Skinny Legs and All (song)

Last updated
"Skinny Legs and All"
Single by Joe Tex
from the album Live and Lively
B-side "Watch the One (That Brings the Bad News)"
Released1967
Recorded1967
Studio American (Memphis, Tennessee)
Genre Soul, southern soul
Length3:10
Label Dial/Atlantic
Songwriter(s) Joe Tex
Producer(s) Buddy Killen
Joe Tex singles chronology
"Show Me"
(1967)		"Skinny Legs and All"
(1967)		"I'll Never Do You Wrong"
(1968)

"Skinny Legs and All" is a song composed and recorded by soul singer Joe Tex and released in 1967 on the Dial label in 1967. [1] The single was later featured on Tex's "live" album, Live and Lively a year later in 1968.

Contents

Background & recording

By 1967, Joe Tex had been recording for over a decade but started reaching his commercial peak in the mid-1960s with the releases of R&B hits such as "I Want To (Do Everything For You)", "A Sweet Woman Like You" and "Hold What You've Got", which became the first song in the Southern soul style to become a top five pop record. The three aforementioned records had also peaked at number-one on the R&B singles charts.

Tex was also known as an energetic live performer whose intense dancing was often compared to the likes of Jackie Wilson and James Brown. Two of his major trademarks, which Tex accused James Brown of stealing from him, was doing microphone stand kicks and adapting a cape, the latter of which Tex poked fun of during a rare joint headlining gig with both musicians, in which he covered Brown's hit "Please, Please, Please" but in the middle as his emcee dropped the cape on him, Tex yelled "please, please, please...get this cape off me!" which didn't go over well with Brown, who allegedly later shot at Tex and his entourage at a nightclub after the show. Luckily for Tex and his entourage, no one was injured. [2]

In 1967, Tex's producer Buddy Killen decided to record a "live show" of Tex's, which was actually cut at American Studios. Killen would later include a live audience to give it a feeling of an actual live show. One of the last songs Tex did was a novelty type of song he had composed on the spot titled "Skinny Legs and All" in which he poked fun at a man who was ignoring a woman he was with who apparently had skinny legs. Tex advised the woman to dump her lover because "someone out there will take you, Miss skinny legs and all". He later mocked a woman for similarly treating a man with "raggedy clothes" and advised the guy to do the same thing. Tex would later tell an interviewer in 1972 that he got the inspiration to write the song while in Alabama and noticing a man arguing with his wife who was reportedly skinny and holding two bags of groceries, which frustrated her husband, causing an argument. Joe said he said to himself about what he'd say to the woman, "‘Walk on baby’. If that man don’t want you in public someone else will." [3] During his early years with The Jackson 5, Michael Jackson, who later listed Tex as one of his idols, performed the song and often did it going into audiences and peeking under women's skirts on the behest of his father Joseph. [4]

Song performance & release

The song was released in the spring of that year and became a top ten hit on the pop charts, reaching #10 and later going gold. [5] It was Tex's biggest hit until the release of "I Gotcha" in 1972.

Chart performance

Chart (1967-68)Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100 10
US Best Selling R&B Singles (Billboard) [6] 2

Personnel

Notes

  1. ↑ "Joe Tex". Billboard .
  2. ↑ "Worst Band Feuds: No. 3". Spinner. September 14, 2007.
  3. ↑ "1967: Skinny legs and all - The World of Joe Tex" . Retrieved July 18, 2012.
  4. ↑ Pavia, Will (June 27, 2009). "A lonely life in reverse". The Independent . Retrieved October 9, 2009.
  5. ↑ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p.  183. ISBN   0-214-20512-6.
  6. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 574.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Brown</span> American musician (1933–2006)

James Joseph Brown was an American singer, dancer and musician. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by various nicknames, among them "King of Soul", "the Hardest-Working Man in Show Business", "Minister of New Super Heavy Funk", "Godfather of Soul", "Mr. Dynamite", and "Soul Brother No. 1". In a career that lasted more than 50 years, he influenced the development of several music genres. Brown was one of the first ten inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 23, 1986. His music has been heavily sampled by hip-hop musicians and other artists.

Bertrand Russell Berns, also known as Bert Russell and (occasionally) Russell Byrd, was an American songwriter and record producer of the 1960s. His songwriting credits include "Twist and Shout", "Piece of My Heart", "Here Comes the Night", "Hang on Sloopy", "Cry to Me" and "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love", and his productions include "Baby, Please Don't Go", "Brown Eyed Girl" and "Under the Boardwalk".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Tex</span> American singer and musician (1935–1982)

Yusuf Hazziez, known professionally as Joe Tex, was an American singer and musician who gained success in the 1960s and 1970s with his brand of Southern soul, which mixed the styles of funk, country, gospel, and rhythm and blues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lou Monte</span> Musical artist

