Soul Finger

Single infobox
Name = Soul Finger


Caption =
Type =
Artist = The Bar-Kays
B-side = "Knucklehead"
alt Artist =
Album =
Published =
Released = April 14, 1967
track_no =
Recorded = 1967
Genre =
Length = 2:18
Writer = Jimmy King
Phalon Jones
Carl Cunningham
Ben Cauley
Ronnie Caldwell
James Alexander
Composer =
Label = Stax Records
Producer =
Chart position = US #17 (1967), US R&B #3 (1967)
Misc =

"Soul Finger" was the first single released by R&B group The Bar-Kays. It was issued on Stax Records on April 14, 1967.

The song was written by the Bar-Kays while they were rehearsing with Norman West, doing a cover of J.J. Jackson's "But It's Alright".Liner notes to "The Complete Stax/Volt Singles, 1959-1968". Atlantic, 1991, p. 31.] It begins with the melody to the popular children's song "Mary Had a Little Lamb", and then cuts into the main riff, punctuated with a high trumpet vibrato. It features a chorus of neighborhood children who had been loitering outside the recording studio; they were instructed to shout the words "Soul Finger!" and were paid with Coca-Colas. The idea for the title and the shouts had come from Stax songwriters Isaac Hayes and David Porter.

"Soul Finger" was a hit in the United States, and peaked at #3 on the U.S. Billboard Black Singles chart and #17 on the Billboard Hot 100. [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:wcfuxqe5ld6e~T51 Billboard Singles] , Allmusic] The B-side to the single was "Knucklehead", written by Booker T. Jones and Steve Cropper. "Knucklehead" charted at #28 on the Black Singles chart and #76 on the Hot 100. "Soul Finger" and "Knucklehead" were the first two tracks of the Bar-Kays' first LP, "Soul Finger". [ [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:hifoxql5ldje Review of "Soul Finger"] , Allmusic]

The song was featured prominently in a scene from the 1985 film "Spies Like Us" during a scene in which Soviet missile control personnel hold a party. It also appears in the 2007 film "Superbad".

References