“Games People Play” (Joe South)

Today’s classic song of the day won Grammy Awards for both Song of the Year and Best Contemporary Song. The song is “Games People Play” by Joe South and it first hit the charts in January of 1969. It peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #10 on the Cash Box Top 100, and was a top ten hit in Austria, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, South Africa (#1), and the UK.

Joe South wrote, produced, and performed “Games People Play.” As the title implies, the song is about the games that people play—the lying, the hatred, the hypocrisy people extend to their fellow humans. As the lyrics put it:

People walking up to ya
Singing glory Hallelujah
And they’re tryin’ to sock it to you
In the name of the Lord

They’re gonna teach you how to meditate
Read your horoscope, cheat your fate
And further more to hell with hate
Come on and get on board whoah

La-da da da da da da da
La-da da da da da de
Talking ’bout you and me
And the games people play

It’s as relevant today as it was back then.

(By the way, don’t confuse Joe South’s “Games People Play” with the song of the same name by the Spinners. That one was also a classic song of the day, but they couldn’t be more different.)

Joe South first came to prominence as a session musician, playing guitar on Tommy Roe’s “Sheila”, the tremolo guitar intro on Aretha Franklin’s “Chain of Fools,” and bass on Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde album. He had a handful of hits as a solo artist, including “Walk a Mile in My Shoes” and “Games People Play.” He also wrote several hit songs for other performers, most notably “Down in the Boondocks” for Billy Joe Royal, “Yo-Yo” for the Osmonds, “Hush” for Deep Purple, and “(I Never Promised You) A Rose Garden” for Lynn Anderson. Joe South passed away in 2012. He was 72 years old.

And here’s today’s daily bonus video of the day, Joe South performing “Games People Play” on the West German television program Beat-Club in 1969. Fantastic!