1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything (2021) s01e07 Episode Script
Respect
I don't have any plans.
My plans are Ike's plans.
His plans is that the studio is successful, which I think it will be.
One, two, three, do it.
Do it.
Do it.
Handful of gimme Mouthful of much obliged Like any Black artist in America that do any tune, it has to go, like, top ten on the R&B charts before a top artist station will touch it.
Handful of gimme Mouthful of much obliged "Much obliged.
" - Much obliged - Right on.
We were having problems with record companies and trying to fight branding our records as being Black.
It weren't that we were trying to be white, but we were trying to get our records accepted by both races.
All the races, so to speak.
When we were with the Rolling Stones, and Ike walked out and he looked at that place, and all those people, like, so many people there that the floor, the concrete floor was, like, moving, you know? He says, "I want Ike and Tina to fill this place.
Just Ike and Tina.
" We do thank you.
And right now, I think you might like to hear something from us.
Nice and easy.
Well, I'd like to do that for you.
But there's just one thing, you see.
- I left a good job down in the city - We never ever do nothing nice and easy.
My first time that I actually ad-libbed onstage.
"Proud Mary.
" It's my song.
It was always my song.
And we're gonna do it easy.
But then we're gonna do the finish - Big wheel keep on turning - rough.
This is the way we do "Proud Mary.
" Proud Mary keep on burning And we're rolling A friend of ours told us that Ike and Tina were an amazing band, and we had to go see them.
And so, I went to see 'em, and I remember Tina and Ike just being an amazing show.
Tina being the sexiest person I'd ever seen onstage.
Two, three, four.
I saw her and Ike.
I got a seat down front.
And there's just nothing like that.
I left a good job in the city Working for the man Every night and day And I never lost one minute sleep Worrying 'bout the way Things might've been How a person and a group can have energy like that just makes life special.
Rolling Rolling, rolling on the river Rolling All people gravitate towards that sound.
It was just the power of soul.
Just the beat itself would get you.
I didn't realize that my energy told people to get up and go.
I had a message that went with that energy and that work.
I pumped a lot of 'tane Down in New Orleans We were taught as young Black girls, you don't open your legs, you don't throw your hair around, you don't do things like that.
There wasn't anybody who was like her.
- Rolling - Rolling - Rolling - Rolling Rolling on the river Rolling We African American women, we were ready to break out of our boxes.
She broke it all open.
1971 was definitely a turning point.
We were beginning to hold a mirror to ourselves.
Songwriters actually started to be more in control.
People started to come out and make their own sound.
The culture was a reflection of that period.
And it was about telling our story from our perspective.
- I am somebody.
- I am somebody.
I must be respected.
"I may be from the ghetto, but the ghetto is not in me.
I am somebody.
" The dream's over.
- In 1971 - Music said something.
The world was changing.
We were creating the 21st century in 1971.
The Dick Cavett Show.
I'm sure you still meet the remark that, "What are the Negroes Why aren't they optimistic?" And I, again, I apologize and preface this by the phrase "the Negroes," because it lumps together an awful lot of people.
But for want of a better phrase, if you'll allow me.
They say, "But it's getting so much better.
" There are Negro mayors, there's Negroes in all of sports, there are Negroes in politics, they're even accorded the ultimate accolade of being in television commercials now, and I'm glad you're smiling.
Is it at once getting much better and still hopeless? Well, I don't think there's much hope for it, you know, to tell you the truth.
No.
As long as people are using this peculiar language.
Racism was overt in America, and permeated just about everything in our culture.
It was hard for us to have the self-esteem we should've had.
We couldn't get our music played on white program stations.
We were producers and entrepreneurs 'cause we had to be.
The music business in the early '70s was very difficult.
Stax became the forefront of the fight.
We are one of the few completely Black companies in America today.
85% to 90% of our artists are Black.
We're researching Black, because that's where our product is directed, and we are supported Black.
Now, this is not to say that that product does not feed over into the white market.
We realized there was a tremendous pent-up demand for Black music in the marketplace.
Music that all of America needed to hear, because that which was healing to us was also healing for America.
Today there are many political, social and economical discriminations.
And because they're so much a part of the Black experience, they're reflected in a music of a people who look for a better day.
In 1971, attending the funeral of my third brother, all of a sudden, I heard the words.
I know a place Ain't nobody cryin' No, ain't nobody worried, no Ain't no smiling faces No, no Lyin' to the races No, no, no, no Help me, come on, come on Somebody help me now - I'll take you there - Yeah, yeah, yeah - Help me, y'all - I'll take you there "I'll Take You There.
" That just came into my head and out of my mouth.
And after giving it to Mavis Staples, she took death and brought death to life.
Let me take you there There is something hopeful in that song.
- Let me take you there - I'll take you there Most of the music that we recorded, even though it reflected what was going on in the African American culture, it hit all of America right in the heart.
All right What ya doin'? Talking about I, I - I know a place - I'll take you there - Ain't nobody cryin', no - I'll take you there - Ain't nobody worried - I'll take you there - Ain't no smiling faces - I'll take you there - Programs! Programs! - He's Black and he's proud.
He brings out the good in me.
Hey, James Brown program! I feel that I have a challenge.
Mr.
Brown is the number one soul brother in the United States.
I got something to get up every morning for and fight.
You know.
My challenge is to show that the small man can do it regardless of race, creed or color.
And he can become as big as big can be.
The opportunities are there, and I'm not Black or white, I'm a taxpayer.
And I can get it, if it's there.
I got it, yeah James Brown, he came from zero and he made millions.
He was trying to build an empire, but he knew that if he could do it, he could bring other Black people into it too.
He inspired so many people.
We are finding out that Black capitalism can work.
James Brown is financing all of his own businesses himself personally, which is really true Black capitalism, because it's all his own money.
