01x02 - Soul Man

[bunniefuu]

-Ladies and gentlemen,

the captain has turned on

the "No Smoking" sign.

At this time, please extinguish

all smoking materials.

All of the artists that

were on that European tour

realized, "Wait a minute.

We're stars."

But you come home,

you're treated like less than.

Both of us, me and him,

. And this is true.

I remember

we were leaving the studio,

me and Jim and Otis Redding.

As we stepped out of the door,

a police car pulled up

and they jumped out

with their g*ns,

and they said, "n*gg*r,

get back in that building.

We don't allow n*gg*r*s

on the streets

in Memphis with white people."

And I said "But officer,

we work here."

And he said,

"You wanna go downtown?"

It was just too strong

a system to tear down.

In Memphis, you needed

to keep your mouth shut

and hope for the best.

Or fight.

A policeman in a Black community

is a licensed k*ller.

Is a licensed k*ller.

A Black man attacking

a policeman is a rioter.

-Yeah.

That's cause the Black man

don't have the license to k*ll.

People had been suppressed.

You know, you can suppress

a person for so long

and they will

they will rise up.

We're coming down here,

hoping to tell you,

you, you, you,

and you with the camera,

we wakin' up.

We are in the worst crisis

we have known

since the Civil w*r,

and time is running short to try

to find some answers to it.

This is gonna happen

all over America.

It's gonna be a hot world,

not a hot summer.

It's a hot world.

But, brother, America

better wake up to this.

If they don't, we're gonna

burn down America.

You had

a whole society attemptin'

to take self-pride

away from you.

Isaac and I came

from a generation,

there was a spirit and attitude,

"Well, this sh*t

has got to change.

And we are not gonna be

receptive to someone abusing

or taking advantage of us."

I started noticing,

all the Black businesses,

if they write "soul" on the

business, they'll bypass it.

I said, "Wow.

The word 'soul'

keeps one from burning up

their establishment.

Wow. 'Soul.'

That's just pride."

So I called David.

Isaac and I talked

about a concept for a song.

I saw, in my head, a Black man.

Images of Woodstock,

the county school,

in the outskirts

of Memphis, Tennessee.

And then came this feeling,

you can rise above

whatever you're challenged with,

and it's gonna be okay

because you have

soulfulness in your spirit.

Soulfulness in your heart.

And you're gonna be okay

'cause you are a soul man.

Comin' to ya

on a dusty road ♪

Good lovin',

I got a truck load ♪

And when you get it ♪

Ha, you got somethin' ♪

So don't worry ♪

'Cause I'm coming ♪

I'm a soul man ♪

Oh! ♪

I'm a soul man ♪

If you listen to "Soul Man,"

the lyrics sounds like you're

talking about falling in love,

but you're really talking

about pride and dignity.

Grab the rope

and I'll pull you in ♪

Give you hope ♪

And be your only boyfriend ♪

-Yeah, yeah ♪

-Yeah, yeah ♪

-I'm talkin' about a ♪

-Soul man ♪

-I'm a ♪

-Soul man ♪

-And you ♪

-A soul man ♪

-Ah ♪

-Soul man ♪

And you ♪

I'm a soul man,

Sam & Dave,

at 28 minutes 'til two o clock,

200 and

Isaac Hayes

and David Porter

had written this song

that became a number one hit

on both the Black

and white charts.

They succeed commercially

and still give voice

to the community.

-And you ♪

-A soul man ♪

Stax proves you can have it

both ways at once:

make hit records

but also speak

about Black uplift.

-Oh, Lord ♪

-Soul man ♪

-I'm a ♪

-Soul man ♪

-And you ♪

-A soul man ♪

1967 motivated

the hell out of me.

I was on the k*ll to take Stax

to the next level.

The event that provided

that opportunity

was the Monterey Pop Festival

in northern California.

Otis Redding

was invited to Monterey.

He would be playing

for the counterculture,

a mostly white rock audience

that he's totally

unfamiliar with,

and that he's pretty sure are

pretty unfamiliar with him.

When we got to Monterey,

we were shocked.

It was the biggest crowd

we'd ever seen.

And there was

about 55,000 people

and they were hippies,

and they were

smoking dope out in public.

And the cops were wandering

around through the crowd.

