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Groove Me

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"Groove Me"
Single by King Floyd
from the album King Floyd
A-side"What Our Love Needs"
B-side"Groove Me"
ReleasedSeptember 1970[1]
Recorded1970, Malaco Records Studio
Jackson, Mississippi
Genre
Length3:04
LabelChimneyville, Atlantic
Songwriter(s)King Floyd
Producer(s)Wardell Quezergue
King Floyd singles chronology
"What Our Love Needs"
(1970)
"Groove Me"
(1970)
"Baby Let Me Kiss You"
(1971)

"Groove Me" is a song recorded by R&B singer King Floyd. Released from his eponymous album in late 1970, it was a crossover hit, spending four non-consecutive weeks at number-one on Billboard Soul chart and peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.[4] In Canada the song reached No. 11.[5]

The song was recorded and produced by Wardell Quezergue at Malaco Records' Jackson, Mississippi recording studios during the same session as another Quezergue-produced song, Jean Knight's "Mr. Big Stuff".[6] "Groove Me" was originally released as the B-side to Floyd's "What Our Love Needs" on the Malaco subsidiary Chimneyville. When New Orleans disc jockey George Vinnett started playing the B-side, the song began meriting attention, and as the record emerged as a local smash, Atlantic Records scooped up national distribution rights.[6]

Personnel

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No credits are listed for the Malaco studio musicians on the record. According to Rob Bowman's liner notes from the 1999 box set, The Last Soul Company: Malaco, A Thirty Year Retrospective, the musicians for this session included:

  • Jimmy Honeycutt – saxophone
  • Bob Cheesman – trumpet
  • Wardell Quezergue – organ
  • Jerry Puckett – guitar
  • Vernie Robbins – bass
  • James Stroud – drums

During this time at Malaco, horn lines were typically played by saxophonist Hugh Garraway and trumpeter Perry Lomax.[7]

Origin

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According to Rob Bowman, Canadian professor of ethnomusicology, "Groove Me" had been inspired by a young college student who had worked about twenty feet away from Floyd at an east L.A. box factory. In Floyd's words: "She'd just watch me and smile at me all day. When I went to the water fountain, she would make it her purpose to come up to the water fountain. But, I was so shy. So, I decided one day that I was gonna write this poem and give it to her and I wrote 'Groove Me.' Believe it or not, after I finished it she never came back to work. It blew me away. So, I never gave her the poem. Man, I'd sure like to meet her one day just to thank her!"[7]

Cover versions

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  • The Blues Brothers covered the song in their hit 1978 album Briefcase Full of Blues, giving the song a Jamaican reggae feel.
  • In 1979, Fern Kinney, who sang backing vocals on King Floyd's original version, released a disco version of the song on her album Groove Me, which reached No. 6 on the Billboard dance chart.[8] In Canada the song reached No. 20.[9]

References

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  1. ^ "King Floyd - What Our Love Needs". 45cat.com. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  2. ^ Letsch, Glenn (2005). R & B Bass. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 24–25. ISBN 0634073702. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
  3. ^ Smith, Danyel (19 April 2022). "Intro". Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop. Rock Lit 101. p. x. ISBN 978-0-593-13271-5.
  4. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 209.
  5. ^ "RPM Top 100 Singles - February 13, 1971" (PDF).
  6. ^ a b "King Floyd - Biography". Billboard. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
  7. ^ a b Bowman, Rob (1999). "Malaco Records: The Last Soul Company" (PDF). Peermusic.com. p. 17. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
  8. ^ "Billboard". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 8 September 1979. p. 48. Retrieved 28 February 2024 – via Internet Archive.
  9. ^ "RPM Dance Music - November 3, 1979" (PDF).