Now I got to move Good God Watch me I got it I got something That makes me wanna shout I've got soul All right And I'm super bad I've got soul All right And I'm super bad We created a sound.
That's what we called funk.
It's the kind of music that goes straight to your body.
You've got to shake something, whether you like it or not.
That's what made it so powerful.
And I'm super bad I got soul All right And I'm super bad Up and down James Brown was the narrative of Black urban life.
He just told the story.
It's the now influence, what's going on now.
People wanna do their thing and they believe in me.
I got the move I've had 35 million sellers.
Never had a television show.
Because I am Black.
Super bad But I don't hold it against the man.
I pity him, because as long as a fella keeps me from doing something, I believe I'm better than he is.
And that's the thing that keeps me going.
I think it was a powerful time, where, as we say, all the planets aligned and it's a perfect storm for music and politics and culture.
The level of Black consciousness in this country was at a high.
And I just felt good to be real with the people.
I knew that we needed to hear, as African Americans, music addressing those social, cultural and political situations.
- I am Black! - I am Black! - Beautiful! - Beautiful! - Proud! - Proud! - I am! - I am! - Somebody! - Somebody! - Hey, hey, hey.
Yeah.
- Hey, hey, hey.
That was damn good.
As I was sitting there, it was profound.
When he hit that litany, "I Am Somebody," I said, "Oh, my God.
This needs to be heard across America.
African Americans need to hear this.
They need that thought process implanted and integrated into their brains.
" So I went in and recorded him.
And we could get that "I Am Somebody" out there and popularize that album and popularize Reverend Jackson.
And it worked.
- I may be small.
- I may be small.
- But I am.
- But I am.
- Somebody.
- Somebody.
Give yourselves a big hand.
I'm optimistic, but my optimism does not grow out of white people getting better.
It grows out of Black people becoming wiser.
Because our change will come in proportion to our power, not in proportion to our goodness.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, the fantastic Staple Singers.
If you disrespect Anybody that you run into How in the world do you think Anybody's s'posed to respect you? One of my writers, Mack Rice, said, "I've got a song that I think will work for the Staple Singers that I think our people need to hear.
" And when I took it to Pops Staples and the Staple Singers, they thought it was awesome.
If you're walking 'round think'n That the world owes you something 'Cause you're here You goin' out the world backwards Like you did when you first come here You hear in the Staples message music.
It made them a modern popular cult beyond the church.
They became the sound of the streets.
Oh, you cuss around women And you don't even know their names No Then you're dumb enough to think That'll make you a big ol' man Yeah, yeah Respect yourself Respect yourself If you don't respect yourself Ain't nobody gonna give a good cahoot Respect yourself I had seen them play when I was a kid.
They were right there at the beginning.
And these feelings had some deep implications in the battle that was going on for civil rights.
So their song, no one could've been more right for it.
I knew that we needed to hear because we needed to have more respect for ourselves.
And in the process of respecting ourselves more, we would attract more respect from others.
Respect yourself, yeah Respect yourself When I was growing up, I was taught in American history books that Africa had no history and neither did I.
That I was a savage about whom the less said, the better who had been saved by Europe and brought to America.
And of course I believed it.
I didn't have much choice.
Those were the only books there were.
Everyone else seemed to agree.
And you gotta somehow begin to break out of all of that and try to become yourself.
It's hard for anybody, but it's very hard if you're born Black in a white society.
African Americans had this tremendous ambivalence toward Africa.
One of the most powerful things of Black Power was first to embrace the color black and to embrace the notion of one's African descent.
First of all, let me tell you a little bit about Ghana.
This was the first country in Africa that became independent after World War II.
In 1960, they broke away from the British Commonwealth and became an independent republic.
I was thinking as we was coming on the plane, the name of the show, Soul to Soul, that's something.
Soul coming to soul.
It's a soul show and we're bringing soul right into soul.
This is where it all came from Where the rhythm will turn you on Back in our native homeland We'll miss the music Make it double strong Strong, strong Soul to soul Yeah What was important about Ghana to me, it was reaching out to African American artists, bringing them into Ghana to perform on this 14th anniversary celebration.
I thought that phenomenal, because that was like our mother country, Africa, saying to our great artists, "Welcome home.
" Never say minaj Soul to soul Soul to soul I remember thinking, "Boy, if something happened to this airplane," I said, "Rhythm and blues would be in trouble," because everybody that was anybody was on that airplane.
Every Black person's dream, and I'm no exception.
I'm really excited about the whole thing, because everybody dreams about going to the motherland at least once.
I'm looking forward to all the pretty materials, 'cause I sew.
And I wanna take whole batches back with me to make dashikis and different things like that there.
Think you're gonna hear some good music? Yeah.
Everybody's here, right? No, I don't mean what you're bringing there, I mean what you're gonna hear there.
Yeah, everybody's still here.
See all the good people here? No, I mean in Africa.
Do you think they have good music? No.
Coming from Harlem and being African American, I had not a bit of understanding of what Africa had to offer, none other than what was shown on TV in the Tarzan movies.
We were not taught that mankind as we know it began on the continent of Africa.
We didn't get taught none of that.
We were taught that Africa was a place of savages, people walking around with bones in their nose, swinging from trees.
We were not taught any of that.
When I got off that plane, and someone walked up to me and said, "My sister, welcome home," I will never in my life forget that.
That was what I came there for, because in my mind I was going home.
I was a young Black boy.
I have not seen a white face yet.
I'm looking at nothing but Black faces and Black women with great dignity, and it did give me a great sense of pride in understanding who I was.
From the time we got to the hotel and the time we left that hotel, I pretty much was not out of the presence of Tina Turner and Ike Turner.
I was somewhat adopted by them as their son.
Ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to present our VIP.
Delivering to you, Miss Tina Turner! I was with them in their hotel room prior to their performance.
In that hotel room, Ike Turner was sniffing more cocaine than they probably could've produced.
