Può la voce dire di più di quanto dicano le sole parole ? Si, e evidentemente questo album ne è la prova.

Lontano dall'istrionismo di James Brown, vicino alla vocalità intima di alcune canzoni di Ray Charles, ma con una voce ancora più soul, Otis Redding ha fatto del soul un linguaggio universale. Una voce che canta l'amore e la solitudine, le paure e le gioie effimere: la poesia è tutta nella voce, nel modularla secondo lo spirito di ogni canzone, e la voce di Otis Redding brilla quando a fare una sorta di controcanto è una tromba solitaria, ora straziante ora ballerina, in un gioco di scambi e di rimandi irresistibile.

Le canzoni sono undici: sue sono Ole Man Trouble, Respect (resa immortale da Aretha Franklin) e I've Bee Loving you too long. Le altre sono interpretazioni di successi altrui, con l'omaggio al suo maestro Sam Cooke. Il primo capolavoro è l'intepretazione di A change is gonna come di Cooke: dopo un intro della solita tromba, la voce esplode di dolcezza sul primo verso, per poi trascinarsi quasi indolente e rassegnata fino alla fine, accompagnata dal basso, da una batteria elementare e dai sussulti degli ottoni. Il secondo è I've been loving you too long: qui la voce di Otis Redding tocca l'apice della sua poeticità, seguendo più o meno lo stesso schema di A change is gonna come, e la tromba rimane fedele compagna. I testi sono semplici, amori finiti, rimpianti della giovinezza; è la voce che ne amplifica al massimo la potenza e la densità.

Shake (altro omaggio a Cooke) è un intermezzo piacevole, ritmico e sfrenato che precede il terzo capolavoro: My Girl. È il brano più rilassato, una boccata d'aria, che placidamente ci avvicina alla parte più briosa del LP: Wonderful Word, Rock Me Baby e Satisfaction. La prima è la famosa e divertente ode all'amore, in barba a tutto il resto, di Cooke e Otis Redding la intepreta con impagabile ironia. Rock me baby è di B.B. King (e si sente) mentre la sopresa è la versione di Satisfaction dei Rolling Stones: scatenata quanto l'originale, ottoni in gran spolvero e voce isterica quanto basta. Il disco si chiude in bellezza, con un brano soul doc : You don't miss your water di William Bell. Il modo di intepretarla è già noto, ma non ci si stanca mai di ascoltarlo.

Otis Redding morì nello stesso giorno (10 dicembre 67) in cui venne ucciso tre anni prima il suo maestro Sam Cooke. Un incidente d'aereo. Aveva solo 26 anni.

Elenco tracce testi samples e video

01   Ole Man Trouble (02:39)

02   Respect (02:09)

What you want, honey you got it
And what you need, baby you got it
All I'm askin' is for a little respect when I come home
Hey now, hey hey hey, yeah now

Do me wrong honey, if you wanna
You can do me wrong, honey while I'm gone
But all I'm askin' is for a little respect when I come home
Hey now, hey hey hey, yeah now

Hey little girl, you're so sweeter than honey
And I'm about to give you all my money
But all I'm askin', hey
Is a little respect when I get home

Hey little girl, you're so sweeter than honey
And I'm about to give you all my money
But all I'm askin', hey
Is a little respect when I get home

Respect is what I want
Respect is what I need

03   A Change Is Gonna Come (04:20)

I was born by a river in this little old tent
Oh just like this river I've been running ever since
It's been a long, long time coming
But I know, but I know a change is gotta come
Oh yes it is
On my!

It's been too hard living, oh my
And I'm afraid to die
I don't know what's up there
Beyond the clouds

It's been a long long time coming
But I know, but I know a change is gotta come
Oh yes it is
On my!

There was a time I would go to my brother
I asked my brother, "Will you help me please?"
He turned me down and then I ask my dear mother, oh
I said "Mother!"
I said "Mother! I'm down on my knees"

It's been a time that I thought
Lord this couldn't last for very long
But somehow I thought I was still able to try to carry on
It's been a long, long time coming
But I know a change is gonna come
Oh, yes it is

Just like I said, I went to my little bitty brother, my littele brother
I asked my brother "Brother help me please?"
He turned me down and then I go to my little mother, my dear mother
I said "Mother!"
I said "Mother! I'm down on my knees"

But there was a time that I thought
Lord this couldn't last for very long
But somehow I thought I was still able to try to carry on
It's been a long, long time coming
But I know, but I know a change is gotta come
Oh yes it will

So tired of standing by myself
You know that I know that a change is gotta come

04   Down in the Valley (02:59)

Down in the valley, ha
In the valley so low, wowow
Hang your hair over your shoulder
And you can hear the four winds blow, now, oh my

Now can't you hear the wind blow my love, ha
Can't you hear the wind blow, wowowowow, ha, ha
We're down in the valley, ha
In the valley so low, now, ha

Now have you ever been lonely, lonely, ha
Now have you ever been sad
Did you ever really need someone, oh my
Who really needed bad fa-fa-fa-fa-fa-fa

Ha Gotta, gotta, gotta, ha, too much, ooh yeah
Help me baby, gotta get in the groove
So too much, ooh yeah

It was down in the valley
In the valley so low
It was when I held-a you so tight
How can I ever let you go, go, go, go, ooh now

Now it was down, down, down, down, down, down, down
In the valley so low, ooh my
When I held-a baby you so tight, now
How can I ever let you go, now

Ah, good God
Too much, too much, too much groovin' now
Too much, gotta
Down in the valley
We're down in the valley
So low, so low, we can't go no further
We're down, we're down too much
Gotta groovin', groovin', groovin'
Gotta, we can't, we can't, we can't, we can't, we can't, we can't, we can't
Go no further, now
Gotta, gotta, good god almighty we gotta, gotta
Groovin', groovin', groovin'
Too much grippem
Watch it, watch it, watch it
Gotta, a good time we're havin'
We gotta, gotta keep on, keep on groovin'...

