Song writer, singer and session musician Joe Souter, known professionally as Joe South, had written and played on many hits for other artists — but his composition “Games People Play” was his first chart topping hit at #12 on the Billboard Top 100: plus it won him not one but two Grammys as songwriter!
The 1969 Grammy for Song of the Year went to “Games People Play” written by Joe South.
The 1969 Grammy for Best Contemporary Song went to “Games People Play written by Joe South
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Last but not least the 1969 Grammy for Best R&B Instrumental Performance went to “Games People Play” performed by King Curtis. Curtis, Born Curtis Ousley, was both a renowned soloist and session musician on his tenor sax.
So there you have it — one awesome song and three Grammy wins!
Trivia: South was inspired to write this award winning song by Dr. Eric Berne’s 19 book “Games People Play:
The psychology of human relationships”
More Trivia: King Curtis and Duane Allman were both session players and great friends. They played together often and both Curtis and Allman are playing in the GPP track above.
[audio http://boxstr.com/files/3246822_tykke/Hold%20It%20Right%20There.mp3] Ramsey Lewis Trio – Hold It Right There [1966]
As promised this song was the third R&B Grammy given out in 1966. “Hold It Right There”, as recorded by The Ramsey Lewis Trio, won in the newly created category Best Rhythm and Blues Group, Vocal or Instrumental 1966
This was the second Grammy in a row for The Ramsey Lewis Trio. The Trio had won the 1965 Best Jazz Performance – Small Group or Soloist with Small group for “The In Crowd”: Check out my earlier post to hear the song.
“Hold it Right There”, composed by Richard Evans, came from that smash LP “Wade in the Water”. The title song, IMHO, was the best cut on that LP. I find it odd that the title song did not win the Grammy Award, but Grammy is a wierd animal.
The “WITW” LP went #2 Billboard R&B and #16 Billboard Pop. I vividly recall it being played just about everywhere I went in my community in 1996.
Its also bit odd that this song won In the R&B category since it is performed in Mr. Lewis’ traditional Jazz/pop style. But as I have said before, the Grammys took a long while to get it right and it still isn’t all that it can and should be. I think that is why so many other music awards shows eventually sprang up – to try to correct the perceived wrongs of the Grammy Academy.
Please keep the oldies alive and thank you for visiting.
Let’s welcome in the last month of summer, August, on this bright and beautiful Friday morning.
I think I will stick with changing the musical theme monthly for a while longer on this blog, and this month I will be concentrating on “Grammy Gold” — specifically the R&B category since the last few months have been Pop oriented.
There are many, many music awards now in the 21st century, but the first was The Grammy! As defined at the Official Grammy.com web site:
“The recording industry’s most prestigious award, the GRAMMY, is presented annually by The Recording Academy. A GRAMMY is awarded by The Recording Academy’s voting membership to honor excellence in the recording arts and sciences. It is truly a peer honor, awarded by and to artists and technical professionals for artistic or technical achievement, not sales or chart positions (GRAMMY Awards Process). The annual GRAMMY Awards presentation brings together thousands of creative and technical professionals in the recording industry from all over the world.”
The first Grammy Awards were presented by The Recording Academy in 1958. There was only ONE category for R&B music and that was Best Rhythm and Blues Performance of 1958 with the Grammy going to the performing artist. The first winner was “Tequila” as performed by The Champs. Yes I know you are saying the same thing I am — “Shouldn’t this have been in the instrumental pop category?” or “Isn’t this Mexican Rock and not R&B?”
Well no matter what we may think in 2008 — the Academy called it R&B fifty years ago in 1958. Guess they got off to a somewhat rocky start. Eh?
[audio http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/1653152_im0a3/03.Tequila-Champs.mp3] The Champs – Tequila [1958]
The Champs were an instrumental Latin/R&B quintet formed in Los Angeles in 1957 made up of Challenge Records executive Dave Burgess on guitar and session players Buddy Bruce on guitar, Chuck Rio (born Daniel Flores) on saxophone, Cliff Hills on bass, and Gene Alden on drums.
Tequila was the B-site for The Champs single release “Train To Nowhere” for the label Challenge Records.
Personally I never heard the A-side but we all know that the B-side went on to top both the Pop and R&B charts in 1958 at #1and stayed there for 19 weeks! This song was written in the studio, by Chuck Rio, after the A-side was recorded and the players realized they needed something to put on the other side of the record. Shouting “Tequila” was just to fill up the “gaps” in the musical sequences.
After 1958 the group had many personnel changes and never a hit as big as “Tequila”. You may read more detail about the group’s transitions over the years at “The Champs (1958-1965) Page” and “The History of Rock.com”
[audio http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/1021578_djut0/rFateToTheWind-VinceGuaraldi.mp3] Cast Your Fate To The Wind – Vince Guaraldi Trio (1962) “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” is an American pop standard written by Vince Guaraldi, which won a Grammy Award for Best Original Jazz Composition in 1963. The song has been extensively covered, often by easy listening groups such as Sounds Orchestral [...]
[audio http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/1021580_9yj8d/eodato-AlsoSprachZarathustra.mp3] Also Sprach Zarathustra – Deodato (1972) Also Sprach Zarathustra, op. 30 is a tone poem by Richard Strauss, composed in 1896 and inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche’s book Also sprach Zarathustra. The composer conducted its first performance in Frankfurt. The introduction is one of the most recognisable pieces of music ever written, mainly because [...]
[audio http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/1021577_7x1qp/14.StarWarsTheme-Meco.mp3] – Meco – Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band Great song from a movie that I have never seen before. Sure I am probably the only one in the world who has never seen it, but it just goes to show you I am an Independent Woman that does not follow the crowd! Now this [...]
[audio http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/999163_i6hth/allAdderly-Mercy_Mercy_Mercy.mp3] Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! – Cannonball Adderley Quintet (1966) This live recorded set, released in 1966 as “Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Live at ‘The Club’” by Cannonball Adderley Quintet, became the 1967 Grammy winner for Best Instrumental Jazz Performance, Small Group or Soloist with Small Group. The group musicians were: Cannonball Adderley – Alto saxophone, [...]
