01x01 - Cause I Love You

[bunniefuu]

We have a record here that,

uh that is pretty.

So we'll just play a few bars

and let

let you be the judge.

I want you to listen

to the roots, to the soul.

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 ♪

-Oh ♪

- As a kid,

my source of music was

mostly through the radio.

Watching the tide roll away ♪

Throughout my life,

I sought to find

the kind of music with which

I had grown up.

Wastin' time ♪

That music was

where I wanted to be.

I found it at Stax Records.

We were

an integrated organization

created in Memphis, Tennessee.

-This is Otis Redding.

Hear the world's

most popular sound,

the Memphis sound,

in stereo.

There were

all these things colliding.

Things just exploded.

It was just our time.

-What time is it?

-Nation Time!

Oh! Oh!

Can you do that one more time?

I'm the son of a bad

But because of its successes,

and what it represented,

those with the power,

they wanted

Stax Records to be erased.

Why?

-Well, let me

-In our perspective.

Let me try to say this

in a diplomatic way.

-Say it in a truthful way.

-Oh!

I've been quiet about it

for a long time.

And

in as much as I've told you

all these other things

that are gonna get me

in trouble, hell,

I might as well

tell you the whole story.

You get a line ♪

And I'll get a pole, honey ♪

Honey ♪

You get a line ♪

And I'll get a pole, babe ♪

-Babe ♪

-You get a line ♪

I grew up on a farm

about 70 miles east of Memphis.

Baby, mine ♪

But I wanted to be

a fiddle player.

I was just a hillbilly

from Tennessee

that liked country music.

In the '50s,

I immediately caught

the train to Memphis,

a musical city.

I started working in a bank.

On nights and on weekends,

I was playing in a band,

and I decided I wanted

to make a record.

I started with

a song that I wrote

called "Blue Roses."

I send blue roses ♪

For the bride's bouquet ♪

You had a smash hit

right out the gate?

Not at all.

- I like it.

-You're the only one.

I just got the fever,

and I decided I want

to start a record company.

You know, it needed some money

to get started,

so I went to my sister, Estelle.

My brother,

he came to me and asked me

if I would be interested in

getting in a company

and put out records.

He needed an investor,

and I wanted to get into

something on my own.

I thought, well, maybe I can get

a second mortgage on my house.

The only thing we had

was this little

two-bedroom, at that time,

one-bath house in East Memphis.

But Mother was excited about it.

We bought an Ampex recorder

and a few microphones.

That was some

top-notch equipment.

We found this dirt-cheap

vacant building,

Capitol Theatre,

on McLemore.

So we set the studio up.

Eventually,

our label was called Stax,

which was the first two letters

of my brother's name, Stewart,

and A-X for "Axton."

And it made a pretty good logo.

In order to help pay

some expenses,

Estelle set up

a little record shop.

We called it

the Satellite Record Shop.

I was working in a

grocery store in South Memphis

and I see some White folks

that are opening up a place

across the street

and I wasn't sure

exactly what it was.

I was just riding along

on McLemore Avenue.

"Oh, my God,

it's a record shop."

Satellite Record Shop,

six blocks from my house.

And there's a friendly-looking

woman there.

White woman. But, uh

you know, went in and

big smile, with a cigarette.

Miss Axton.

Estelle Axton.

She said, "You can go in there

and play

and listen to records

for hours."

Estelle Axton had a kind of

acceptin' spirit about her.

She was open to kids

in the neighborhood

coming over all the time.

Estelle Axton

made a practice

of identifying kids

who she felt would be

good salespeople.

That was my first job.

I didn't know any women who

owned their own businesses.

She became a a quasi-mentor.

I knew Estelle's son

from high school.

We were in a band together.

So I went to Estelle, I said,

"Can I have a job

at the record shop?"

-So she put me to work.

Miss Axton would tell us,

"Listen to this.

Listen to these guys.

Listen to how great

this record is."

That's where I first

heard The Jazz Messengers.

That's where I first heard

Ray Charles.

Mrs. Axton began to encourage

dancing inside,

even dancing

out on the sidewalk.

It was an anomaly,

especially in Memphis back then.

We must make it clear

that we will not accept

racial segregation

in any form.