05   I've Been Loving You Too Long (03:14)

06   Shake (02:40)

Shake!
[Everybody say it!] Shake!
[Early in the morning] Shake!
[Late in the evening] Shake!
[In the midnight hour] Shake!
[When the time's going bad, now] Shake!
Shake with the FEELING!
Shake with the FEELING!

Listen while I'm talkin' to you now
Tell you what I'm gonna do now
There's a new thing going around now
I'll tell what to put down now

You move your body all around
And just shake
Thats the way you do it Shake, Shake, Shake it baby
Shake it like a bowl of soup
Let your body loop de loop
Put your hands on your hip
Come on and let your backbone slip
Move your body like your hip
And just shake!

Shake early in the morning
Shake early in the evening

A Ring-A-Ling-a-Ling


Honey, Shakin' is the greatest thing
But if you really roll Gotta do the thing with SOUL!

Shake shake with all your might now
If you do it, do it right now
Put your hands on your hip,yeah
Come on and let your backbone slip
Move your body like your hip
And just shake

[God have mercy now!]
Early in the morning
Early in the evening All night long, y'all!

If you really want to roll
Gotta do the thing with SOUL!
Shake shake with all your might
If you do it, do it right
Let your body loop de lite
Shake!
Everybody say it, Shake!
One more time, Shake!
Everybody louder, Shake!
One more time, now, say Shake!
Everybody a bit louder, Shake!

07   My Girl (02:54)

I've got sunshine on a cloudy day
And it's cold outside, I've got the month of May
I guess you'd say
What can make, ooh, me feel this way?
It's my girl
Talkin' 'bout my girl

I've got so much loving, the bees envy me
I've got a sweeter song that I can sing, than the birds in the trees
I guess you will say
Ooh, what can make me feel this way?
It's my girl
Talkin' 'bout my girl, ooh

Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
Ooooh, yeah

I don't need no money, all I need is my fame
I've got all the riches baby one big man can claim
I guess you'd say
Ooh, "What can make you feel this way?"
My girl
Talkin' 'bout my girl

I've got sunshine on a cloudy day with my girl
I've even got the month of May with my, my, my girl
Talkin' 'bout, talkin' 'bout, talkin' 'bout

08   Wonderful World (03:08)

Don't know much about history
Don't know much about biology
Don't know much about a science book
Don't know much about the French I took

What I do know that I love you
And I know that if you love me too
What a wonderful world this would be

Don't know much about geography
Don't know much trigonometry
Don't know much about algebra
Don't know what a slide rule is for
What I do know, one and one is two
And if this one could be with you
What a wonderful world this would be

Now, I don't plan to be an A student
But I'm trying to be
For maybe by being an A student, baby
I can win your love for me

Don't know much about history, now
Don't know much about biology
I don't know much about the science book
Don't know much about the good French I took, oh

What I do know that I love you
And I wonder if you love me too
What a wonderful world this could be

Good God, I don't plan to be an A student
But I'm trying to be
For maybe by being an A student, baby
I can win your love for me

Don't know much about geography
Don't know much trigonometry
Don't know much about algebra
Don't know what a good slide rule is for

But I do know, one and one is two
And if this one could be with you
What a wonderful world this would be
Cha, cha, cha, cha, cha
I've been trying, I've been trying, I've been trying

09   Rock Me Baby (03:29)

10   Satisfaction (02:46)

I can't get no satisfashion
I can't get no satisfashion
I have tried, I have tried
I have tried, I have tried

I can't get me no, ha, ha
I can't get no, uh, now

When I'm driving in my car
And the man talks on the radio
Keep tellin' me more and more
About that useless information
He's tryin' to mess up my imagination

And I can't get me no, no, no
And I can't get me no
Hey, hey, hey, what I say
You gotta, gotta, gotta groovy

We gotta have it, we gotta have it
We gotta have it, we gotta have it
Keep on grooving, keep on grooving
We keep on grooving, God, no, my, yeah

I can't get no satisfashion
I can't get no, no satisfashion

I have tried, I have tried
I have tried, I have tried, tried, tried
I can't get me no, no, no
And I can't get me no, no, no, no

We gotta groove it, groove it, oh my now
We keep on knockin', knockin' baby, yeah
Ow, gotta, gotta have it
We gotta, keep, keep, ah

Whatever, why won't you wait for time
This little girl is tryin' to put me down
I keep on runnin' round in my sleep
I keep on messin' up any beat

I keep on rockin', I try to find me
Somebody to love me
And give me some reaction
And I can find nobody, no, no, nobody
Give me no faction, faction
Faction got to have it
Satisfaction, we got to have it
Satisfaction, earlier in the morning
Satisfaction, later in the evening
Satisfaction, and don't make my

11   You Don't Miss Your Water (02:46)

Carico i commenti...  con calma