Manchester Soul Jukebox
My Sweet Potato
by Booker T and the MG's
209
I have always loved Booker T. And The M G’s and I can remember when I first heard them. It was a vinyl 45 record that was played at the Twisted Wheel in 1963 and of course it was “Green Onions” it caught the mood of that time in England when a Blues boom was emerging and lots of British groups were getting into the Blues and copying that fantastic and unmistakable riff the backbone of “Green Onions.” At our special club in Manchester everything at that time and throughout 64 revolved around being a MOD; fashion, style and music was our thing and more so at this club than anywhere else in our city, it was the only place where the ‘B’ side of “Green Onions” could be heard; “Behave Yourself”. Now both these recordings added an atmosphere to the club a dark cellar with interconnected rooms, it suited all things to do with the Blues and R&B. Soon we became proficient in knowing as much as we could about the Blues, R&B and early Motown and Soul artists that we revered. It soon became apparent that the influence and work of Booker T. And The M G’s was considerable as there very distinctive sound underpinned everything that came out on the fantastic Stax record label. The group was the rhythm section at Stax and released a huge amount of recordings in their own right. On that distant 60’s Soul scene that gave birth to today’s ‘Northern Soul’ there was a deep appreciation of instrumentals. Booker T. And The M G’s had several ‘hits’ on our underground scene but rarely on the pop charts until they released “Soul Limbo” which to this day is connected with sport and especially cricket as a theme tune. One particular LP track from the group stands out as memorable from the ‘Wheel’ in 1966 “One Mint Julip” from ‘And Now’ : Booker T. And The M G’s. Also in that same year we got into a new 45’ release from the Stax house band; “My Sweet Potato” I distinctly remember ordering it from a record shop near Victoria Station in Manchester, called Ralph’s Records. It duly arrived the next week and it was on the Red Atlantic label as Stax was yet to be released in its own right in the U.K. I looked at it. I read that the music was written by Steve Cropper, B.T. Jones and Al Jackson; that meant that only the brilliant bass man ‘Duck’ Dunn was left out of the writing credits. On “My Sweet Potato” Booker T. was playing a piano which made it extra interesting as he mostly played his distinctive Hammond organ. This was a new take on their sound and it hit the spot that year with the All-nighter goers in Manchester who had evolved into full Soul appreciation and danced to ‘our’ music all night long. And on that scene and to some extent since with our ‘Northern Soul’ friends there has been a deep appreciation of instrumentals and “My Sweet Potato” is one of the finest examples. My Sweet Potato/Booker-Loo Atlantic 584044 1966
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