Nobody seemed to care.

We walked around

and saw just odd stuff.

All these art people,

flower children,

which is another breed

of human being, I think.

We were just so outta place.

We were the only people

within miles that had suits.

It's been a real groovy day

and a great evening, and here,

let's bring on with a big hand,

Mr. Otis Redding.

Otis Redding hit the stage.

All those hippies got quiet.

They ain't seen anything

like us.

This is the love crowd, right?

We all love each other,

don't we?

-Am I right?

Let me hear you

say, "Yeah" then!

- Yeah!

-All right.

I've been loving you ♪

Too long ♪

To stop now ♪

You were tired ♪

And you want to be free ♪

My love is growing stronger ♪

As you become a habit to me ♪

I've been loving you ♪

Oh, too long ♪

And I don't

wanna stop now, no ♪

-Oh! Oh!

Can you do that one more time,

Al, just like that?

-Oh! Oh!

Do it just one more time!

One more.

-Oh! Oh!

Do it just one more time!

-Oh! Oh!

With you, my life ♪

Has been so wonderful ♪

And I don't wanna stop now ♪

No ♪

No, no ♪

He exposed

deep vulnerability.

Just a little bit too long ♪

He just

rolled over 'em like the tide.

No ♪

No, no ♪

Don't make me stop now ♪

Lord have mercy ♪

No, baby ♪

I'm down on my knees ♪

Please don't make me

stop now, yeah ♪

I love you ♪

I love you ♪

I love you

with all my heart ♪

And I can't stop now ♪

Please, please,

please, yeah ♪

Don't make me stop now,

yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

Not right now ♪

With heart and soul,

I love you ♪

I love you,

good God Almighty, I love you ♪

I love you, baby ♪

I love you, honey ♪

Good God Almighty ♪

Good God Almighty,

I love ♪

Thank you.

We felt love

from the crowd,

and it was an exchange.

It was open, and it was real.

That night, he crossed over

to alternative,

or whatever you wanna

call that crowd.

It felt like America

was different.

These flower children,

to react like they did,

opened the door

for Stax Records.

He's got a heart full of soul.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Mr. Otis Redding!

What you want ♪

Honey, you've got it ♪

And what you need ♪

Baby, you've got it ♪

All I'm asking ♪

Is for a little respect

when I come home ♪

Hey, now ♪

Hey, hey, hey ♪

By 1967,

southern soul music explodes,

and Stax was

the blueprint for that sound.

Honey, while I'm gone ♪

But all I'm asking ♪

Is for a little respect

when I come home ♪

Oh yeah, now,

hey, hey, hey ♪

With Stax getting

this level of national success,

recording studios

across the South

begin to replicate

the Stax sound.

All right, you make the first

and the second beat.

To clarify, you make the first

second, and third beat.

What you want ♪

Baby, I got it ♪

What you need ♪

You know I got it ♪

All I'm asking ♪

Is for a little respect

when you get home ♪

Baby, when you get home ♪

-Just a little bit ♪

-Mister ♪

Just a little bit ♪

When you hear Aretha Franklin,

Wilson Pickett,

Etta James,

you're hearing the sound

of Stax.

Well, "Respect" has been a big

record for Otis Redding.

He, uh, wrote the song

a while ago.

You had a big hit with it.

-Right.

-Aretha Franklin did it.

She went and sold a million.

And those royalty checks

are pouring in.

It's been a good, uh, year.

Otis was getting bigger,

and so we had enough money

to buy a 300-acre ranch.

I mean, he loved this place.

Raising hogs and cows and

If he wasn't working,

he would just sit back here

and write songs.

Music was always in his brain

because my husband wanted

to be a huge star.

Well, the next few years,

the only thing I can say

is if I'll be living,

I hope to be

still doing the same thing,

singing, you know, and

trying to make that living,

that dollar.

Otis was an extremely

ambitious individual,

and so he was constantly touring

to promote his records.

And he had had

various road bands.

Hired his trumpeter

from South Carolina.

Then his sax player

out of Macon.

But it wasn't the same as having

Booker T. & the M.G.'s,

the best band in the world,

behind him.

Otis said he wanted

Booker T. & the M.G.'s

to go on the road with him,

but Booker T. & the M.G.'s

played behind practically

all of the artists

that recorded at Stax.

