"Footsteps in the Dark" | |
---|---|
Song by The Isley Brothers | |
from the album Go for Your Guns | |
A-side | "Groove with You" |
Released | 1977 |
Recorded | Bearsville Studios, Bearsville, New York |
Genre | |
Length | 5:07 |
Label | T-Neck |
Songwriter(s) | |
Producer(s) | The Isley Brothers |
"Footsteps in the Dark" is a 1977 slow jam recorded by The Isley Brothers as an album track featured on the group's album Go for Your Guns . [1] [2] [3] [4] It was the B-side to "Groove with You", which reached number 16 on the R&B singles chart. The song is noted for its unique guitar timbre which can be heard on other Isley Brother tracks such as "Voyage to Atlantis", as well as marking Ron Isley's growing transition into singing more ballads compared to the band's earlier funk approach.
Since the 1990s, it has been sampled in numerous other songs, predominantly in the R&B and hip hop genres.
Ernie Isley's playing on this track is heavily influenced by artists such as Jimi Hendrix, whose first recording session was actually with the Isley Brothers in 1964 with the track "Testify". [5]
Ernie Isley not only played guitar but also played drums and wrote the lyrics to "Footsteps in the Dark". The verse of the song is written in the key of D major.
Written, composed and arranged by The Isley Brothers
Co-produced by The Isley Brothers, Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff [6]
"Footsteps in the Dark" remains popular into the 21st century as a sample used in other songs, often edited to change its speed or pitch. Songs that use "Footsteps in the Dark" as a sample include: [7]
The song is featured in the 2008 video game Grand Theft Auto IV on the fictional R&B radio station "The Vibe 98.8".
The Isley Brothers are an American family musical group originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, that began as a vocal trio consisting of brothers O'Kelly "Kelly" Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley in the 1950s. With a career spanning over six decades, the group has enjoyed one of the "longest, most influential, and most diverse careers in the pantheon of popular music".
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