He was extremely, as we would say in the streets, "skied up.
" Lord knows I've tried I've tried to do what's right Five whole long years I stayed home Both day and night And I smell A whole lot of trouble Lord, I smell trouble ahead of me He belittled her.
He talked about her like she was nonexistent.
Like she was a dog.
He constantly verbally abused her.
And all she was doing was preparing herself to now deliver.
She was the front person.
She was the show.
No person should have ever been able to deliver the performance that she delivered.
People talk about me Oh, I know they talk about me Both night and day But I say Lord please forgive them And go the other way 'Cause I said I smell trouble Smell trouble way out yonder Ahead of me I asked her in the hotel, "What are you thinking when you're on that stage and you're singing to the people?" And she says, "I am not thinking, I'm reacting.
I am simply expressing to the people what I'm living.
" So when you see that piece where her and Ike are communicating, her talking and he's coming back with the guitar, you are hearing the safest place for her to actually tell this man what she thinks about him without being physically abused in private.
And from now on Said from now on I will not run and hide I'm gonna go out there And face trouble with a smile And hope they pass me by I think the earlier stages was much more fun than when it became Ike and Tina Turner, because I became the mistress wife and the slave girl.
All of that stardom meant nothing, because standing onstage, I was depressed about the offstage life.
And then there was the pressure of having to make sure I was singing as Ike wanted.
So nothing meant anything to me onstage.
Everyone knew, but no one spoke out in the open how Tina was treated.
But it wasn't quite to the point that people could say that was reproachable.
It just wasn't there yet.
Not only was she a force in terms of being an entertainer, she was so much more than that.
Because what you got was so mighty, and what she had to go through, and what she had been through right before she went onstage, just made her all the more mighty.
- Lord, I say that they just won't - Yeah.
- I said, I say that they just won't - You tell 'em.
They just won't let me be Soul Train! Sixty nonstop minutes across the tracks of your mind into the exciting world of soul.
Soul Train allowed us to get more exposure.
It showed the artist as being a part of our culture.
And this was a part of our culture that we were proud of.
There were not a lot of African Americans on television.
You never saw the Black experience on television.
It was a big deal.
I watched Soul Train every weekend.
The audience was almost completely Black, and they were dancing, and you had all of the most popular music.
Prior to his first recording session, our first guest was told to just do his own thing, but to be sure and do it good.
Let's join him now as he does his thing the only way he knows how to do it.
Bill Withers.
Summer night in Harlem Man, it's really hot Well, it's too hot to sleep And I'm too cold to eat I don't care if I die or not Winter night in Harlem Radiator won't get hot The mean old landlord He don't care if I Freeze to death or not I wanted to sing, but the only songs that anybody laid on me had all the clichés in 'em like, "I love you so, I'll never let you go.
You are my one desire, you set my heart on fire," you know.
So I thought, like, I thought, "Wow, you know.
I would like to say something that hasn't been said so much," you know.
I had a guy actually say to me, "Black people can't write.
" You gonna tell me the history of the blues? I am the goddamn blues, shit.
I'm from West Virginia, man.
I'm the first man in my family not to work in the coal mine.
My mother scrubbed floors on her knees for a living.
And you gonna tell me about the goddamn blues? Kiss my ass.
Our crooked delegation Wants a donation To send the preacher To the Holy Land Hey, hey, Lord Honey, don't give your money To that lying Cheating man Harlem I got into the record business with my own money.
I recorded myself first and laid it around Hollywood.
And most of the major record companies called me up.
But they didn't want me to do anything quiet.
They had this rhythm and blues syndrome in their mind, with the horns and the three chicks and the gold lamé suit.
And I wasn't really into that.
I had a job, you know.
So I thought, "Well, if they won't let me do it like I wanna do it, I got this good job making these toilets.
I don't need you cats.
" "Making these toilets.
" - What kind of toilets were you making? - Yeah.
For aircraft.
Yeah, 747 aircraft.
I installed cameras in those toilets.
So if you've ever been to the bathroom on a 747, I know you very well.
You understand? You also made a comment once, that that was a greater revolutionary act than your singing music, and I disagree with that.
Well, you know, I think values are sometimes upside down, you know? A guy that picks up garbage, for instance, is needed more than a guy that plays baseball.
- He doesn't receive as much notoriety.
- That's true.
But I would rather see my garbage gone than to see some cat hit a ball 500 feet, you know? And I would much rather not sing for a month than not go to the bathroom for a month, you see? Bill Withers? He was wonderful.
But he didn't get along too well with record companies.
It was hard for him to get that break that he needed.
Al Bell and his friend Clarence Avant found this guy in Inglewood and wanted me to hear him.
Bill showed up in overalls, and he had a big, thick notebook full of songs.
I hadn't heard anything like it.
Something so topical, or so even racial.
It touched me.
Mmm, grandma's hands Clapped in church on Sunday morning Grandma's hands Played a tambourine so well Grandma's hands Used to issue out a warning She'd say "Billy don't you run so fast Might fall on a piece of glass Might be snakes there in that grass" Grandma's hands I remember when I was recording my first song I was working on.
Graham Nash came in and sat down in front of me.
I'd taken a break from recording and I walk to another studio.
And there's this guy with his foot on a box.
I said, "Wow, man, that's a great song.
" He said "Maybe.
I don't give a shit.
I can't make it.
" I said, "Wait a second.
No, no, no, no.
" He kept saying, "You don't know how good you are.
" That you really love that man Producing Bill Withers felt very natural, 'cause I recorded him just as if I would have at Stax.
You know, with Al, the kind of minimalist, soulful approach.
Grandma's hands Used to hand me piece of candy Grandma's hands Picked me up each time I fell Oh, grandma's hands Boy, they really came in handy She'd say "Mattie, don't you whip that boy What you want to spank him for? He didn't drop no apple core" But I don't have Grandma anymore If I get to Heaven I'll look for Grandma's hands This is the Del Shields Show coming to you in New York over WLIB FM at 107,5.