Segregation is a cancer

in the body politic

which must be removed

before our democratic health

can be realized.

This is the campus

of the Memphis State University

in Tennessee.

The first eight Negros

arrived here

three years ago this autumn

to join more than 7,000

White students.

Memphis has

a lot of n*gg*r*s

here in Memphis.

And if it too many n*gg*r*s

take over,

it'll be an all-n*gg*r school.

Well, if one

of 'em happens to sit down

beside me in class,

and there's another seat

vacant somewhere else,

well, I just get up

and move to another seat

without saying anything.

As far as education

was concerned,

-I wanted to intermingle.

-But now you've come here,

you keep to yourself, do you?

You keep to your n*gro friends.

Well, mostly. Um

I keep to myself.

Before

the Satellite Record Shop,

I had zero interaction

with White people.

But the normal racial tensions,

I didn't think they were there.

So I was at ease.

I was off guard.

So I continued to go back.

I started going over there

just about every day.

And I found out there was

a recording studio next door.

I had a vocal group

called The Marquettes,

so I asked Miss Axton

if I could go

and take a look in the studio.

There was a White guy there,

Jim Stewart.

I said, "I heard you're gonna be

making records.

Could I just maybe

let you hear me sing?"

And Jim Stewart said,

"We're not doing

the kind of music that you do.

We're doing country music."

I thought,

"Wow, this is really odd."

Great Black music

was all around the neighborhood.

They had no idea how much Black

talent was outside of that door.

Heartache seems to ♪

Hang around ♪

Because everything in

the community I was a part of

was foreign to them.

- Rolling.

- Rolling!

We made

a few country records

that were bad.

Oh, what I'd give ♪

To know my destiny ♪

Nothing was happening.

I'm young, I'm loose,

I'm full of juice.

I got the goose,

so what's the use?

We're feeling g*y

though we ain't got a dollar.

Rufus is here,

so hoot and holler!

Ha-ha!

My father was one of the most

popular disc jockeys at WDIA,

the only Black radio station

in Memphis.

When the opportune time comes,

I'll be ready, willing,

and able.

How 'bout that, huh? Okay.

He was a singer.

You ain't nothin'

but a bear cat ♪

Been scratchin' at my door ♪

He would perform

on Beale Street.

Been scratchin' at my door ♪

Now, my father never asked me

to go anywhere with him.

But this particular day,

"You wanna go down there?

I hear they're starting

a new recording company."

Jim Stewart, the owner,

was there.

Daddy played a home tape

of one of our songs

called "'Cause I Love You."

Hey-hey,

everything'll be all right ♪

Hey-hey,

everything'll be all right ♪

When I heard

that record,

you know, it just

the lights came on and

I just knew I had to record

that song.

Daddy said,

"Well, who are you gonna get

to play on the record?"

Jim said,

"Oh, I'll find somebody."

I was hanging out

at the record shop

and I saw that Jim and Estelle

were trying to find musicians

for a session for Rufus Thomas.

They don't know that this kid

named David Porter

is gonna change their lives.

I knew a kid that could play

different instruments.

I was sitting

in algebra class

and David Porter

got me out of class.

"Booker, go get

your baritone sax,

and come on,

bring it out to the car,"

and he threw it in the trunk

and sped to McLemore Avenue.

We get to Satellite Record Shop

and I just walked right into

my dream.

- Take one.

There was Rufus

and Carla Thomas there

behind the microphone.

I done hurt

the very best girl of mine ♪

Yeah ♪

I done hurt

the very best girl of mine ♪

Yeah ♪

They kinda needed

a little hook

and somewhere

outta my imagination,

the "bup-bup-bup-bup-ba-da-dow."

Come on ♪

Baby, come on ♪

Baby, come on, now ♪

And then I was playing

on a record.

My dream came true

when I was 14 years old.

- Come on now ♪

- Oh, oh, yeah ♪

Oh, oh, yeah ♪

Come on, go home ♪

Everybody was

eatin' it up.

Daddy said, "We got

a hit record!"

I said, "Really? A hit record?"

- Baby ♪

- Baby ♪

We must've played

that record 2,000 times

because we were just

so excited about it.

