Groove Me

"Groove Me"
Single by King Floyd
from the album King Floyd
A-side	"What Our Love Needs"
B-side	"Groove Me"
Released	September 1970 [1]
Recorded	1970, Malaco Records Studio Jackson, Mississippi
Genre	R&B funk [2] pop [3]
Length	3:04
Label	Chimneyville, Atlantic
Songwriter(s)	King Floyd
Producer(s)	Wardell Quezergue
King Floyd singles chronology
"What Our Love Needs" (1970) "Groove Me" (1970) "Baby Let Me Kiss You" (1971)

"Groove Me" is a song written and recorded by R&B singer King Floyd. Released from his eponymous album in late 1970, it was a crossover hit, spending four non-consecutive weeks at number-one on Billboard Soul chart and peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. ^[4] In Canada the song reached No. 11. ^[5]

The song was recorded and produced by Wardell Quezergue at Malaco Records' Jackson, Mississippi recording studios during the same session as another Quezergue-produced song, Jean Knight's "Mr. Big Stuff". ^[6] "Groove Me" was originally released as the B-side to Floyd's "What Our Love Needs" on the Malaco subsidiary Chimneyville. When New Orleans disc jockey George Vinnett started playing the B-side, the song began meriting attention, and as the record emerged as a local smash, Atlantic Records scooped up national distribution rights. ^[6]

Personnel

No credits are listed for the Malaco studio musicians on the record. According to Rob Bowman's liner notes from the 1999 box set, The Last Soul Company: Malaco, A Thirty Year Retrospective, the musicians for this session included:

• Jimmy Honeycutt – saxophone
• Bob Cheesman – trumpet
• Wardell Quezergue – organ
• Jerry Puckett – guitar
• Vernie Robbins – bass
• James Stroud – drums

During this time at Malaco, horn lines were typically played by saxophonist Hugh Garraway and trumpeter Perry Lomax. ^[7]

Origin

According to Rob Bowman, Canadian professor of ethnomusicology, "Groove Me" had been inspired by a young college student who had worked about twenty feet away from Floyd at an east L.A. box factory. In Floyd's words: "She'd just watch me and smile at me all day. When I went to the water fountain, she would make it her purpose to come up to the water fountain. But, I was so shy. So, I decided one day that I was gonna write this poem and give it to her and I wrote 'Groove Me.' Believe it or not, after I finished it she never came back to work. It blew me away. So, I never gave her the poem. Man, I'd sure like to meet her one day just to thank her!" ^[7]

Cover versions

• The Blues Brothers covered the song in their hit 1978 album Briefcase Full of Blues , giving the song a Jamaican reggae feel.
• In 1979, Fern Kinney, who sang backing vocals on King Floyd's original version, released a disco version of the song on her album Groove Me, which reached No. 6 on the Billboard dance chart. ^[8] In Canada the song reached No. 20. ^[9]
• In 2002, Angie Stone covered the song in the soundtrack for the movie Austin Powers in Goldmember.

References

1. "King Floyd - What Our Love Needs". 45cat.com. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
2. Letsch, Glenn (2005). R & B Bass. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 24–25. ISBN   0634073702 . Retrieved August 6, 2013.
3. Smith, Danyel (19 April 2022). "Intro". Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop. Rock Lit 101. p. x. ISBN   978-0-593-13271-5.
4. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 209.
5. "RPM Top 100 Singles - February 13, 1971" (PDF).
6. "King Floyd - Biography". Billboard. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
7. Bowman, Rob (1999). "Malaco Records: The Last Soul Company" (PDF). Peermusic.com. p. 17. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
8. "Billboard". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 8 September 1979. p.  48 . Retrieved 28 February 2024– via Internet Archive.
9. "RPM Dance Music - November 3, 1979" (PDF).