The Black experience in sound, we've got Brother Jack McDuff Black identity was pretty much beginning to be really mainstream.
Soul music rose to its zenith in terms of what it could do, economically and culturally, all at once.
Think the Black man is making a tremendous stride, not only in America but throughout the world, you know, to be recognized as a man other than just Black, period.
Just being recognized as a man, you know.
Because we're brothers regardless of our race, creed or color, you know.
If we're not brothers, then then we're not humans.
A lot of artists didn't get the opportunity to be on TV.
You got a chance to be heard and millions of people, you know.
You were a hit.
I think we were becoming more empowered.
People were making better deals.
In 1971 James Brown signed with Polydor Records, and it was a great contract for him.
Gave us the freedom to be experimental.
We had a great time selling records all over the world.
We had a lot of hits.
He is the man who invented the rhythmic language of "Sex Machine.
" My friends, for the first time on Italian television, James Brown! I wanna know that everybody in the house feel like you got enough soul up there.
- What we need - Soul power - What we want - Soul power - What we need - Soul power - Got to have it - Soul power - What we want - Soul power - What we need - Soul power - We need it - Soul power Soul power is the ability to make happen what you need to happen in a Black way and get it accepted by the white power structure.
Black people had been downtrodden and second class.
But the power of soul gave them an identity.
They were proud of it.
It gives people the confidence to do whatever it is they have the aspiration to do.
I think soul music is a uniting force in the whole world, you know.
You've got to get down Down, down, down, down All right - Soul power - Soul power Hey, I'm Black and I'm proud, but if you step on my toes then I got to defend myself as a man.
Same thing you would have to do.
- Soul power - Soul power - Soul power - Soul power - Soul power - Soul power Soul power is Richard Roundtree walking around as Shaft.
There were certain pivotal movies that just changed life as we knew it.
No one had ever seen a dark-skinned Black man who was a superhero.
Shaft was a winner.
He won all the time.
Black people were making money, serious money.
Things were changing.
Things were changing for most musicians.
Because we were learning more, and we're getting involved in more, and it was telling the real truth.
This award, for the first time in the history of the Academy, a Black musician has been honored receiving an Oscar.
I shall go out and try to spread the good word through the universal language of music.
I thank you.
When Isaac won the Oscar, everything was just wonderful.
All the doors were open, and we thought we were on top of the world.
Gee, Ike and Tina Turner.
I can't believe it.
Well, I can't believe it.
I've been watching you for a long time, and I said, "I wonder why we never did his show.
" - Did you really? - Yeah.
By 1971, she'd crossed over.
And Ike probably felt it and knew that she had.
Ike knew who they came to see.
He saw what was going on.
Tina did not need him anymore.
Who settles an argument if you Well, now, you see.
Things are not always the way they look, you know.
- No.
- Now, I always do the talking - I just noticed that Ike's kind of quiet.
- Yeah, he's Ike is very bashful when the lights are on.
Ike's the one that does all the ruling around, the talking, the whole thing, he's the whole thing.
But in public he's like this.
Yeah, 'cause he can't get it together.
Takes him It takes him a long time to get really wound up, but once you get him stirred up, you can't stop him.
He just goes on and on and on, you can't get a word in.
Being on the Dick Cavett Show, she was influencing a lot of women, Black and white.
That is soul power.
One, two, three.
I've always wanted to do a little bit more.
I really need to find myself in writing.
I'd like to write happy things, you know.
Just songs with not very much meaning but that can just put you in sort of a happy mood.
I don't wanna dwell on pain and the army, 'cause that's been done too much.
But I wanna dwell on pain and tears, love and tears, happiness and tears.
- Happiness and tears.
- Love and tears, pain and tears.
Pain and tears.
I got my good side on I left my bad side home All of the tunes since 'Nuff Said, - I wrote them all.
All about everything.
- Amazing.
He knows every trick in the book And he use them to get me hooked - He turned my good side on - Feel good - He turned my bad side off - Feel good Tina was writing her own songs now because it was her freedom.
She'd stayed totally rooted into a Black sound.
There's two sides to everybody But they expanded it.
A good side and a bad A side to make you happy And a side to make you mad When everything is so dark you have to find some way to make the light.
I had a dream.
I was always thinking ahead.
Always dreaming.
Feel good Music has come a long way.
But so have I.
I don't mean just me and my career, I mean me as a Black person.
- Turned my good side on - Feel good - And I left my bad side home - Feel good Feel good, good, good Back in '71, there were no records being made that didn't have a social message.
And it was that we were not gonna be victims any longer.
That we are somebody.
That you were empowered.
And it came out in our music.
Sometimes in our lives We all have pain We all have sorrow We do what we're licensed to do.
The fact is, we were born into the situations we were born into.
One day you are.
By me being a songwriter, I do the best I can with that.
Lean on me When you're not strong And I'll be your friend I'll help you carry on We have survived the roughest game in the history of the world.
- Yeah.
- No, we really have.
No matter what we say against ourselves, no matter what our limits and hang-ups are I think you we have come through something.
You know.
And if we can get this far, we can get further.
You know, and we got this far by means which no one understands, including you and me.
And we have, out of a terrifying suffering Yeah.
a certain sense of life, which everybody needs.
You know, and that's morality for me.
Anyway, it's a very mysterious endeavor, isn't it, you know.
'Cause the key is love.
You just call on me, brother When you need a hand We all need somebody to lean on I just might The interesting thing about David is that he did have the ability to play roles.
It just seemed to be interesting at that time to try and devise something radically different.
What do I wanna see on a stage that would make me excited? We are another, more industrial generation.
This is a very different sonic experiment to what I'm used to.
Reggae music is a dangerous music.