Hey ♪

Everything'll be all right ♪

-Woo!

That was the end of country

for me.

This one record

changes everything

for everyone in the story.

Atlantic Records

in New York City

hears about that record

from one of their distributors

down South.

This is a big deal.

In the 1950s and early '60s,

Atlantic Records

defined Black music.

If you were a mom-and-pop shop

in Memphis,

like Stax Records,

you need a bigger fish,

somebody who's already got

that kind of network built

to distribute you,

to get your records played,

to get them into retail stores,

and to sell them.

Atlantic offered Rufus

and Carla Thomas

a deal that gives Stax Records

a national platform.

They gave us

a thousand dollars.

That was the biggest

thousand dollars

I ever saw in my life.

It was like, today,

somebody lay a million

in your lap, you know?

'Cause we were struggling,

and we needed another hit.

It was my senior year

in high school.

I wrote short stories.

I wrote prose. I wrote songs.

I just wrote.

As the inspiration came,

I would go to the piano

and sit down

and play chords.

Jim Stewart asked me,

"Well, you think you might wanna

cut something by yourself?"

One, two, three, four.

Gee whiz ♪

Look at his eyes ♪

Gee whiz ♪

How they hypnotize ♪

"Gee Whiz"

I wrote in 20 minutes.

He's got everything ♪

A girl could want ♪

Man, oh man ♪

What a prize ♪

Ooh-hoo ♪

After we recorded

"Gee Whiz,"

Jerry Wexler at Atlantic

wanted to meet her.

So he comes to Memphis.

You couldn't go to a restaurant

with a Black person.

So Jerry says, "We'll have

dinner in the hotel room."

Rufus and Carla show up,

but they told us a Black person

could not enter the lobby.

I had to go ride up with Carla

in the freight elevator.

I didn't know what to say.

I put her in this situation

through no fault of her own.

And I've never been more

embarrassed in my life.

I'm 17,

going up in a service elevator.

Back in the day,

I didn't think of that as scary.

That is what it was.

When I think about kids who had

to come through mess

just to go to school

but they went anyway.

And they're like

They knew who they were.

I hope our love

will grow and grow ♪

I knew who I was.

Oh ♪

I was a music person.

And I was chosen.

I love that guy ♪

It's painful sometimes,

because everything

when you're chosen,

it doesn't mean everything's

gonna go perfectly.

There are things

we could do ♪

I could say, "I love you" ♪

But all I can say is ♪

Gee whiz ♪

"Gee Whiz"

took off pretty good

and I get this call from

Jerry Wexler at Atlantic.

He said, "That's my record."

We had a pretty good argument.

I thought when I had signed

the contract with Atlantic

I was just signing Rufus,

but unfortunately, it was Rufus

and Carla both.

You know, I didn't know

anything about contracts.

"Gee Whiz" went on to be

number 4 in the nation

but it was on Atlantic,

not Stax.

I hated the business aspect

of it.

That wasn't what it was about.

I wanted to go to the studio,

and just cut records

and have fun.

But we needed to try to get

a record on Stax.

So we opened the door.

Word got around

in the neighborhood

and we started getting

people coming in.

I was working

at the record shop,

but me, I knew I wanted

to be in the studio.

I wound up doing odd jobs

like marking tapes,

sweeping the floor.

Estelle goes to Jim, says,

"You're gonna have to

start paying Steve.

He's spending more time

in the studio

than he is the record shop."

Finally, I got to play

on some sessions.

Steve and I

became friends.

Music just brought us together

on a real level.

There was a feeling

and a permission

for that magic to happen.

Nobody knew what was

happening inside of those doors.

If that was known,

the fact that there were

Blacks and Whites

making the music together,

that could have been a problem.

People's mindset

being what it was,

it could've been. It was not.

Everybody knew

that they had to be

on the same page

to do the work,

so we were able to collectively

appreciate and respect

each other in that environment.

There was no boss,

there was no person

tellin' 'em,

"You play this. You play that."

They would come in

and, among themselves,

they would work out patterns,

and just jam.

We were in the studio

on a Sunday afternoon,

just jamming on some blues.

And I'm trying to

imitate Ray Charles.