We said, "Otis, we can't tour."

And he said,

"Well, what am I gonna do?"

In high school, I was

in a band called the Bar-Kays.

All of the Bar-Kays

were seniors.

I was a junior, 'cause I was

the the baby of the group.

We would hang out at Stax.

They were like

the little M.G.'s.

Carl was always sitting down

under Al's drums.

James Alexander

became Duck's protege.

Jimmie King watched

Steve Cropper all the time.

Ben Cauley, the horn player.

Phalon Jones, saxophone.

Ronnie on keyboard.

We recorded a song called

"Soul Finger," a hit record.

Soul finger ♪

Soul finger ♪

Soul finger ♪

The Bar-Kays would come

to high schools.

There would be girls like, "Oh!"

I would be like, "God!

Did you see that?"

It just blew me away.

Oh! Ah!

Oh! Ah!

I'll just outright say it,

we thought we were the sh*t.

One night, we were playing

at this club on Beale Street

called The Hippodrome.

Otis Redding comes down,

he watches the band perform.

Then he asked did we know

any of his songs.

I said, "Yeah, I think

we could get through it."

And so he came up on stage

and sit in with us.

You got to huh! ♪

Yeah ♪

Yeah, man ♪

I can't turn you loose now ♪

If I do,

I'm gonna lose my life ♪

Oh, I can't never

turn you loose, now ♪

If I do,

I'm gonna lose my life ♪

Well, I can't turn you loose

to nobody, now ♪

'Cause I love you, baby,

yes I do, now ♪

Oh, baby, hip-shakin' mama,

I told you, honey ♪

I'm in love with only you ♪

You got to to do it,

baby, why don't you? ♪

'Cause I'm gonna give you

everything that you want ♪

Otis looked up

at the sky.

It blew Otis Redding's mind.

He said "Hey, man,

I want these boys

to go on the road with me."

The day

that we finished high school,

we left to go on the road

with Otis Redding.

with the prettiest thing ♪

I probably had been

no more than 50 miles' radius

outside of Memphis.

I can't turn you loose

to nobody ♪

All of a sudden, we on our way

to the Apollo Theater

in New York.

Oh, baby, hip-shakin' mama,

I told you ♪

I'm in love with only you ♪

Got to do it, baby,

why don't you? ♪

I'm gonna give you

everything that you want ♪

Got to, got to ♪

Got to keep holdin' on ♪

Never gonna turn you loose ♪

Got to keep

a grip on you ♪

That tour went

from the end of June

to the end of August,

and each show

was sold completely out.

Oh, yeah ♪

After the tour,

Otis went to Sausalito.

He just needed some down time.

But these thoughts

just got in his mind.

Otis was a massive Beatles fan,

and when Sergeant Pepper

came out that summer,

he listened to that album over

and over and over and over.

And it was expanding

his musical palette.

He said it was just time

to change his writing,

enhance it to something

different

than what he was doing.

Otis came back to Stax

a possessed man.

He said, "We're gonna be

in the studio

and you're not gonna be

someplace else.

We're doing this."

And man, it was a marathon.

Take one.

He was like

a big ol' football coach.

He had all this energy

aimed at you.

He would use his feet.

He would dance.

He would get in front of you

and look at you like that.

Take two.

Stay in on the mic now, Steve.

We'd call ourselves

the Midnight Recorders.

We'd go out and eat, come back,

and work in the studio.

One, two, three, four.

There were a couple of times

we didn't even go home.

One, two

One, two, three, four.

At some point,

he played this new song

You're not

gonna make it as a whistler!

Hey, man!

We recorded so much music.

And then Otis poked his head

through the wall and said,

"I'll see you Monday."

I said, "Great."

And he left to go

back on tour with The Bar-Kays.

We played Nashville

on a Friday night

and then flew directly

to Cleveland, Ohio

and did the TV show

called Upbeat.

Oh, she may be weary ♪

Them young girls,

they do get wearied ♪

Wearing that same old

miniskirt dress ♪

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

But when she gets weary ♪

The next day

we left for Wisconsin.

a little tenderness ♪

Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

But there was weather issues,

flights being delayed.

Otis owned his own plane,

so he decided to fly to

Madison, Wisconsin anyway.

