Yesterday’s classic song of the day had everybody dialing “Beechwood 4-5789” (which is actually 234-5789). Today’s phone number-related song changes the first digit from a “2” to a “6” and gives us “634-5789,” a big hit for legendary soul singer Wilson Pickett.
“634-5789” was written by Stax Records stalwarts Eddie Floyd and Steve Cropper. You know Eddie Floyd as a singer with his own bag of hits, including “Knock On Wood,” “I’ve Never Found a Girl,” and “Bring It On Home to Me.” Steve Cropper is the ace guitarist behind Booker T. & the M.G.’s, as well as the co-writer and producer of Otis Redding’s “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay” and other hits for the stable of Stax artists.
The song is about a guy offering his services to a lady, in case she ever needs a little lovin’. He’s giving her his number, just in case. And, just in case you’re curious, yes, the title was a direct reference to the Marvelettes’ single of four years previous.
Steve Cropper recalls asking engineer Tom Dowd, who normally worked for Atlantic Records, for some advice on constructing the song:
“I said, ‘I’m very curious that Motown and some of the guys at Atlantic, when their songs hit, they just seem to sell so much more product. They’re such singalongs. How do you get that?’ And he said, ‘Well, if you start writing your lyrics on the downbeat, on the beat, you’ll get more of a singalong effect instead of just telling a story and singing it where the words fall.’ So with ‘634-5789’ I tried to get the numbers that would match those downbeats and sing along like that. And I had quite a bit of success from that time on by writing everything on the downbeat.”
“634-5789” was recorded in Memphis and featured the cream of the Stax Records crop, even though the single itself was released on Atlantic Records. Atlantic sent ace engineer Tom Dowd up to Memphis to work on the track, and the musicians included Isaac Hayes on keyboards, Steve Cropper on guitar, Duck Dunn on bass, and Al Jackson Jr. on drums. That’s 3/4 of Booker T. & the M.G.’s plus Black Moses himself on keys. Steve Cropper relates how it went down:
“In ‘634-5789,’ if you listen to it closely, you can probably tell that there’s a little bit more to it and a little bit more music than what Stax Records normally sounded like. For example, we put on another big fat snare beat, and Al Jackson had some tambourine and a couple little licks here and there. Put the girls on it, put the backgrounds on it, and really made it a good, full production. Tom Dowd was always helpful in putting out a full production and really taught us a lot about overdubs and the way to go about it. So this was one of the songs that got that full treatment from Atlantic Records.”
Atlantic released “634-5789” in December of 1965 and it hit the charts big early in 1966. It reached #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on Billboard’s Rhythm & Blues Singles chart. It was also featured, as a duet between Wilson Pickett and Eddie Floyd, in the movie Blues Brothers 2000. (The less said about that flick, the better.)
And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, Eddie Floyd and Wicked Wilson Pickett (with singer/guitarist Johnny Lang) performing “634-5789” in the movie Blues Brothers 2000. The music was a lot better than the movie.
