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This has got to be one of my all time favorite songs from the Sixites period. It was also one of my Dad’s favorites. I have no clue what it is about it that just clicked for us both, but it did then and still does for me.
As much as I loved the tune I never knew it was a Blue Eyed Soul cut until just a few years ago thanks to the Internet. Check out the official site of the Original O’Kaysions for a short biography.
Written by Ronald Killette and band member Wayne Pittman, this single by the North Carolina group, charted #6 R&B and #5 Pop in 1968 for ABC Records.
Trivia: The group, known as The Kays in 1967, has previously recorded this song for a local label in North Carolina before joining ABC Records and changing their name to The O’Kaysions.
This tune turned gospel on it’s head back in the day!
I grew up on traditional gospel quartet music. My Dad (RIP) performed in a gospel quartet during most of my adolescence, so after attending Sunday School and then church on Sunday, me and my step-mom and step-sister loaded up in the Caddy and “went to the programs”. We stayed out all day and I slept like a log on Sunday night after getting home late. It was almost impossible for my Grandma (RIP) to get me up out of bed for school on Monday mornings. I was always sleepy in school on those Mondays after the “programs”, but still I insisted on going. It was fun!
But that was the sixties. Things were getting funkier in R&B in the seventies and ultimately Disco ruled. Just when I turned 21, The Mighty Clouds became the first to bring bass, drum and keyboards into gospel music and the middle aged Christians were aghast. But luckily my parents were pretty “Hip” musically and embraced this new contemporary gospel sound. In fact my Dad had purchased the LP “Kickin”, that contained the hit song “Mighty High, before I did.” In fact he turned me onto the song!
Disco Diva Gloria Gaynor even covered the song and The Mighty Clouds even performed the tune on Soul Train. Now that’s what I call real “crossover”!
The Clouds are still going strong and released a new CD this year (2007) .
NOTE: I was doing some blog maintenance tonight (6/7/2009) and saw that the user removed his/her video from YouTube that was originally in this post (wonder why there is so much reneging on music sharing at YouTube?) Anyway, I found another performance of the song by the Mighty Clouds. This version has them singing live. The sound isn’t as clear as the first was, but you get the essence of the song. Please enjoy and lets hope this version lasts longer that the first version. SonDan
Check out the official site of the Original O’Kaysions for a short biography.
