External links
- https://secondhandsongs.com/work/58632 - list of cover versions
| "Just Out of Reach (of My Two Open Arms)" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Solomon Burke | ||||
| B-side | "Be Bop Grandma" | |||
| Released | August 3, 1961 | |||
| Recorded | December 13, 1960 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 2:35 | |||
| Label | Atlantic | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Virgil "Pappy" Stewart | |||
| Producer(s) | Jerry Wexler | |||
| Solomon Burke singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Just Out of Reach (of My Two Open Arms)" (sometimes rendered as "Just Out of Reach (of My Two Empty Arms)") is a country song written by Virgil "Pappy" Stewart and originally recorded by his band, The Stewart Family, in 1951. It was a minor country hit for Faron Young in 1952, reaching #10 on the country charts and was also recorded by Patsy Cline and Percy Sledge and many others. The most successful version was recorded by singer Solomon Burke as his second single from Atlantic Records in 1961, becoming Burke's first hit single.
When Burke arrived for his first recording session at the Atlantic Records studio at 1841 Broadway in New York City on December 13, 1960, [2] he was given four songs, including his first Atlantic release, "Keep the Magic Working", which was a flop [3] and "Just Out Of Reach (of My Two Empty Arms)", [4] a cover of a country song written and recorded by Virgil "Pappy" Stewart, [5] [6] that had been a minor hit for Faron Young in 1953 (#10 C&W), [7] and later for Patsy Cline.
Burke figured this did not portend a long future with Wexler and Atlantic: "Here’s the greatest R&B label in the world, and they give me country songs to sing. What are they trying to tell me?." [4] In 2005 Burke recalled: "I started out as a cowboy on Atlantic Records – without a horse! I was the only singing cowboy with a corned-beef-and-pastrami sandwich on white with mayonnaise." [8] Despite his reservations, Burke, "accompanied by smooth backing vocals and an arrangement equal parts Nashville and Nat King Cole, gave it his best." [4] Burke: "I like country music but I don't think it was deliberate. I think it was something we just accidentally happened onto. By my being versatile. By my being able to sing different songs – being able to change my tone quality, having the different octaves. You must remember, I was capable of singing anything." Burke recalled: "They weren’t happy with my rendition, because I felt I had to talk. We did it several times and I kept talking on the record. Mr. Wexler said 'I don’t think that’s gonna work'. At that time Mr. Paul Ackerman and others said 'leave it in. We don’t know what we’re doing anyway. This is something new we’re trying. No black artist has ever done country music before, so let’s see what’s gonna happen'. That was the turning point of my career – after that, international artist worldwide." When recalling Burke's first recording session at Atlantic, Wexler added in 2002: "There was a blizzard the morning we were to do the first recording session with Solomon and I didn't know if I would be able to get into New York. The trains weren't running, but I made it in that morning and there was Solomon, who had come up from Philadelphia. We did four songs in three hours, including 'Just Out of Reach'. After we finished recording, I went into the control room to listen to the playback. I looked around for Solomon, but he was heading out the door. He said he had to get back to Philadelphia while it was still light because he had a job shoveling snow. I think he was getting paid $3.50 an hour. He already had something like eight kids." [9] According to Tony Cummings, "Despite the use of a different arranger at each session Solomon conquered all. His rich, vibrant, baritone voice brought the full majesty of the gospel tradition to a series of intense, moody ballads and laid down the solid groundwork of the soon-to-follow soul music explosion. [10]
Released August 3, 1961, [11] after the earlier uncharted release of "Keep the Magic Working" b/w "How Many Times?" (Atlantic 2089), [2] "Just Out of Reach (of My Two Open Arms)" (Atlantic 2114) was Burke's first hit, selling over a million copies, [12] and subsequently spent 19 weeks on the R&B charts while climbing to No. 7, as well as crossing over into the pop top 40, reaching No. 24 on November 20, 1961. [13] [14]
Concert promoters in Mississippi, South Carolina, and Alabama, who were unaware that Burke was an African American, accidentally booked him to sing at Ku Klux Klan picnics and rallies, with up to 30,000 hooded Klansmen in attendance. [15] [16] [17] In a 2002 interview Burke recalled: "Way down in the South somewhere, I showed up and the promoter said to me, "Is Solomon Burke here yet?" I said, "Yeah, I'm right here." His eyes grow wide and he walks away. The guy comes back with the sheriff and he says, "Boy, don't play games. Show me some I.D." So he looks at it and pulls the promoter aside and says, "You got a problem. You can't let him go out there." So they called the doctor and had him cover my face in bandages and made it look like I had an accident. That's how I performed that night." [15] [18]
The song was credited as "fundamental to the emergence of soul music", [19] was "especially well received down South", [20] "successfully appealed to white consumers by using tidy tone quality, minimal improvisation, and standard, middle-American dialect", "instantly established Burke as a huge presence ... [and] "also introduced Burke's slightly country-tinged voice that melded R&B and country music and set the template that Ray Charles would follow the next year with his classic Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music ." [21] Burke "summed up the underlying connection between the musics of the black and white South: 'Gospel is the truth. And country music is the truth.'" [22] In 2003 Burke's recording of "Just Out of Reach" was ranked No. 223 on a list of country music's 500 greatest singles. [23]
Burke's version of the song was ranked number 785 among the greatest singles ever made in Dave Marsh's book The Heart of Rock & Soul (1989). [24]
Atlantic Recording Corporation is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recordings in January 1948, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most important American labels, specializing in jazz, R&B, and soul by Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave, Ruth Brown and Otis Redding. Its position was greatly improved by its distribution deal with Stax. In 1967, Atlantic became a wholly owned subsidiary of Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, now the Warner Music Group, and expanded into rock and pop music with releases by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Led Zeppelin, and Yes.