There only was enough capacity

for ten people on the plane.

The pilot told us,

"I'm gonna fly Otis

and the rest of the guys

into Madison,

and then I'm gonna come back

and pick you up."

We kept waiting,

but after about

three or four hours,

he still wasn't there.

So I called the control tower,

and they said, "No word yet."

So we just kept waiting.

But they never came back.

Otis Redding,

26-year-old blues singer,

is missing and presumed dead

in Madison, Wisconsin.

Redding was one of seven people

aboard a private plane

which crashed in a Madison lake

last night.

They found one survivor.

My friend, Ben Cauley.

They took us to see Ben.

His eyes weren't blinking.

Said, "Ben, can you hear us?"

He wasn't able to

He wasn't able

to say anything back to us.

He was in a state of shock.

Then they tell us that we have

to go to the, uh, city morgue,

to identify the bodies.

Now, I'm 17 years old.

I've never experienced

anything like this.

I never experienced nothing

close to anything like this

in my whole entire life.

They were finding

musical instruments and luggage,

and they would bring in

these items

still dripping with water.

As the bodies were discovered,

there was one funeral

on one day,

another funeral,

and another funeral.

Mm-hm

It was family.

Phalon, his mom fed me

hamburgers at the Harlem House

when I was young.

Phalon was gone, and

Ronnie and and Jimmie King.

And Carl was the baby.

Carl Cunningham.

Otis was buried at home,

here on the ranch.

That was my first trip

to Macon, Georgia.

I felt like Otis was family.

I looked at him as sort

of an older brother.

But it was like, "Why haven't

I been down here before?

I should have been closer.

I should have

should have been

over to the farm."

You know, I never went.

I've got dreams ♪

Dreams ♪

To remember ♪

I've got dreams ♪

Dreams to remember ♪

-Listen, honey ♪

-I've got dreams ♪

-Rough dreams ♪

-Dreams to remember ♪

Oh, to remember ♪

I still want you to stay ♪

I still love you anyway ♪

I don't want you

to ever leave ♪

Girl, you just satisfy me,

oo-wee ♪

We chose to go to the studio.

We felt a need to be

around each other,

with each other.

The death had taken

so much out.

So much out.

We began to realize

that Otis was quite a bit more

than just a singer

in our roster.

He was really

an emotional leader too.

Must have been a couple days

gone by,

I get a call

from Atlantic Records.

They said, "We need to put

the record out with Otis."

Jim Stewart came to me,

"What do you have ready, Steve?"

I said, "Nothing.

Now, I can't go in

and mix something on Otis now."

He said, "You have to."

Mixed "Dock of the Bay"

all night long.

Hardest thing I ever had to do

in my life.

The next day, I handed it

to a flight attendant.

She hands it to a representative

from Atlantic.

We had records out

almost immediately.

Sittin' in the mornin' sun ♪

I'll be sittin'

when the evening come ♪

Watching the ships roll in ♪

And then I watch 'em

roll away again ♪

Yeah, I'm sittin'

on the dock of the bay ♪

Watching the tide roll away ♪

Oh, I'm just sittin'

on the dock of the bay ♪

Wastin' time ♪

"Dock of the Bay"

was the first song

of Otis Redding's

that made it to the number one

spot on the pop charts.

Headed

for the 'Frisco Bay ♪

It was

his first million seller,

and he was unable to see that.

And look like nothin's

gonna come my way ♪

So I'm just gon' sit

on the dock of the bay ♪

Watching the tide

roll away ♪

There was

a deep loneliness inside him,

and that was one of the sources

of these original songs.

Look like nothing's

gonna change ♪

Everything still

remains the same ♪

After I mixed that record

I just couldn't listen to it.

Not mentally, not physically.

I never got over Otis.

Let's do another one.

The death of Otis Redding

in December of 1967

had an unbelievable impact.

Then, we started having big

problems in Memphis, Tennessee.

Some garbage men

were working

this white neighborhood.

Back then, all of the sanitation

workers were Black.

All of the drivers were white,

with no exception.

It started to rain.

There were two men

that were sitting

in the back of the truck.

And while these two men were

sitting in the back of the truck

waiting on the rain to stop,

they were crushed in the back

of the truck

by the compactor.

People inside their houses

could hear them screaming.