Lou Monte was an Italian American singer best known for a number of best-selling, Italian-themed novelty records which he recorded for both RCA Victor and Reprise Records in the late 1950s and early 1960s, most famously "Lazy Mary" (1958) and the 1962/63 million-selling US single "Pepino the Italian Mouse", plus the seasonal track "Dominick the Donkey". He also recorded on Roulette Records, Jubilee Records, Regalia Records, Musicor Records, Laurie Records, and AFE Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hey Joe</span> 1962 song written and composed by Billy Roberts

"Hey Joe" is an American song from the 1960s that has become a rock standard and has been performed in many musical styles by hundreds of different artists. The lyrics tell of a man who is on the run and planning to head to Mexico after shooting his unfaithful wife. In 1962, Billy Roberts registered "Hey Joe" for copyright in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Please, Please, Please</span> 1956 single by James Brown and the Famous Flames

"Please, Please, Please" is a rhythm and blues song performed by James Brown and the Famous Flames. Written by Brown and Johnny Terry and released as a single on Federal Records in 1956, it reached No. 6 on the R&B charts. The group's debut recording and first chart hit, it has come to be recognized as their signature song.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reggie Young</span> American musician (1936–2019)

Reggie Grimes Young Jr. was an American musician who was lead guitarist in the American Sound Studio house band, The Memphis Boys, and was a leading session musician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Brown Jug (song)</span> Song

"Little Brown Jug" is a song written in 1869 by Joseph Eastburn Winner, originally published in Philadelphia with the author listed as Winner's middle name "Eastburn".

<i>Everybody Loves a Nut</i> 1966 studio album by Johnny Cash

Everybody Loves a Nut is the 23rd album by American country singer Johnny Cash, released by Columbia Records in the United States in 1966. The album consists largely of humorous novelty songs. The album's cover art was created by Jack Davis.

Claude "Curly" Putman Jr. was an American songwriter.

"I Shot Ya" is a song by American rapper LL Cool J featuring Keith Murray, from his sixth album Mr. Smith. The remix version, which featured Prodigy of Mobb Deep, Fat Joe, and Foxy Brown, of the song was released as a B-side to "Hey Lover", but received a video directed by Hype Williams, leading some to believe the track was an actual single from the album. Produced by Trackmasters, the remix was released in 1995 for Def Jam Recordings, and peaked at number 55 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs for the Billboard charts.

Dial Records was a Nashville-based soul label established by music promoter, publisher and producer Buddy Killen in 1961.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Famous Flames</span> American R&B vocal group

The Famous Flames were an American rhythm and blues, soul vocal group founded in Toccoa, Georgia, in 1953 by Bobby Byrd. James Brown first began his career as a member of the Famous Flames, emerging as the lead singer by the time of their first appearance in a professional recording, "Please, Please, Please", in 1956.

Paul Kelly is an American singer-songwriter. He is best known for the soul songs "Stealing in the Name of the Lord", which was a major hit in 1970, and "Hooked, Hogtied & Collared". He also wrote "Personally", which has been widely covered, and was a hit for soul singer Jackie Moore and singer-songwriter Karla Bonoff and country singer Ronnie McDowell. Other songs have been covered by gospel artists, including the Mighty Clouds of Joy and The Staple Singers.

"Oh Baby Don't You Weep" is a song recorded in 1964 by James Brown and The Famous Flames. Based upon the spiritual "Mary Don't You Weep", it was recorded as an extended-length track and released as the first two-part single of Brown's recording career. It peaked at #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at #4 on the Cash Box R&B Chart.. It was the last original song featuring the Famous Flames to chart, not counting the 1964 re-release of "Please, Please, Please" and the 1966 B-side release of the Live at the Apollo performance of "I'll Go Crazy".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Tex discography</span>

This article contains comprehensive discography information related to Joe Tex.

<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.

"Ain't Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman)" is a song composed by Joe Tex and Buddy Killen, and released by Tex as a single in December 1976, bringing the musician back to the top 40 of the US pop and R&B charts simultaneously for the first time since 1972's "I Gotcha". Tex used his aunt Bennie Lee McGinty's name as composer for tax reasons.

"Show Me" is a title track of the 1967 album by Joe Tex, who also wrote the song. The single was Joe Tex's fourteenth release to make the US R&B chart. "Show Me" went to #24 on the R&B chart and #35 on the Hot 100.

What's Buzzin' Buzzard? is a 1943 American animated short film directed by Tex Avery, produced by Fred Quimby, and musical score by Scott Bradley. The short pokes fun at the food shortages common at the time. The plot focuses on two turkey vultures struggling to find food in the desert. It was released to theaters on November 27, 1943 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Producer Fred Quimby disliked the cartoon but was surprised when it was put under the preservation in the Library of Congress. It is currently available on the Tex Avery Screwball Classics: Volume 1 Blu-Ray. The cartoon during production was under the title "Vulture A La King".

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.