Christ, we've just killed the '60s.
My plans are Ike's plans.
His plans is that the studio is successful, which I think it will be.
One, two, three, do it.
Do it.
Do it.
Handful of gimme Mouthful of much obliged Like any Black artist in America that do any tune, it has to go, like, top ten on the R&B charts before a top artist station will touch it.
Handful of gimme Mouthful of much obliged "Much obliged.
" - Much obliged - Right on.
We were having problems with record companies and trying to fight branding our records as being Black.
It weren't that we were trying to be white, but we were trying to get our records accepted by both races.
All the races, so to speak.
When we were with the Rolling Stones, and Ike walked out and he looked at that place, and all those people, like, so many people there that the floor, the concrete floor was, like, moving, you know? He says, "I want Ike and Tina to fill this place.
Just Ike and Tina.
" We do thank you.
And right now, I think you might like to hear something from us.
Nice and easy.
Well, I'd like to do that for you.
But there's just one thing, you see.
- I left a good job down in the city - We never ever do nothing nice and easy.
My first time that I actually ad-libbed onstage.
"Proud Mary.
" It's my song.
It was always my song.
And we're gonna do it easy.
But then we're gonna do the finish - Big wheel keep on turning - rough.
This is the way we do "Proud Mary.
" Proud Mary keep on burning And we're rolling A friend of ours told us that Ike and Tina were an amazing band, and we had to go see them.
And so, I went to see 'em, and I remember Tina and Ike just being an amazing show.
Tina being the sexiest person I'd ever seen onstage.
Two, three, four.
I saw her and Ike.
I got a seat down front.
And there's just nothing like that.
I left a good job in the city Working for the man Every night and day And I never lost one minute sleep Worrying 'bout the way Things might've been How a person and a group can have energy like that just makes life special.
Rolling Rolling, rolling on the river Rolling All people gravitate towards that sound.
It was just the power of soul.
Just the beat itself would get you.
I didn't realize that my energy told people to get up and go.
I had a message that went with that energy and that work.
I pumped a lot of 'tane Down in New Orleans We were taught as young Black girls, you don't open your legs, you don't throw your hair around, you don't do things like that.
There wasn't anybody who was like her.
- Rolling - Rolling - Rolling - Rolling Rolling on the river Rolling We African American women, we were ready to break out of our boxes.
She broke it all open.
1971 was definitely a turning point.
We were beginning to hold a mirror to ourselves.
Songwriters actually started to be more in control.
People started to come out and make their own sound.
The culture was a reflection of that period.
And it was about telling our story from our perspective.
- I am somebody.
- I am somebody.
I must be respected.
"I may be from the ghetto, but the ghetto is not in me.
I am somebody.
" The dream's over.
- In 1971 - Music said something.
The world was changing.
We were creating the 21st century in 1971.
The Dick Cavett Show.
I'm sure you still meet the remark that, "What are the Negroes Why aren't they optimistic?" And I, again, I apologize and preface this by the phrase "the Negroes," because it lumps together an awful lot of people.
But for want of a better phrase, if you'll allow me.
They say, "But it's getting so much better.
" There are Negro mayors, there's Negroes in all of sports, there are Negroes in politics, they're even accorded the ultimate accolade of being in television commercials now, and I'm glad you're smiling.
Is it at once getting much better and still hopeless? Well, I don't think there's much hope for it, you know, to tell you the truth.
No.
As long as people are using this peculiar language.
Racism was overt in America, and permeated just about everything in our culture.
It was hard for us to have the self-esteem we should've had.
We couldn't get our music played on white program stations.
We were producers and entrepreneurs 'cause we had to be.
The music business in the early '70s was very difficult.
Stax became the forefront of the fight.
We are one of the few completely Black companies in America today.
85% to 90% of our artists are Black.
We're researching Black, because that's where our product is directed, and we are supported Black.
Now, this is not to say that that product does not feed over into the white market.
We realized there was a tremendous pent-up demand for Black music in the marketplace.
Music that all of America needed to hear, because that which was healing to us was also healing for America.
Today there are many political, social and economical discriminations.
And because they're so much a part of the Black experience, they're reflected in a music of a people who look for a better day.
In 1971, attending the funeral of my third brother, all of a sudden, I heard the words.
I know a place Ain't nobody cryin' No, ain't nobody worried, no Ain't no smiling faces No, no Lyin' to the races No, no, no, no Help me, come on, come on Somebody help me now - I'll take you there - Yeah, yeah, yeah - Help me, y'all - I'll take you there "I'll Take You There.
" That just came into my head and out of my mouth.
And after giving it to Mavis Staples, she took death and brought death to life.
Let me take you there There is something hopeful in that song.
- Let me take you there - I'll take you there Most of the music that we recorded, even though it reflected what was going on in the African American culture, it hit all of America right in the heart.
All right What ya doin'? Talking about I, I - I know a place - I'll take you there - Ain't nobody cryin', no - I'll take you there - Ain't nobody worried - I'll take you there - Ain't no smiling faces - I'll take you there - Programs! Programs! - He's Black and he's proud.
He brings out the good in me.
Hey, James Brown program! I feel that I have a challenge.
Mr.
Brown is the number one soul brother in the United States.
I got something to get up every morning for and fight.
You know.
My challenge is to show that the small man can do it regardless of race, creed or color.
And he can become as big as big can be.
The opportunities are there, and I'm not Black or white, I'm a taxpayer.
And I can get it, if it's there.
I got it, yeah James Brown, he came from zero and he made millions.
He was trying to build an empire, but he knew that if he could do it, he could bring other Black people into it too.
He inspired so many people.
We are finding out that Black capitalism can work.
James Brown is financing all of his own businesses himself personally, which is really true Black capitalism, because it's all his own money.
Now I got to move Good God Watch me I got it I got something That makes me wanna shout I've got soul All right And I'm super bad I've got soul All right And I'm super bad We created a sound.