I go in

the control room and listen.

I say, "Hey man,

this this is great."

So I hit the record button.

He said, "Guys,

come in and listen."

We said, "You recorded that?"

He said, "Yeah."

Miss Axton thought

it sounded kinda sassy

and she, you know, wanted

to put it out as a record.

"What are we gonna do

for the other side?"

I had started

taking music theory.

What a scale was,

and the steps

and how they correlated

to numbers.

Sometimes, musicians

would just call out the numbers:

1 chord, 4, 5, 3, minor 3,

and it was based, usually,

on 12 bars.

And so forth, and that was

a whole template.

What if, I started thinking,

the second chord didn't always

go to the major?

What if it went

-And then the 4 chord

What about that?

That sounds kinda odd.

It sounds kinda cool, though.

Well

Oh yeah ♪

I said, "Holy crap."

It knocked everybody out.

I took it down to

a DJ in WLOK

and he put it out

on the air.

And then I went back

to the record shop,

and Mrs. Axton says, "The phone

is ringing off the wall."

People started calling

the record shop, saying,

"I just heard a song

on the radio, I wanna buy it."

She calls Jim, she said,

"There's something going on.

You better get over

to the studio.

We gotta come up with

a title for the song

and a name for the band."

Estelle Axton said,

"Call the song 'Green Onions.'"

And Al Jackson, my drummer,

he says, "Why don't we call

the band

'Booker T. and the,' uh"

looked outside the window,

and saw a little British car

"'Booker T. and the M.G.'s'?"

So all of a sudden, we had a

recording that we could put out

and a new group.

This record

just was intoxicating.

I remember I would put

my head

to our Hi-Fi system

and push on one ear,

trying to push the other ear

deeper into that speaker.

My mom thought I was insane,

but I just wanted to somehow

get closer to that music.

It took off.

Just, boom.

And it was on Stax.

It was by accident.

Had we not been in the studio,

who knows?

It was the right time

and the right place.

I've been eating green onions

ever since.

Stax had developed

this astonishing sound.

It's Black culture

but it's being made

by an interracial group

with elements of White pop

and country,

and creating this new fusion.

Once you have "Green Onions,"

Stax starts getting a reputation

as being this place

where great R&B records

can be made.

One day,

I was hanging out there at Stax

and a car pulled up

from Georgia,

and an energetic,

big young man got out

and started unloading amplifiers

and suitcases

for a session.

We worked

five or six hours.

One of those sessions,

you work and you try

and it just doesn't

come together.

The musicians were exhausted.

One more.

Horn squeak. Seven.

And the manager says,

"Well, we gotta

listen to another singer."

I thought he was a roadie.

He had been sitting out

in the lobby all afternoon

patiently, hoping that we'd

have time to listen to him.

I said, "Okay, we'll try."

These arms of mine ♪

They are lonely ♪

Lonely and feeling blue ♪

These arms of mine ♪

They are yearning ♪

Yearning from wanting you ♪

And if you ♪

His name

was Otis Redding.

Would let them hold you ♪

My hair stood up on my arm,

I promise you.

Goosebumps.

These arms of mine ♪

They ♪

Just took me to my home

and my heart and my place.

Burning from wanting ♪

I will never forget that moment.

Come on, come on, baby ♪

We released the record

on our label.

Just be my little woman ♪

Just be my lover ♪

Oh, I need me somebody ♪

The record did not sell.

It never made it

in any of the major markets.

But I loved his voice.

When you listen to him sing,

he was pouring his heart out,

heart and soul.

So we brought him back in

for another session.

Otis would come in the door

with a whole

song in his mind

Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa ♪

and tell all of us

what he wanted.

I keep singing them

sad, sad songs, y'all ♪

Sad songs is all I know ♪

I keep singing them

sad, sad songs, y'all ♪

Next thing you know,

he would pick up

his little guitar

and start thumping on it,

and Duck would pick up

his bass.

And then Otis would

indicate to Al

the rhythm he wanted.

Next thing you know,

we'd be into a song.

Any old time ♪

It got to your heart,

put you in a groove ♪

And when you sing ♪

And when he had

the rhythm section,

he'd come back

to where the horns were.

