The Fruit Song

Recorded at United Sound Systems in Detroit for Casablanca Records. Don Davis produced the album, with bass and keyboard work from Motown and P-Funk-associated players including Bootsy Collins, George Worrell, Gary Shider, Glenn Goins, Richard “Pistol” Allen, and Eli Fountain on saxophone. The track opened Jeannie Reynolds’ 1976 Casablanca album Cherries, Bananas & Other Fine Things and became the record most associated with her name. It circulated as a DJ favorite and underground soul-disco cut rather than a chart single, and its long break made it especially attractive to club DJs and crate-diggers. The song later became a widely sampled source, including Rock Master Scott and the Dynamic Three’s “Request Line” and Lakim Shabazz’s “The Posse Is Large (Pure Righteousness Remix).” It also remained a staple on specialty soul and dance playlists, keeping the record in circulation beyond its original release.