That's what we called funk.
It's the kind of music that goes straight to your body.
You've got to shake something, whether you like it or not.
That's what made it so powerful.
And I'm super bad I got soul All right And I'm super bad Up and down James Brown was the narrative of Black urban life.
He just told the story.
It's the now influence, what's going on now.
People wanna do their thing and they believe in me.
I got the move I've had 35 million sellers.
Never had a television show.
Because I am Black.
Super bad But I don't hold it against the man.
I pity him, because as long as a fella keeps me from doing something, I believe I'm better than he is.
And that's the thing that keeps me going.
I think it was a powerful time, where, as we say, all the planets aligned and it's a perfect storm for music and politics and culture.
The level of Black consciousness in this country was at a high.
And I just felt good to be real with the people.
I knew that we needed to hear, as African Americans, music addressing those social, cultural and political situations.
- I am Black! - I am Black! - Beautiful! - Beautiful! - Proud! - Proud! - I am! - I am! - Somebody! - Somebody! - Hey, hey, hey.
Yeah.
- Hey, hey, hey.
That was damn good.
As I was sitting there, it was profound.
When he hit that litany, "I Am Somebody," I said, "Oh, my God.
This needs to be heard across America.
African Americans need to hear this.
They need that thought process implanted and integrated into their brains.
" So I went in and recorded him.
And we could get that "I Am Somebody" out there and popularize that album and popularize Reverend Jackson.
And it worked.
- I may be small.
- I may be small.
- But I am.
- But I am.
- Somebody.
- Somebody.
Give yourselves a big hand.
I'm optimistic, but my optimism does not grow out of white people getting better.
It grows out of Black people becoming wiser.
Because our change will come in proportion to our power, not in proportion to our goodness.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, the fantastic Staple Singers.
If you disrespect Anybody that you run into How in the world do you think Anybody's s'posed to respect you? One of my writers, Mack Rice, said, "I've got a song that I think will work for the Staple Singers that I think our people need to hear.
" And when I took it to Pops Staples and the Staple Singers, they thought it was awesome.
If you're walking 'round think'n That the world owes you something 'Cause you're here You goin' out the world backwards Like you did when you first come here You hear in the Staples message music.
It made them a modern popular cult beyond the church.
They became the sound of the streets.
Oh, you cuss around women And you don't even know their names No Then you're dumb enough to think That'll make you a big ol' man Yeah, yeah Respect yourself Respect yourself If you don't respect yourself Ain't nobody gonna give a good cahoot Respect yourself I had seen them play when I was a kid.
They were right there at the beginning.
And these feelings had some deep implications in the battle that was going on for civil rights.
So their song, no one could've been more right for it.
I knew that we needed to hear because we needed to have more respect for ourselves.
And in the process of respecting ourselves more, we would attract more respect from others.
Respect yourself, yeah Respect yourself When I was growing up, I was taught in American history books that Africa had no history and neither did I.
That I was a savage about whom the less said, the better who had been saved by Europe and brought to America.
And of course I believed it.
I didn't have much choice.
Those were the only books there were.
Everyone else seemed to agree.
And you gotta somehow begin to break out of all of that and try to become yourself.
It's hard for anybody, but it's very hard if you're born Black in a white society.
African Americans had this tremendous ambivalence toward Africa.
One of the most powerful things of Black Power was first to embrace the color black and to embrace the notion of one's African descent.
First of all, let me tell you a little bit about Ghana.
This was the first country in Africa that became independent after World War II.
In 1960, they broke away from the British Commonwealth and became an independent republic.
I was thinking as we was coming on the plane, the name of the show, Soul to Soul, that's something.
Soul coming to soul.
It's a soul show and we're bringing soul right into soul.
This is where it all came from Where the rhythm will turn you on Back in our native homeland We'll miss the music Make it double strong Strong, strong Soul to soul Yeah What was important about Ghana to me, it was reaching out to African American artists, bringing them into Ghana to perform on this 14th anniversary celebration.
I thought that phenomenal, because that was like our mother country, Africa, saying to our great artists, "Welcome home.
" Never say minaj Soul to soul Soul to soul I remember thinking, "Boy, if something happened to this airplane," I said, "Rhythm and blues would be in trouble," because everybody that was anybody was on that airplane.
Every Black person's dream, and I'm no exception.
I'm really excited about the whole thing, because everybody dreams about going to the motherland at least once.
I'm looking forward to all the pretty materials, 'cause I sew.
And I wanna take whole batches back with me to make dashikis and different things like that there.
Think you're gonna hear some good music? Yeah.
Everybody's here, right? No, I don't mean what you're bringing there, I mean what you're gonna hear there.
Yeah, everybody's still here.
See all the good people here? No, I mean in Africa.
Do you think they have good music? No.
Coming from Harlem and being African American, I had not a bit of understanding of what Africa had to offer, none other than what was shown on TV in the Tarzan movies.
We were not taught that mankind as we know it began on the continent of Africa.
We didn't get taught none of that.
We were taught that Africa was a place of savages, people walking around with bones in their nose, swinging from trees.
We were not taught any of that.
When I got off that plane, and someone walked up to me and said, "My sister, welcome home," I will never in my life forget that.
That was what I came there for, because in my mind I was going home.
I was a young Black boy.
I have not seen a white face yet.
I'm looking at nothing but Black faces and Black women with great dignity, and it did give me a great sense of pride in understanding who I was.
From the time we got to the hotel and the time we left that hotel, I pretty much was not out of the presence of Tina Turner and Ike Turner.
I was somewhat adopted by them as their son.
Ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to present our VIP.
Delivering to you, Miss Tina Turner! I was with them in their hotel room prior to their performance.
In that hotel room, Ike Turner was sniffing more cocaine than they probably could've produced.
