Song, written by Arthur Conley and Otis Redding. First released by Arthur Conley in 1967. The song is based on the Sam Cooke song ‘Yeah Man’ from his posthumous album ‘Shake’; the opening riff is a quote from Elmer Bernstein’s score for the 1960 movie The Magnificent Seven.
In the USA, ‘Sweet Soul Music’ reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In the UK singles chart, the song reached number 7.
J. W. Alexander, Cooke’s business partner, sued both Redding and Conley for appropriating the melody. A settlement was reached in which Cooke’s name was added to the writer credits, and Redding agreed to record some songs in the future from Kags Music, a Cooke–Alexander enterprise.
In 1977, Kate Bush and the KT Bush Band used ‘Sweet Soul Music’ as the opening song for their live sets in while they played in and around London.
References
- Sweet Soul Music. Wikipedia, retrieved 22 November 2023.