We’re getting ready to wind up this year’s Rocktober, and I wanted to get a few of my favorites in at the end. Truth is, they’ve all been favorites, but these are special.
First up is the house band at Stax, Booker T. & The MG’s: Booker T. Jones on organ and piano, Steve Cropper on guitar, Donald "Duck" Dunn on bass (replacing their original bassist, Lewie Steinberg, who left in 1965), and Al Jackson Jr. on drums. In addition to playing on many of the Stax hits, they had a number of instrumental hits on their own, beginning with "Green Onions" in 1962, maybe their best-known song. I chose a personal favorite, "Hang ‘Em High," from 1968, theme song from the Clint Eastwood movie from that year. It reached #9 on the Hot 100 and #35 on the R&B chart.
I saw Booker T’s and I instantly thought about Green Onions. I didn’t recognize the name of this one, but now that I’m into it, I know I’ve heard it before.
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It reached #9 on the Hot 100; depending on where you lived, it might have been higher or lower on youe local survey. One of the critics said that this was better than the fully-orchestrated one that was in the movie…
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Booker T. and The MG’s are a very talented group. This is a great song and loved the vid!
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Their version is almost as good as the one in the movie, and in some ways better.
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Good song and love this film
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I’ve just seen pieces of the movie, but the song is a killer.
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