He was extremely, as we would say in the streets, "skied up.
" Lord knows I've tried I've tried to do what's right Five whole long years I stayed home Both day and night And I smell A whole lot of trouble Lord, I smell trouble ahead of me He belittled her.
He talked about her like she was nonexistent.
Like she was a dog.
He constantly verbally abused her.
And all she was doing was preparing herself to now deliver.
She was the front person.
She was the show.
No person should have ever been able to deliver the performance that she delivered.
People talk about me Oh, I know they talk about me Both night and day But I say Lord please forgive them And go the other way 'Cause I said I smell trouble Smell trouble way out yonder Ahead of me I asked her in the hotel, "What are you thinking when you're on that stage and you're singing to the people?" And she says, "I am not thinking, I'm reacting.
I am simply expressing to the people what I'm living.
" So when you see that piece where her and Ike are communicating, her talking and he's coming back with the guitar, you are hearing the safest place for her to actually tell this man what she thinks about him without being physically abused in private.
And from now on Said from now on I will not run and hide I'm gonna go out there And face trouble with a smile And hope they pass me by I think the earlier stages was much more fun than when it became Ike and Tina Turner, because I became the mistress wife and the slave girl.
All of that stardom meant nothing, because standing onstage, I was depressed about the offstage life.
And then there was the pressure of having to make sure I was singing as Ike wanted.
So nothing meant anything to me onstage.
Everyone knew, but no one spoke out in the open how Tina was treated.
But it wasn't quite to the point that people could say that was reproachable.
It just wasn't there yet.
Not only was she a force in terms of being an entertainer, she was so much more than that.
Because what you got was so mighty, and what she had to go through, and what she had been through right before she went onstage, just made her all the more mighty.
- Lord, I say that they just won't - Yeah.
- I said, I say that they just won't - You tell 'em.
They just won't let me be Soul Train! Sixty nonstop minutes across the tracks of your mind into the exciting world of soul.
Soul Train allowed us to get more exposure.
It showed the artist as being a part of our culture.
And this was a part of our culture that we were proud of.
There were not a lot of African Americans on television.
You never saw the Black experience on television.
It was a big deal.
I watched Soul Train every weekend.
The audience was almost completely Black, and they were dancing, and you had all of the most popular music.
Prior to his first recording session, our first guest was told to just do his own thing, but to be sure and do it good.
Let's join him now as he does his thing the only way he knows how to do it.
Bill Withers.
Summer night in Harlem Man, it's really hot Well, it's too hot to sleep And I'm too cold to eat I don't care if I die or not Winter night in Harlem Radiator won't get hot The mean old landlord He don't care if I Freeze to death or not I wanted to sing, but the only songs that anybody laid on me had all the clichés in 'em like, "I love you so, I'll never let you go.
You are my one desire, you set my heart on fire," you know.
So I thought, like, I thought, "Wow, you know.
I would like to say something that hasn't been said so much," you know.
I had a guy actually say to me, "Black people can't write.
" You gonna tell me the history of the blues? I am the goddamn blues, shit.
I'm from West Virginia, man.
I'm the first man in my family not to work in the coal mine.
My mother scrubbed floors on her knees for a living.
And you gonna tell me about the goddamn blues? Kiss my ass.
Our crooked delegation Wants a donation To send the preacher To the Holy Land Hey, hey, Lord Honey, don't give your money To that lying Cheating man Harlem I got into the record business with my own money.
I recorded myself first and laid it around Hollywood.
And most of the major record companies called me up.
But they didn't want me to do anything quiet.
They had this rhythm and blues syndrome in their mind, with the horns and the three chicks and the gold lamé suit.
And I wasn't really into that.
I had a job, you know.
So I thought, "Well, if they won't let me do it like I wanna do it, I got this good job making these toilets.
I don't need you cats.
" "Making these toilets.
" - What kind of toilets were you making? - Yeah.
For aircraft.
Yeah, 747 aircraft.
I installed cameras in those toilets.
So if you've ever been to the bathroom on a 747, I know you very well.
You understand? You also made a comment once, that that was a greater revolutionary act than your singing music, and I disagree with that.
Well, you know, I think values are sometimes upside down, you know? A guy that picks up garbage, for instance, is needed more than a guy that plays baseball.
- He doesn't receive as much notoriety.
- That's true.
But I would rather see my garbage gone than to see some cat hit a ball 500 feet, you know? And I would much rather not sing for a month than not go to the bathroom for a month, you see? Bill Withers? He was wonderful.
But he didn't get along too well with record companies.
It was hard for him to get that break that he needed.
Al Bell and his friend Clarence Avant found this guy in Inglewood and wanted me to hear him.
Bill showed up in overalls, and he had a big, thick notebook full of songs.
I hadn't heard anything like it.
Something so topical, or so even racial.
It touched me.
Mmm, grandma's hands Clapped in church on Sunday morning Grandma's hands Played a tambourine so well Grandma's hands Used to issue out a warning She'd say "Billy don't you run so fast Might fall on a piece of glass Might be snakes there in that grass" Grandma's hands I remember when I was recording my first song I was working on.
Graham Nash came in and sat down in front of me.
I'd taken a break from recording and I walk to another studio.
And there's this guy with his foot on a box.
I said, "Wow, man, that's a great song.
" He said "Maybe.
I don't give a shit.
I can't make it.
" I said, "Wait a second.
No, no, no, no.
" He kept saying, "You don't know how good you are.
" That you really love that man Producing Bill Withers felt very natural, 'cause I recorded him just as if I would have at Stax.
You know, with Al, the kind of minimalist, soulful approach.
Grandma's hands Used to hand me piece of candy Grandma's hands Picked me up each time I fell Oh, grandma's hands Boy, they really came in handy She'd say "Mattie, don't you whip that boy What you want to spank him for? He didn't drop no apple core" But I don't have Grandma anymore If I get to Heaven I'll look for Grandma's hands This is the Del Shields Show coming to you in New York over WLIB FM at 107,5.
