Booker T. Jones (organ, piano), Steve Cropper (guitar), Donald "Duck" Dunn (bass), and Al Jackson, Jr. (drums) were studio musicians at Stax Records in Memphis and played on hundreds of records by stars like Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and Sam & Dave. They also recorded instrumental records on their own and were influential in forming the Southern Soul and Memphis Soul sounds. They placed three records in the top 10, this being the second, reaching #9 on the Hot 100 and #35 on the R&B chart in 1968. This is the main theme for the 1968 movie of the same name that starred Clint Eastwood, Inger Stevens, Ed Begley, and Pat Hingle.
17 thoughts on “Song of the Day: Booker T & The MG’s, “Hang ‘Em High””
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Green Onions is the one I know best but I forgot about this…
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They also had “Time Is Tight,” which I remember really liking as a kid…
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Oh ok…I remember hearing that one alot. I love the sound of those Stax records.
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They really had a good thing going there, put them on the map with Motown and Philly.
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They did and then they had distribution problems and it led to their demise I believe…I could be wrong.
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Evidently, they’re back as a reissue label. Concord owns them.
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Well that is cool that they are still going now.
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Great movie! I’m gonna have to look up their other songs because the name is familiar but not with this song.
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“Green Onions” and “Time Is Tight” were two of their most popular.
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Wow, learn something new every day! And, Clint Eastwood is 89!
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89, and shows no sign of slowing down. (Are you going to see his movie about Richard Jewell?) Kirk Douglas just turned 103, did you see that? He’s the last link to the Hollywood of old.
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I don’t like theaters – too enclosed, however, I imagine it to be an excellent since Eastwood is involved. Kirk Douglas is amazing and yep, the last link. Wow!
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Theaters are not especially handicapped-friendly, and we can’t justify the price. We’ll probably wait for it to hit one of the streaming services. The AJC is not especially happy that it’sw coming out…
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Yes, I read that and saw it on the news.
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I’ve seen this movie so many times, but I never realized/remembered that they did the theme.
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An orchestra led by Dominic Frontiere (who wrote the theme) did it for the movie, and Hugo Montenegro also did a cover of it. Booker T’s is the best of the three, IMHO…
Montenegro’s
From the movie
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