Solomon Vincent McDonald Burke was an American singer who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues as one of the founding fathers of soul music in the 1960s. He has been called "a key transitional figure bridging R&B and soul", and was known for his "prodigious output".
Sam & Dave were an American soul and R&B duo who performed together from 1961 until 1981. The tenor (higher) voice was Sam Moore and the baritone/tenor (lower) voice was Dave Prater (1937–1988).
"Pledging My Love" is a blues ballad. It was written by Ferdinand Washington and Don Robey and published in 1954.
"Here Comes the Night" is a 1964 song, written by Bert Berns. It became a hit for Northern Irish band Them, fronted by Van Morrison, in March 1965, charting at No. 2 in the UK and No. 24 in the US. Them's single is listed at either No. 33 or No. 36 in the Top 100 best-selling UK singles during the calendar year 1965, depending on source.
"It's All in the Game" is a pop song whose most successful version was recorded by Tommy Edwards in 1958. Carl Sigman composed the lyrics in 1951 to a wordless 1911 composition titled "Melody in A Major", written by Charles G. Dawes, who was later Vice President of the United States under Calvin Coolidge. It is the only No. 1 single in the U.S. to have been co-written by a U.S. Vice President or a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
"By the Time I Get to Phoenix" is a song written by Jimmy Webb. Originally recorded by Johnny Rivers in 1965, it was reinterpreted by American country music singer Glen Campbell on his album of the same name. Released on Capitol Records in 1967, Campbell's version topped RPM's Canada Country Tracks, reached number two on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart, and won two awards at the 10th Annual Grammys. Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) named it the third most performed song from 1940 to 1990. The song was ranked number 20 on BMI's Top 100 Songs of the Century. Frank Sinatra called it "the greatest torch song ever written." It was No. 450 on Rolling Stone magazine's Top 500 Songs of All Time.
"Good Lovin'" is a song written by Rudy Clark and Arthur Resnick that was a #1 hit single for the Young Rascals in 1966.
"Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" is a song written by Bert Berns, Solomon Burke, and Jerry Wexler, and originally recorded by Burke under the production of Berns at Atlantic Records in 1964. Burke's version charted in 1964, but missed the US top 40, peaking at number 58.
"Since I Met You Baby" is an American rhythm and blues song written and recorded by pianist Ivory Joe Hunter. The song, which Hunter recorded in 1956, became an American standard, and saw renewed popularity in 1969 when country music artist Sonny James released his hit version.
"Tighten Up" is a 1968 song by Houston, Texas–based R&B vocal group Archie Bell & the Drells. It reached No.1 on both the Billboard R&B and pop charts in the spring of 1968. It is ranked No.265 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and is one of the earliest funk hits in music history.
"Detroit City" is a song written by Danny Dill and Mel Tillis, made famous by Billy Grammer, country music singer Bobby Bare and Tom Jones. Bare's version was released in 1963. The song — sometimes known as "I Wanna Go Home" — was Bare's first Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart that summer, and became a country music standard.
"Cry to Me" is a song written by Bert Berns and first recorded by American soul singer Solomon Burke in 1961. Released in 1962, it was Burke's second single to appear in both Billboard magazine's Hot R&B Sides and Hot 100 singles charts. On March 20, 1962, Burke performed "Cry to Me" on American Bandstand.
"Baby Let's Play House" is a song written and originally recorded by Arthur Gunter in 1954 on the Excello Records label, and covered by Elvis Presley the following year on Sun Records. A line from the song was borrowed by John Lennon for his Beatles song "Run for Your Life", released on Rubber Soul in 1965.
"I Gotta Dance to Keep from Crying" is a 1963 hit by the Miracles on Motown's Tamla label. It was written and produced by Motown's main songwriting team, Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland.
"Rock Steady" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Aretha Franklin, released in October 1971 from her eighteenth album, Young, Gifted and Black (1972). The single reached the #9 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 charts that same year. It also peaked at #2 on the Best Selling Soul Singles chart. The original A-side, a rendition of the song "Oh Me Oh My ", peaked at #73 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #9 on the Best Selling Soul Singles chart.
"Tramp" is a soul blues song with funk elements, written by West Coast blues artists Lowell Fulson and Jimmy McCracklin. First recorded by Fulson in 1967, it was his highest-charting single since "Reconsider Baby" in 1954. It reached #56 in Canada. The song was covered by Otis Redding in a duet with Carla Thomas, and this version reached No. 2 on Billboard R&B chart.
Rock 'N Soul is a 1964 studio album by Grammy Award winning musician Solomon Burke. The album contained seven top 100 hits. Originally released on LP on Atlantic Records, #8096, in July 1964, it was subsequently reissued in March, 1997, on the Sequel Records imprint, #RSACD 861. The album was also reissued in 1998 on the Collectables Records label in conjunction with a June, 1963, Burke album as If You Need Me/Rock 'n' Soul.
"You're So Fine" is the title of a popular song performed by The Falcons.
"If You Need Me" is a 1963 song co-written and originally recorded by Wilson Pickett. It was made into a bigger hit by Solomon Burke, who sent the song to #2 on the R&B charts that year.