As a young child,

there wasn't a Saturday that

my father didn't walk me out

to say hello to

the garbage workers

as they came down the alley

to pick up the cans.

And so, when they started

to get physically hurt,

it became a big cause

for concern

in the African American

community.

Sweep all the way

down from London,

all the way back.

You understand?

All right, lock arms,

four of you

on each side of the street

and let's sweep it

all the way down.

Did you read

about the flood? ♪

It happened a long time ago ♪

Way in a little

country town ♪

It rained and it rained ♪

Listen, the people worried ♪

And they began to cry ♪

Lord, have mercy ♪

As long

as you continue to break the law

and endanger the public health

and welfare,

there will be no further talk

at any level of government.

The minute the men

go back to work,

discussions will resume.

Loeb said

that he wanted garbage

to pile up as high

as the apartments.

Let's help him pile it up!

We just wanted respect

and equal rights,

but we didn't have it.

And that's what

the sanitation worker strike

was all about:

respect, fair employment,

and equal rights.

And it affected me and everybody

else in Memphis, Tennessee,

whether we were down there with

the sanitation workers or not.

Mm-mmm,

wasn't that a mighty time? ♪

I supported every bit

of the movement.

I supported

not only financially,

but with my actions as well.

When I'm watching

the six o'clock news,

and I'm seeing close buddies

of mine carrying a sign,

it's not that I was

against it or anything,

it was just a shock seeing it.

Because there was no color

at Stax.

There was too much

ugly influence

from the leadership in Memphis

on that issue.

It was just not something

that you could be on the

on the other side of.

I cannot

guarantee anybody that Memphis,

or any other city

in this country,

will not have a riot

this summer,

if for no other reason

than that our government

has not done anything,

and most white people

have not done anything,

about removing the conditions

that brought riots

into being last summer.

Chaos has just broken

out downtown.

That sound you just heard

was the sound of the tear gas

fired by a police officer.

Tear gas burns.

You know, wherever there's

moisture on your skin,

it burns.

, son of a b*tch!

Get us outta here!

Move it! Move!

Police sicced dogs on us.

They shot mace on us.

I was, like, 17.

I didn't know anything about

that kind of violence

or that kind of hatred.

I saw things that I never

thought I'd see

people do to each other.

Good friend of mine

named Joe

Joe was beat so bad.

He was bloody.

They beat him so bad he

he has brain damage now.

This movement has got to insist

that no matter what

white citizens,

or some white citizens

might say,

we know what police brutality

and harassment means,

and we are through with it,

and we want to see it end

once and for all.

Dr. Martin Luther King

returned to Memphis,

determined to lead

a peaceful mass march

in support of

striking sanitation workers,

most of whom are Negroes.

On April the third,

Al said, "Doc's

coming into the airport."

He said, "Would you mind?

Several people at Stax

are gonna

go to the airport and carry bags

and do whatever is needed."

And I said,

"Well, sure. Why not?"

On the way out the door,

I thought,

and I just grabbed

a Nikon camera.

And I get down

one of the concourses,

and here comes Jesse Jackson,

Ralph Abernathy, and Dr. King.

Seeing him in person,

there was an aura.

I start taking some pictures.

And then I drove them

to the Lorraine Motel.

That's where a lot

of Stax people would hang out.

For Stax,

it was our second home.

If I wanted to find

Steve Cropper,

Isaac,

Al Jackson,

well, I went to the Lorraine.

In Memphis, it was

the only place outside of Stax

that whites and Blacks

could socialize.

It was an oasis for us.

The Moses of 1968,

Martin Luther King.

April third night,

he had a speech.

So I went there,

and got in a side door,

and was up

right near the podium.

And there's thunder

and lightning outside.

A big storm came,

raining like crazy.

Well, I don't know

what will happen now.

We've got

some difficult days ahead.

But it really doesn't matter

with me now

because I've been

to the mountaintop.

He was just

so vibrant and brilliant.

And I have seen

the promised land.

I may not get there with you,

but I want you to know tonight

that we as a people

will get to the promised land!

So I'm happy tonight.

I'm not worried about anything.

I'm not fearing any man!

Mine eyes have seen the glory

of the coming of the Lord!

My mother,

she was attending this cafe,

and they were getting ready

to close.

