“Knock on Wood” is today’s classic song of the day and it was a hit in two different decades by two very different artists.
“Knock on Wood” was a soul tune written by singer Eddie Floyd and guitarist Steve Cropper, both stalwarts of Memphis’ Stax Records. They wrote it in 1966 at the Lorraine Motel, where Dr. Martin Luther King would be assassinated two years later. (The motel is now the site of the National Civil Rights Museum.) There was a thunderstorm that night, which led to the line “It’s like thunder, lightning, the way you love me is frightening.” Cropper said he based the music on another tune, “In the Midnight Hour,” which he wrote with and for Wilson Pickett, using the same chord progression “only played in reverse.”
Eddie and Steve originally intended “Knock on Wood” for another famous Stax artist, Otis Redding, but Stax head honcho Jim Stewart nixed that idea and Mr. Floyd decided to record the song himself. That recording took place at Stax Records’ McLemore Avenue studio on July 13, 1966, using the label’s house band, Booker T. & the M.G.’s. That’s Booker T. Jones on organ, Steve Cropper on guitar, Duck Dunn on bass, and Al Jackson Jr. on drums—with fellow Stax guy Isaac Hayes joining in on piano.
Stax Records released “Knock on Wood” as a single on July 25, 1966, less than two weeks after it was recorded. Eddie Floyd’s single peaked at #28 on the Billboard Hot 100 but shot all the way to #1 on Billboard’s Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart.
More than a decade later, during the disco era, singer Amii Stewart recorded a four-on-the-floor version of “Knock on Wood.” Released in January of 1979, Ms. Stewart’s version scored higher than Eddie Floyd’s original, going all the way to #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100. It also hit #5 on Billboard’s Hot Disco Singles chart and #6 on Billboard’s Hot Soul Singles chart.
