Last Night (Mar-Keys composition)

Last updated
"Last Night"
Single by The Mar-Keys
from the album Last Night!
B-side "Night Before"
ReleasedJune 1961 (1961-06)
Genre R&B, instrumental rock
Length2:35
Label Satellite
107
Songwriter(s)

"Last Night" is an instrumental recorded by The Mar-Keys. Released in 1961, the track appeared on Last Night!, the first LP released by the Stax label.

Contents

Background

The label of the single gives writing credit simply to "Mar-Keys"; it was registered with BMI as having been written by Charles Axton, Floyd Newman, Gilbert C. Caple, Jerry Lee Smith and Chips Moman.

The song is in a twelve-bar blues form, with brief stops, where Floyd Newman intones "Last Night" before his saxophone solo, which is followed by him exclaiming "Oh, yeah!" before the last three choruses, including the pauses, before the song's fade.

According to Steve Cropper, in an interview with Paul Nassari of the Sunday Mail newspaper, in Adelaide, Australia, "Jerry Lee ‘Smoochy’ Smith came up with the piano riff that was played on organ. Since [producer Chips] Moman didn't want a guitar on it for whatever reason, I wound up playing the hold-down on the organ on the root note. It hurts me in the Mar-Keys history when people say I wasn’t in the Mar-Keys because there’s no guitar on Last Night but I have to differ with them."[ citation needed ]

Chart performance

"Last Night" reached #3 Pop and #2 in the R&B charts in the United States. [1] In Canada, the song reached #21 on the CHUM Charts. [2]

Cover versions

Samples

Use in films, radio and television programs

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Booker T. & the M.G.'s</span> American R&B/funk band

Booker T. & the M.G.'s were an American instrumental, R&B, and funk band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1962. The band is considered influential in shaping the sound of Southern soul and Memphis soul. The original members of the group were Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper (guitar), Lewie Steinberg (bass), and Al Jackson Jr. (drums). In the 1960s, as members of the Mar-Keys, the rotating slate of musicians that served as the house band of Stax Records, they played on hundreds of recordings by artists including Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Bill Withers, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Johnnie Taylor, and Albert King. They also released instrumental records under their own name, including the 1962 hit single "Green Onions". As originators of the unique Stax sound, the group was one of the most prolific, respected, and imitated of its era.

Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Box Tops</span> American rock band

The Box Tops is an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee in 1967. They are best known for the hits "The Letter", "Cry Like a Baby", "Choo Choo Train," and "Soul Deep" and are considered a major blue-eyed soul group of the period. They performed a mixture of current soul music songs by artists such as James & Bobby Purify and Clifford Curry; pop tunes like "A Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harum; and songs written by their producers, Dan Penn, Spooner Oldham, and Chips Moman. Vocalist Alex Chilton later fronted the power pop band Big Star and launched a career as a solo artist. During that time he occasionally performed songs he had sung with the Box Tops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Cropper</span> American guitarist, songwriter, and record producer (born 1941)

Steven Lee Cropper, sometimes known as "The Colonel", is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, which backed artists such as Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas and Johnnie Taylor. He also acted as the producer of many of these records. He was later a member of the Blues Brothers band. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him 36th on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, while he has won two Grammy Awards from his seven nominations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suspicious Minds</span> 1968 single by Mark James

"Suspicious Minds" is a 1968 song written and first recorded by the American songwriter Mark James. After this recording failed commercially, it was recorded by Elvis Presley with the producer Chips Moman. Presley's version reached No.1 on the US Billboard Hot 100, his 18th and final no. 1 single on that chart. In 1999, Presley's RCA Victor Records version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Mar-Keys</span> American studio session band

The Mar-Keys, formed in 1958, were an American studio session band for Stax Records, in Memphis, Tennessee, in the 1960s. As the first house band for the label, their backing music formed the foundation for the early 1960s Stax sound.

Lincoln Wayne "Chips" Moman was an American record producer, guitarist, and songwriter. He is known for working in R&B, pop music and country music, operating American Sound Studios and producing hit albums like Elvis Presley's 1969 From Elvis in Memphis and the 1985 debut album for The Highwaymen. Moman won a Grammy Award for co-writing "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song", a 1975 hit for B.J. Thomas.

<i>Class of 55: Memphis Rock & Roll Homecoming</i> 1986 studio album by Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins

Class of '55: Memphis Rock & Roll Homecoming is a collaborative studio album by Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins. It was released on May 26, 1986, by America/Smash Records, a subsidiary of Polygram Records. The album was produced by Chips Moman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie Floyd</span> American soul-R&B singer and songwriter (born 1937)

Eddie Lee Floyd is an American R&B and soul singer and songwriter, best known for his work on the Stax record label in the 1960s and 1970s, including the No. 1 R&B hit song "Knock on Wood".

