You Gotta Move (song)

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"You Got to Move"
Song by Mississippi Fred McDowell
from the album You Gotta Move
Released1965 (1965)
RecordedBerkeley, California, July 5, 1965
Genre Hill country blues
Label Arhoolie
Songwriter(s) Unknown
Producer(s) Chris Strachwitz

"You Gotta Move" is a traditional African-American spiritual song. Since the 1940s, the song has been recorded by a variety of gospel musicians, usually as "You Got to Move" or "You've Got to Move". It was later popularized with blues and blues rock secular adaptations by Mississippi Fred McDowell and the Rolling Stones.

Contents

Early gospel songs

The Two Gospel Keys recorded "You've Got to Move", which was released on a 78-rpm record in 1948. [1] Emma Daniels (vocals and guitar) and Mother Sally Jones (vocals and tambourine) comprised the gospel music duo. [2] Similar renditions followed by Elder Charles D. Beck (1949), [3] Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1950), [4] the Original Five Blind Boys of Alabama (1953), [5] and the Hightower Brothers (1956). [6]

Reverend Gary Davis recorded the song in 1962; [7] his lyrics include: [8]

You may run, can't be caught
You may hide, can't be found
Brother when God gets ready, you got to move

Later renditions

In 1964, soul singer Sam Cooke recast the song with lyrics about a broken relationship for his 1963 album Night Beat . [lower-alpha 1] Cash Box described it as having "top shuffle-rhythm blues sounds." [9] In 1965, Mississippi bluesman Fred McDowell recorded it as a slow, slide guitar hill country blues solo piece. The song generally follows a seven-bar or an eight-bar blues arrangement and has been compared to "Sitting on Top of the World". [10] McDowell uses lyrics closer to Davis' 1962 rendition, [10] but adds a haunting slide guitar line that doubles the vocal. [11] A verse from the song is inscribed on his headstone: [12]

You may be high, you may be low
You may be rich child, you may be poor
But when the Lord gets ready, you got to move

In Internet culture

McDowell's version has been used for several offensive memes themed around field slavery and sharecropping, mainly on TikTok. These memes are usually tagged with phrases such as "field negro" and "Jamal did it". Some of these memes have received criticism from several users for promoting racism. [13]

The Rolling Stones version

"You Gotta Move"
Song by the Rolling Stones
from the album Sticky Fingers
ReleasedApril 23, 1971 (1971-04-23)
Recorded1969–1970
Genre Blues rock
Length2:32
Label Rolling Stones
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s) Jimmy Miller

McDowell's rendition inspired many subsequent recordings, including a version by the Rolling Stones. The Stones regularly performed "You Gotta Move" during their 1969 US tour. They recorded a version at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Alabama in December 1969, with later recording in England in 1970. It was later included on their 1971 album Sticky Fingers without a songwriter's credit. Later reissues listed the authors as McDowell and Gary Davis.

Mick Jagger sings the song in a Southern black dialect, with Mick Taylor's electric slide-guitar accompaniment. [11] In an interview originally published in Guitar Player , Taylor said he used a Fender Telecaster for the slide part and a 12-string guitar. He explained that Keith Richards played a National guitar, though Taylor could not remember which one Richards used –the all-steel one or the "really great, beautiful guitar ... made of wood and metal." [14]

Two different concert versions are included as bonus tracks on the group's Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! (1970) album and another on Love You Live (1977). The latter features Billy Preston, who had played when he was 16 years old on Sam Cooke's 1963 version. [15] [lower-alpha 2]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ In 1934, Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy recorded the two-part "You Got to Move (You Ain't Got to Move)", which deals with a broken relationship.[ citation needed ]
  2. ↑ Sam Cooke's Night Beat album also contains an updated "Little Red Rooster" along with "You Got to Move", both songs which the Rolling Stones later recorded closer to the original/blues versions.

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References

  1. ↑ "Advance Record releases". Billboard . Vol. 60, no. 2. January 10, 1948. p. 29. ISSN   0006-2510.
  2. ↑ Wade, Stephen (2012). The Beautiful Music All Around Us: Field Recordings and the American Experience. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. p. 184. ISBN   978-0252094002.
  3. ↑ "Advance Record Releases". Billboard . Vol. 61, no. 20. May 14, 1949. p. 127. ISSN   0006-2510.
  4. ↑ "Sister Rosetta Tharpe". Coda . Vol. 7, no. 5–12. 1966. p. 9. ISSN   0010-017X.
  5. ↑ Nations, Opal. "Oh Lord, Stand by Me". AllMusic . Retrieved March 6, 2015.
  6. ↑ "The Hightower Brothers". Blues Unlimited . Vol. 142–146. 1982. p. 37.
  7. ↑ "Singles Reviews". Billboard . Vol. 74, no. 42. October 20, 1962. p. 44. ISSN   0006-2510.
  8. ↑ Phillips, Bill (1974). "Piedmont Country Blues". America's Best Music. The Institute for Southern Studies. p. 59.
  9. ↑ "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. October 19, 1963. p. 12. Retrieved 2022-01-12.
  10. 1 2 Sing Out (1969). "You Got to Move". Sing Out! . p. 12. ISSN   0037-5624.
  11. 1 2 Koda, Cub. "Mississippi Fred McDowell – Biography". AllMusic . Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  12. ↑ Cheseborough, Steve (2004). Blues Traveling: The Holy Sites of Delta Blues. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi. p. 216. ISBN   978-1578066506.
  13. ↑ "The true story behind TikTok's 'Jamal did it' meme and how it turned controversial". The Tab. 2022-10-25. Retrieved 2023-11-08.
  14. ↑ Obrecht, Jas (October 16, 2011) [June 22, 1979]. "Mick Taylor on the Rolling Stones, John Mayall, and Playing Guitar: interview". Jas Obrecht Music Archive. Retrieved January 23, 2020.
  15. ↑ The RCA Albums Collection (liner notes). Sam Cooke. US: RCA Records/Legacy Recordings. 2011. 88697898702.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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