He'd come over there

and sing to us.

Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa ♪

Your turn ♪

Our turn ♪

Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa ♪

Otis developed

the Stax horns.

It became a key ingredient

in the Stax sound.

But it was limited in terms

of how far they could go.

Rhythm and blues,

that was our genre.

But it was difficult

to get airplay,

so it was difficult

to reach the masses.

If you don't get

your records played,

nobody hears 'em,

if they don't hear 'em,

they can't decide they

like 'em enough to buy them.

You must get radio play.

with

that number three song

Being under the wing

of Atlantic Records,

we were dependent

on their promotion men.

But they never

pushed anything.

I used to get in the car

with a trunk load of records

and go around,

uh, you know, Jackson

and Tupelo and Little Rock

and get these guys

playing the records

and try to stir up

some some action.

Estelle was always on to me

about, "We need our own

promotions person."

She said, "Atlantic is not

doing the job that we need."

Special dedication from me

to all of my wonderful

listeners out there.

I heard this guy on the radio.

Your faith in me.

That's all I need,

good gracious, in life.

He had this

persona in his voice.

He was amazing.

This is your

six-feet-four bundle of joy

212 pounds

of Mrs. Bell's baby boy,

the women's pet,

the boys' threat,

the playboy's pride and joy,

the baby boy,

Al Bell, y'all.

Bing!

So I went to the radio station

and introduced myself

to him and

And we developed

a relationship.

we just started talking

about Stax.

And he had an armful of records.

He said, "I like your voice.

I like the music

you're playing."

David wanted me to go by Stax

and meet the people in there.

Please ♪

I was excited about it

because, as a disc jockey,

I had heard, in radio,

many artists sing.

I'd never heard an artist sing

with the passion and feeling

that Otis Redding had.

And of all of the records

that I had been playing,

I never heard a sound

and felt a feel

like I could feel in that music

that came from Stax.

I love you, baby ♪

For more than words can say ♪

I just fell in love with it.

Yes, I do ♪

When I got to Stax,

and I see all

of these Black guys

and a bunch of White guys,

said, "You gotta be kidding me.

This is who these guys are?"

'Cause I hadn't seen them

before.

Blew my mind.

Immediately, I could sense

that there was a close-knit

family dynamic there,

and I found it inspiring.

After that, Jim Stewart started

calling me.

He would talk to me

about music

and he would take, if they're

going in and doing a session

that he was excited about,

he'd make a dub on it

and tell me to listen to it.

And Jim Stewart started

taking my advice.

Al was a DJ

but he was more.

I saw a creativity beyond

other disc jockeys.

So I called Al and, uh, ask him

would he be interested in doing

promotion for us?

He said, "These disc jockeys

out here respect you.

And we believe that

if you came here,

that it will aid us in getting

this music played

on these other stations."

So in 1965,

I became national radio

promotion director.

I was 25 years of age.

He seemed to take to us quickly

and he just fit right in.

Jim was one of those guys

that didn't like to sit down

and have meetings with people.

He just didn't like it.

Al didn't mind

tackling that job at all.

Al Bell,

his focus was on growth,

exposure, airplay.

Once arriving at Stax,

I realized the challenges

in getting that music played

in the marketplace.

I started to think how

Black people moved

from the South

up the Mississippi River.

As I thought about the migratory

patterns of us as a people

I knew you had people

leaving Mississippi

going to Chicago.

Go to Detroit. I knew Detroit

was Alabama-bound.

People would leave Arkansas

going to Southern California.

Also, people were going

to New York City, Harlem,

from Alabama.

I realized my focus should be

on those people

outside the South.

Al Bell understood,

"If I can break records

in the whole Midwest,

once I get the Midwest

and I got some power,

maybe then I can get New York,

Boston, Philly,

maybe eventually

the West Coast."

I had my concept

but I needed a record.

One day,

Jerry Wexler called me

and said he had this group

called Sam & Dave,

and he wanted a different sound

for them.

Jerry was enamored

with the sound,

that new sound, that freshness,

and recognized the potential

at Stax Records.

Jerry Wexler said, "You're gonna

be going to Memphis."

Well, I knew Memphis was known

for the Blues and all that.

