredited Betty Harris duetted with Carr on "I'm A Fool For You". 

I can understand why many performers would want to attempt this song as its so perfect in its construction, but the James Carr original is so definitive that it can never, ever be beaten. One of the true masterpieces of 60s soul.

 

I wonder who the wailing female vocalist is on it? I know an uncredited Betty Harris duetted with Carr on "I'm A Fool For You". 

I have heard it said before now that Dan Penn's guide' vocal was still audible on the track Gareth

Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham

 

https://youtu.be/iGcM_tcJ6Tk

Sticking my neck out on here but I've never rated this song much. To me it sounds like a country record at heart (no bad thing) and can imagine a version by Conway Twitty (again no bad thing) but I've never really took to it that much, it sort of goes nowhere for me.

Has anybody mentioned The Commitments version? I' ll get me coat!

Artie White on Ichiban 

 

List of Dan Penn covers here under "D"..

 

https://www.geocities.jp/hideki_wtnb/danpenncover.html

 

From Dan Penn interview ....

 

“The Dark End of the Street”: “We tracked at Hi, and a few weeks later we bought James Carr to American and did his vocal overdubs and I did some background vocals. We thought James was fantastic; he had made some good records before, and we knew we had made a good record. Did we realize it was going to become hailed as a masterpiece? Not really, but I liked the song and the record a lot. What did I think of Aretha’s version? It was ok, but nobody did it as good as James Carr, not even me. 

Edited July 2, 201411 yr by Dave Turner

Like this version,

 

 

https://youtu.be/Ic6Ic2MwL7c

Like this version,

that is pat kelly

https://youtu.be/Ic6Ic2MwL7c

 

 

Had my suspicion's when I saw Pete's post, thanks for the heads up