The Staple Singers made it to the top with the heavenly groove of this gospel reggae funk. 'I'll Take You There' was written by Stax Records executive Al Bell after the funeral for his brother, who had been shot to death: "I went out in the backyard in my father's home. He had an old school bus there parked that was not running. I went back there and sat on the hood of that bus thinking about all that was happening. And all of a sudden, I hear this music in my head. And I heard these lyrics: 'I know a place, ain't nobody worried, ain't nobody crying, and ain't no smiling faces lying to the races, I'll take you there.' I heard it, and I heard the music. And it wouldn't leave, it stayed there. kept trying to write other verses, but I couldn't. Nothing worked - there was nothing left to say."
The Staples Singers were a family gospel group that had moved to soul and R&B. Father Roebuck "Pops" Staples and his children Cleotha, Pervis, Yvonne, and Mavis recorded the song for their album 'Be Altitude: Respect Yourself' at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama with the instrumental backing of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and the Memphis Horns which included David Hood on bass, Terry Manning on harmonica and lead guitar, Roger Hawkins on drums, Barry Beckett on electric piano, and Jimmy Johnson and Raymond Banks on guitar.
Bell produced the sessions: "Mavis couldn't get into it, she couldn't feel it, so I stood there on the floor and tried to sing it to the guys, as they got the music and they got into it. After getting it down, later on, I came back and sat with Mavis and, after a while, she started feeling it and giving in to that rhythm. Of course, she took it to heights that only a Mavis Staples can take it. Nobody else could do it justice, and I guess it was supposed to be that way."
'I'll Take You There' spent four weeks at the top of the R&B chart and one week at number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
Oh, mmm, I know a place
Ain't nobody cryin', ain't nobody worried
Ain't no smilin' faces, mmm, no no
Lyin' to the races, help me, come on, come on
Somebody, help me now (I'll take you there)
Help me, y'all (I'll take you there)
Help me now (I'll take you there)
Oh (I'll take you there)
Oh, oh, mercy (I'll take you there)
Oh, let me take you there (I'll take you there)
Oh, oh, let me take you there (I'll take you there)
Play your, play your piano now
All right, ah, do it, do it, come on now
Play on it, play on it, make daddy now
Daddy daddy daddy, play your
Ooh, Lord, all right now
Baby, little lady, easy now
Now, come on, little lady, all right
Sock it, sock it, ah, oh, oh
I know a place, y'all (I'll take you there)
Ain't nobody cryin' (I'll take you there)
Ain't nobody worried (I'll take you there)
No smilin' faces (I'll take you there)
Uh, uh (Lyin' to the races) (I'll take you there) Oh, no
Oh (I'll take you there)
Oh, oh, oh (I'll take you there)
Mercy now (I'll take you there)
I'm callin', callin', callin' for mercy (I'll take you there)
Mercy, mercy (I'll take you there)
Let me (I'll take you there)
Oh, oh I'll take you there (I'll take you there)
Oh, I wanna take you there (I'll take you there)
Just take me by the hand let me (I'll take you there)
Let me, let me, let me lead the way Oh (I'll take you there)
Let me take you there (I'll take you there)
Let me take you there (I'll take you there)
Ain't no smilin' faces (I'll take you there)
Up in here, lyin' to the races (I'll take you there)
You oughta, you gotta gotta
Come let me, let me (I'll take you there)
Take you, take you, take you over there (I'll take you there)
Ooh, oh, oh, all right (I'll take you there)
Oh, all right (I'll take you there)
Oh, oh (I'll take you there)
Ah, oh yeah (I'll take you there)
Oh yeah (I'll take you there)
Let me lead the way (I'll take you there)
Let me, let me, let me lead the way (I'll take you there)
(I'll take you there) Oh, mmm (I'll take you there)
You won't have to pay, oh, oh no
'The Liquidator' by the Harry J Allstars was used as a template for the intro to the song. Bassist David Hood recalls: "The Liquidator thing, we didn't know what that was. As I recall, he came in and brought what they call a dub. It was like an acetate or something, a disk that you put on the record player and play. And it had no lyrics on it. We just thought it was an instrumental track that somebody had done for a song. And it was only years later when I found out that that had been a record."
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