Ehh

I got out of the car

in front of Stax Records,

and Jim Stewart, the owner,

introduced himself,

and he said, "Let me take you

next door to Satellite

and meet my sister, Estelle."

This is a White woman

embracing two Black guys,

which that was a no-no

down there. You know?

And then, we were introduced

to David Porter.

Big ol' toothy grin.

Had on a sweater,

alpaca sweater,

hot as it is in Memphis.

I shoulda known this boy--

something was wrong

with him then.

And then, coming down the street

was a guy

with a pink shirt,

chartreuse pants, white belt,

pink socks, and white shoes.

And I'm going

"Who

Who is that?"

And he said

"Hey. Isaac Hayes."

And Jim said,

"Dave and Isaac Hayes

are gonna be your producers."

"My what?"

David and Isaac,

they were in the studio

countless hours,

Isaac banging on that big ol'

baby grand black piano.

They were determined

to make their mark.

We wrote a bunch

of flops at first.

But we just kept trudging on,

you know? Relentlessly.

- Oh yeah!

We're rolling tape.

Don't know

what you mean to me ♪

Yeah!

Isaac and I both

were grounded in the church.

-Singing that kind of song ♪

-Talk to 'em, brother!

We totally implemented that

with Sam & Dave.

-Sam?

I sat there

in the control room

Let me hear you say ♪

and when I heard,

"You don't know like I know

what that woman

has done for me"

Wanna say, you don't know

like I know ♪

What that woman

has done for me ♪

and I said,

"This is a hit record, here.

Get this record

ready for me now

so I can get it

to the disc jockeys."

"Get this record ready, Jim.

I got to have this right away."

He said, "Wait.

It's after Thanksgiving,

we're coming into Christmas."

Said, "No, no, Jim.

Get me this record."

I got in my car

and hit the road.

Then I started working with the

record to create word of mouth.

On Christmas Day,

on the Black program

radio stations at that time,

from sign on to sign off,

they were playing one Christmas

carol just over and over.

I said, what I need to do is

go and talk to the disc jockeys

who worked on Christmas Day

and tell them,

"What you do is

play one, two, three, four

Christmas songs,

then Sam & Dave.

Then one, two, three, four,

Sam & Dave."

I got most of these

disc jockeys to play our song.

And we broke "You Don't Know

Like I Know" by Sam & Dave

out on Christmas Day.

You don't know like I know ♪

What that woman

has done for me ♪

In the morning

she's my water ♪

In the evening

she's my cup of tea, now ♪

And as long as I live,

yeah, now ♪

Wherever trouble lies ♪

I go to her,

and like a miracle ♪

Everything

just is all right ♪

Hey, hey, now ♪

You don't know like I know ♪

What that woman

has done for me ♪

Whoa. We got a hit record.

And then we did

"Hold On I'm Coming."

Another hit record.

Paul Troy asking you

to "hold on," baby,

'cause I'm coming through

with more music at 10:20.

Sam & Dave, boss revival.

Don't you ever be sad ♪

Lean on me

when times are bad ♪

When the day comes ♪

And you're down ♪

In a river of trouble ♪

And about to drown ♪

Hold on ♪

'Cause I'm coming ♪

Hold on ♪

I'm coming ♪

I'm on my way ♪

Your lover ♪

And if you get cold,

I would be your cover ♪

-Don't have to worry ♪

-Yeah ♪

-'Cause I'm here ♪

-Tell them about it ♪

-Don't need to suffer ♪

-Early in the mornin' ♪

-'Cause I'm here ♪

-Yeah ♪

We all stumbled

upon that together.

I'm coming ♪

Hold on ♪

I'm coming ♪

We only knew that it

worked when it worked.

I'm coming ♪

Hold on ♪

I'm coming ♪

Lookie here!

Sam & Dave got hot

as a firecracker

which created more

excitement for Otis Redding.

Hi!

This is Otis Redding,

the big O!

Listen to the Memphis sound.

Stax was beginning

to blow up

on Black radio stations.

But generally speaking,

we still couldn't get White

radio stations

to play our music.

