Soul Man

Sam & Dave recorded the single in Memphis at Stax in 1967, with Isaac Hayes and David Porter producing and the Stax house musicians backing them, including Booker T. & the M.G.'s and the Mar-Keys horns. Steve Cropper’s guitar intro and Sam Moore’s shouted ad-libs became defining parts of the session. Released in 1967, it became Sam & Dave’s biggest hit and Stax’s most successful single to that point, reaching No. 1 on the R&B chart and No. 2 on the pop chart. It also stood as a bold, danceable statement of Black pride at the height of the civil-rights era. The track remained one of the most recognizable soul records of the 1960s and was later inducted into the National Recording Registry and the Grammy Hall of Fame. It has been widely covered and sampled, and Steve Cropper’s opening guitar figure and the “Play it, Steve!” ad-lib became part of its lasting cultural memory.