The Black experience in sound, we've got Brother Jack McDuff Black identity was pretty much beginning to be really mainstream.
Soul music rose to its zenith in terms of what it could do, economically and culturally, all at once.
Think the Black man is making a tremendous stride, not only in America but throughout the world, you know, to be recognized as a man other than just Black, period.
Just being recognized as a man, you know.
Because we're brothers regardless of our race, creed or color, you know.
If we're not brothers, then then we're not humans.
A lot of artists didn't get the opportunity to be on TV.
You got a chance to be heard and millions of people, you know.
You were a hit.
I think we were becoming more empowered.
People were making better deals.
In 1971 James Brown signed with Polydor Records, and it was a great contract for him.
Gave us the freedom to be experimental.
We had a great time selling records all over the world.
We had a lot of hits.
He is the man who invented the rhythmic language of "Sex Machine.
" My friends, for the first time on Italian television, James Brown! I wanna know that everybody in the house feel like you got enough soul up there.
- What we need - Soul power - What we want - Soul power - What we need - Soul power - Got to have it - Soul power - What we want - Soul power - What we need - Soul power - We need it - Soul power Soul power is the ability to make happen what you need to happen in a Black way and get it accepted by the white power structure.
Black people had been downtrodden and second class.
But the power of soul gave them an identity.
They were proud of it.
It gives people the confidence to do whatever it is they have the aspiration to do.
I think soul music is a uniting force in the whole world, you know.
You've got to get down Down, down, down, down All right - Soul power - Soul power Hey, I'm Black and I'm proud, but if you step on my toes then I got to defend myself as a man.
Same thing you would have to do.
- Soul power - Soul power - Soul power - Soul power - Soul power - Soul power Soul power is Richard Roundtree walking around as Shaft.
There were certain pivotal movies that just changed life as we knew it.
No one had ever seen a dark-skinned Black man who was a superhero.
Shaft was a winner.
He won all the time.
Black people were making money, serious money.
Things were changing.
Things were changing for most musicians.
Because we were learning more, and we're getting involved in more, and it was telling the real truth.
This award, for the first time in the history of the Academy, a Black musician has been honored receiving an Oscar.
I shall go out and try to spread the good word through the universal language of music.
I thank you.
When Isaac won the Oscar, everything was just wonderful.
All the doors were open, and we thought we were on top of the world.
Gee, Ike and Tina Turner.
I can't believe it.
Well, I can't believe it.
I've been watching you for a long time, and I said, "I wonder why we never did his show.
" - Did you really? - Yeah.
By 1971, she'd crossed over.
And Ike probably felt it and knew that she had.
Ike knew who they came to see.
He saw what was going on.
Tina did not need him anymore.
Who settles an argument if you Well, now, you see.
Things are not always the way they look, you know.
- No.
- Now, I always do the talking - I just noticed that Ike's kind of quiet.
- Yeah, he's Ike is very bashful when the lights are on.
Ike's the one that does all the ruling around, the talking, the whole thing, he's the whole thing.
But in public he's like this.
Yeah, 'cause he can't get it together.
Takes him It takes him a long time to get really wound up, but once you get him stirred up, you can't stop him.
He just goes on and on and on, you can't get a word in.
Being on the Dick Cavett Show, she was influencing a lot of women, Black and white.
That is soul power.
One, two, three.
I've always wanted to do a little bit more.
I really need to find myself in writing.
I'd like to write happy things, you know.
Just songs with not very much meaning but that can just put you in sort of a happy mood.
I don't wanna dwell on pain and the army, 'cause that's been done too much.
But I wanna dwell on pain and tears, love and tears, happiness and tears.
- Happiness and tears.
- Love and tears, pain and tears.
Pain and tears.
I got my good side on I left my bad side home All of the tunes since 'Nuff Said, - I wrote them all.
All about everything.
- Amazing.
He knows every trick in the book And he use them to get me hooked - He turned my good side on - Feel good - He turned my bad side off - Feel good Tina was writing her own songs now because it was her freedom.
She'd stayed totally rooted into a Black sound.
There's two sides to everybody But they expanded it.
A good side and a bad A side to make you happy And a side to make you mad When everything is so dark you have to find some way to make the light.
I had a dream.
I was always thinking ahead.
Always dreaming.
Feel good Music has come a long way.
But so have I.
I don't mean just me and my career, I mean me as a Black person.
- Turned my good side on - Feel good - And I left my bad side home - Feel good Feel good, good, good Back in '71, there were no records being made that didn't have a social message.
And it was that we were not gonna be victims any longer.
That we are somebody.
That you were empowered.
And it came out in our music.
Sometimes in our lives We all have pain We all have sorrow We do what we're licensed to do.
The fact is, we were born into the situations we were born into.
One day you are.
By me being a songwriter, I do the best I can with that.
Lean on me When you're not strong And I'll be your friend I'll help you carry on We have survived the roughest game in the history of the world.
- Yeah.
- No, we really have.
No matter what we say against ourselves, no matter what our limits and hang-ups are I think you we have come through something.
You know.
And if we can get this far, we can get further.
You know, and we got this far by means which no one understands, including you and me.
And we have, out of a terrifying suffering Yeah.
a certain sense of life, which everybody needs.
You know, and that's morality for me.
Anyway, it's a very mysterious endeavor, isn't it, you know.
'Cause the key is love.
You just call on me, brother When you need a hand We all need somebody to lean on I just might The interesting thing about David is that he did have the ability to play roles.
It just seemed to be interesting at that time to try and devise something radically different.
What do I wanna see on a stage that would make me excited? We are another, more industrial generation.
This is a very different sonic experiment to what I'm used to.
Reggae music is a dangerous music.
Christ, we've just killed the '60s.