<i>From Elvis in Memphis</i> 1969 studio album by Elvis Presley

From Elvis in Memphis is the ninth studio album by American rock and roll singer Elvis Presley. It was released by RCA Records on June 2, 1969. It was recorded at American Sound Studio in Memphis in January and February 1969 under the direction of producer Chips Moman and backed by its house band, informally known as the Memphis Boys. Following the success of Presley's TV special Elvis and its soundtrack, the album marked Presley's return to non-soundtrack albums after the completion of his film contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).

<i>Highwayman 2</i> 1990 studio album by The Highwaymen

Highwayman 2 is the second studio album released by American country supergroup The Highwaymen. This album was released in 1990 on the Columbia Records label. Johnny Cash had left Columbia several years earlier, making this a "homecoming", and ultimately his final work for Columbia as the next Highwaymen album would be issued on another label.

"I'm in Love" is a song written by Bobby Womack. It was first recorded by Wilson Pickett in 1967, which gave him a top-ten R&B hit on Billboard's chart in 1968, peaking at number 4 as well as peaking at number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100.

"I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)" is a 1967 single released by American soul singer Aretha Franklin. Released on Atlantic Records as the first big hit of her career and the lead single from her tenth studio album of the same name, it became a defining song for Franklin, peaking at number one on the rhythm and blues charts and number nine on the pop charts. The B-side was "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man". Before this Franklin had placed only two Top 40 singles on the pop chart during her modest tenure with Columbia Records.

<i>Heroes</i> (Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings album) 1986 studio album by Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings

Heroes is a duet studio by American country music singers Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings, released on Columbia Records in 1986.

<i>WWII</i> (album) 1982 album by Waylon Jennings

WWII is a duet album by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, released on RCA Victor in 1982.

<i>From Nashville to Memphis: The Essential 60s Masters</i> 1993 box set by Elvis Presley

From Nashville to Memphis: The Essential '60s Masters is a five-disc box set compilation of studio master recordings by American singer and musician Elvis Presley during the decade of the 1960s; it was released in 1993 on RCA Records, catalogue number 66160-2. In its initial long-box release, it included a set of collectable stamps duplicating the record jackets of every Presley LP on RCA Victor, and those of the singles pertinent to this box set. The set also includes a booklet with an extensive session list and discography, as well as a lengthy essay by Peter Guralnick. It was certified Gold by the RIAA on November 30, 1993, and Platinum on January 6, 2004. This set followed an exhaustive box set of Presley's 1950s output and was followed by a collection of his soundtrack work a more selective box set of his work in the 1970s.

<i>Back to Back</i> (The Mar-Keys and Booker T. & the M.G.s album) 1967 live album by the Mar-Keys and Booker T. & the M.G.s

Back to Back is a live album by the Mar-Keys and Booker T & the M.G.'s, released on Stax Records in 1967. It features both groups playing live on the Stax/Volt package tour of Europe. The album peaked at number 98 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the United States.

<i>Suspicious Minds</i> (album) 1999 compilation album by Elvis Presley

Suspicious Minds: The Memphis 1969 Anthology is a two-disc compilation of Elvis Presley's studio recordings at American Sound Studio during the winter of 1969, released in 1999, RCA 67677-2. This set features all of the master recordings made by Presley that would eventually feature on multiple singles as well as the albums From Elvis in Memphis and the studio disk of From Memphis to Vegas/From Vegas to Memphis. Original recordings produced by Chips Moman and Felton Jarvis.

<i>Hold On, Im Comin</i> 1966 studio album by Sam and Dave

Hold On, I'm Comin' is the 1966 debut album by Atlantic Records soul duo Sam & Dave, issued on the Atlantic-distributed Stax label in 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Sound Studio</span> US recording studio (1967–1972) located at 827 Thomas Street in Memphis, Tennessee

The American Sound Studio was a recording studio located in Memphis, Tennessee which operated from 1964 to 1972. Founded by Chips Moman, the studio at 827 Thomas Street came to be known as American North, and the studio at 2272 Deadrick Street came to be known as American East or the Annex.

References

  1. Galloway, A. Scott (1994). Rock Instrumental Classics Volume 4: Soul (p. 14) [CD booklet]. Los Angeles: Rhino Records.
  2. "CHUM Hit Parade - July 31, 1961".
  3. Because Is in Your Mind , Discogs