My uncle and I

went to pick her up.

We parked in front

of the building on Calhoun.

When we got out of the car,

I heard this "pow,"

and I said, "Wow,

that's truck backfire, huh?"

My uncle,

who had been in the Navy,

he said, "No, that's a g*nsh*t."

I'm driving along.

The wind is high.

It's like we're having

these whirlwinds,

these, in the street,

and the paper's swirling.

And I'm listening to the radio.

"Dr. King has been shot

at the Lorraine Motel."

Dr. King was standing on the

balcony of the Lorraine Hotel

on the second floor

when a single shot

came from across the street.

He was in Memphis in support of

striking garbage men there.

It was our place.

Home away from home.

We were just devastated.

Yesterday, in our staff meeting

that we held, uh

uh, he was challenging the staff

to remain non-violent.

Not because we were afraid,

as they so often say,

but because we're living

in a sick world.

And the pathology

and the sickness

and the neurosis of

of Memphis,

and of this r*cist society

in which we live,

is that that really pulled

the trigger.

Um

God knows this is

the most tragic thing

that has ever happened in

in my life.

To some extent, Dr. King has

been a buffer the last two years

between the Black community

and the white community.

The white people do not know it,

but the white people's

best friend is dead.

Uh, the Black people's leader,

our Moses,

the once in

a 400- or 500-year leader

has been taken from us

by hatred and bitterness.

At Stax,

no one talked about

Dr. King's assassination.

I started to, deep down,

feel that something was amiss.

They didn't understand

my daily life

as a Black person in Memphis.

I don't think they knew

our world.

They never talked about it.

If they if they felt

that way, the way they do now,

why didn't they say

something then?

The close relationship

that we had in the studio

didn't happen

outside of the studio,

so I didn't feel comfortable

bringing up those subjects

with the band.

Something is wrong at home.

We're saying this can be done.

Whites and Blacks

can work together

in pure total harmony

with music,

and it can have the essence

that you can take

and not worry about it,

and love these songs,

and have a good time,

and live your life, and have

no misgivings whatsoever.

And that was not the truth.

The season and the time

that we were living in

it was hard, and it was real.

I handled it inside

as best as I could.

I tried to retain, you know,

looking like a regular fella.

And Whew!

I tried.

I don't know how I came off,

but I tried.

Uh, so this is April 1968.

In mid-May 1968,

Atlantic Records

decided to merge

with Warner and Elektra,

and they would no longer be

distributing Stax Records.

And, to our shock,

we learned that

as a result of the agreement

between Jim Stewart

and Jerry Wexler,

all of our music that had been

released in the marketplace

were the property

of Atlantic Records.

Jim Stewart signed

a very bad contract.

The original Stax agreement

with Atlantic

was a handshake deal.

But in 1965, Jerry Wexler said,

"We're looking to sell Atlantic,

and you're not protected.

We should draw up

a formal contract."

Jim didn't read it.

And this gave Atlantic

the rights in perpetuity,

forever,

to about 97% of Stax's catalog.

And they lost Sam & Dave because

Stax did not own their contract.

For Jim Stewart,

your word was your bond.

For Jerry Wexler,

it was dog-eat-dog.

Get stuff in contracts,

own everything you can.

Bigger fish

swallowing smaller fish.

New York company

screwing a Memphis company.

In order to be a record company,

you have to have a catalog

and they wiped us out.

Sam and Dave gone.

Otis Redding gone.

No catalogs.

Stax is dead.

Stax is dead.

Last time I saw

peace and harmony ♪

They were headed

down your way ♪

Won't you please

turn them around ♪

And send them straight

on back to me ♪

Winding, winding road ♪

Send peace and harmony home ♪

Is it a world situation ♪

Or tell me, road, is it me? ♪

You know you,

you hold the answer ♪

Tell me, road,

where can they be? ♪

Winding, winding road ♪

Send peace and harmony home ♪

Winding, winding road ♪

They've been gone too long ♪

Tell me,

what did we do wrong? ♪

Seems like

all the love is gone ♪

Please help man

to see the light ♪

Send them back,

make things all right ♪

Winding, winding road ♪

Send peace and happiness

home ♪

Winding, winding road ♪

Oh yes, they've been gone

too long ♪

Winding, winding road ♪