People say I'm the life

of the party ♪

'Cause I tell

a joke or two ♪

The majority of the

radio stations across America

were playing the kind of music

that was sophisticated,

more polished,

like what you hear in Detroit,

Motown, or New York.

since my breakup

with you ♪

Watch this! Hey!

I'm depending on you ♪

Stax had a 'Bama sound.

Like Alabama.

On you ♪

In other words,

gritty, rural, Southern.

We were being told that,

"You have to come up

with crossover music."

But Stax had created

a phenomenal

African American

recorded music art form.

This is our last chance ♪

That's what

was distinct about it.

Changing the sound

would destroy that art form.

And we weren't gonna do that.

No way.

All of a sudden,

letters started

coming in to Stax

from the UK,

talking about hearing Stax music

on pirate radio.

I said, "What is pirate radio?"

Two, five, nine,

ready to blow yo' mind

on Radio Caroline!

Your all day,

on and off station.

The BBC only played an hour

of pop music a day,

so the British people were being

basically strangled

for new music.

But if you broadcast outside

of the territorial limits

of England,

then, of course, you were not

breaking English law.

So Radio Caroline came along

and they said,

"We're going to play anything

we want, 24 hours a day."

They would play all the music

the kids wanted,

The Who, Motown,

James Brown, Rolling Stones,

and I came in

and I added Stax to the mix.

We're gonna cause a big

sensation across the nation.

Walking along, singing a song.

Soul souvenir number one

today on midday spin.

From Mr. Otis Redding,

it's called "Respect,"

What you want ♪

Honey, you've got it ♪

What he's saying!

Stax is blowing up

in Europe.

You got to be kidding me.

Jerry Wexler,

Jim Stewart, and Al Bell

decided that they wanted

to test the popularity

of Stax music,

and the only way to do it

was to take it there.

We were just like a bunch

of kids on a school trip.

We were taking pictures

of each other

and taking Super 8 videos

of everything that moved,

and

and when

the plane touched down,

it was like,

"Christmas is here."

These country bumpkins,

they didn't have a clue.

They had never traveled

internationally,

and their expectation

of what would happen

and what to wear,

it was hilarious.

I can remember not believing

that my career

had taken me to land in

in England.

There was a club

called The Bag of Nails,

and we had a pre-show,

me and Booker.

We were kind of like practicing.

And I went over to the organ.

I said, "Booker."

I said, "Who is that

over there at the table?"

He said, "My God,

that's Paul McCartney."

It was so cute.

He's just so cute,

and was just enjoying himself.

The night we did

the first concert

there in London,

I've never been so

I've never been so nervous

and whatever else

in all of my life,

and I've been out before

people before.

But I gotta tell you, that was

a nervous moment for me,

seeing all of these

White people.

The crowds were

hundreds of times larger

than I thought they would be.

We never got a reception

like that in the States.

We were just showered

with so much love.

I had never said

I wanted to be a star.

But being on stage is magic.

So when I hear the music,

and I see the smiles,

and I see the people,

I remember,

I shut my eyes,

and I kept singing and singing

and singing.

When I opened my eyes,

the people had gotten

out of their chairs.

They were so close to me,

and I just kept saying,

"Thank you so much.

Thank you so"

It was like,

when I got off, I went, "Wow.

That was good."

They come from the north,

they come from the south,

they come from all over!

It's Sam & Dave!

We hit the stage.

I I went into a zone.

Zoop!

I'd do anything

to get that crowd

to enjoy and to

to do a show with me.

You don't know like I know ♪

What that woman

has done for me ♪

Now, in the morning

she's my water ♪

And in the evening

she's my cup of tea, now ♪

Listen, just as long

as I live, oh ♪

Wherever troubles lie, oh ♪

I go to her,

and like a miracle ♪

Everything is all right ♪

I didn't know what

Sam & Dave looked like on stage.

But I had the best seat

in the house.

Has done for me ♪

I couldn't keep my eyes

off of 'em.

Baby ♪

-Yeah ♪

-Oh yeah ♪

I wanna thank

all my friends ♪

Oh yeah ♪

-For being so kind ♪

-Mm-hm ♪

Now Dave and I are going

back in our dressing room ♪

Tell 'em about it, Sammy ♪

And finish

our bottle of wine ♪

Oh yeah ♪

I wonder, can you do that

for me this evening? ♪

If you know

what I'm talking about ♪

Do me a favor

before I go ♪

Do me a favor ♪

As a little boy

I wanted to be like the minister

that I saw at my church.

Will you do me a favor? ♪

Do me a favor ♪

And I would take that

and use that.

Running up and down,

and "Ha!"

You're sweating, and preaching.

Oh

-Stand on up ♪

-Hold on ♪

-Stand on up ♪

-Hold on ♪

-Stand on up ♪

-Hold on ♪

Stand on up ♪

-Just hold on ♪

-Stand on up ♪

-Hold on ♪

-Stand on up ♪

-Hold on ♪

-Have a good time ♪

-Hold on ♪

-Have a good time ♪

Got to hold on ♪

-Hold on ♪

-Hold on ♪

-Hold on ♪

-Hold on ♪

Hold on ♪

Coming out of

a segregated America,

the continent of Europe was,

really, another world for us.

There were no colored

water fountains,

and we were treated

at the hotel

just like the rest

of the guests.

It's the first time that

we really felt accepted

and the first time

we felt free.

Right now we're gonna do

a song that we love to do.

This song, it'll rock you.

Oh my!

Oh, she may be weary ♪

Young girls,

they do get wearied ♪

Wearing that same old

shaggy dress ♪

Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

But when she gets weary ♪

Try a little tenderness ♪

Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

Oh my, now, now ♪

Uh!

We were a small company

down in Memphis, Tennessee

reaching another level

that we had not known existed.

Music was coming from

where we came from.

Rural people

with rural roots

even though we were

worlds apart socially.

Try a little tenderness,

yeah, yeah, yeah ♪

At each performance,

I keep seeing

all of these White people

jumping up and down,

singing the songs.

I see these people don't have

a problem with our music.

Got to try, na-na-na-na,

na-na-na-na ♪

Said, "That's it."

Got to try, na-na-na-na,

na-na-na-na ♪

"I'm going after White America."

Try a little tenderness ♪

Yeah, watch her groove ♪

You got to know

what to do, man ♪

Take this advice, you gotta ♪

-Na-na-na-na-na-na-na ♪

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na ♪

Na-na-na-na-na-na-na ♪

-Na-na-na-na-na-na ♪

-Get it!

Everybody, we gon' sang

and dance this evening!

I want all you good dancers

to come on and sang and dance

with me this evening.

Yeah! You know, the Indians

had a thing!

Yeah, it was a hip thing!

They was sangin' and dancin'!

They did a thing

something like this.

Yeah, you sound so astorperious

this evening!

Good God.

You know, the Watusi Africans

can sang and dance.

Yeah, the Africans,

all the Africans

have gotta dance!

They sang and dance,

but you know what?

We the Bar-Kays.

We gon' show you

how to do our thing.

We'll sock it to you!

Here we go! Good God!

Everybody, come on,

and sang and dance ♪

Everybody, come on,

and sang and dance ♪

-Ow! Ow! Ow!

Good God!

Wait just a doggone minute!

Wait a minute!

Let's slow this thing up.

Look here. I want all the girls

to come on

and sang and dance with me

this evening.

Come on, girls. Yeah!

Oh, you sound so sexy.

Lord have mercy!

Come on fellas, do your thing!

Good God!

The Bar-Kays

gon' do their thing. Good God!

Everybody, come on,

and sang and dance ♪

Everybody, come on,

and sang and dance ♪

-Ow! Ow! Ow!

Oh, shook me!

Good God! I'm gon' sock it

to yo' fanny!

Yeah, look here.

I want all the girls

one more time to do your thing.

-Come on, girls! Yeah!

-Na-na-na-na-na-na-na ♪

-You sound so good!

-Na-na-na-na-na-na-na ♪

I want all the boys

to do your thing.

-Na-na-na-na-na-na-na ♪

-Yeah! Little louder now!

The Bar-Kays

got two horn players,

Ben and Harvey.

They gon' sock it to your fanny

this evening.

Go on and get it, Harvey.

Sock it to 'em!

-Get it on!

Little bit louder now!