“It’s All Right” (The Impressions)

Today’s classic R&B song of the day is “It’s All Right” by the Impressions. Released in October of 1963, this single peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B Sides chart.

“It’s All Right” was written by Impressions lead singer Curtis Mayfield. It’s a slow rolling 12/8 shuffle with some very tasty machinegun-like drumming at the ends of phrases. It’s all about leaving our troubles behind, moving it slow when the lights are low, because it’s all right.

Impressions singer Fred Cash explains how Curtis Mayfield got the inspiration for the song:

“Didn’t matter how inconsequential the conversation, he always had ideas from it and that never stop. We’d be on the road, in a hotel, it would be two or three in the morning, he’ll knock on the door, get me over to his room to hear this song. He’d be on the bed in his robe and start strumming the guitar. That’s when I heard ‘It’s Alright’… that came from a saying of mine. I used to say that all the time, you know, ‘Curtis, it’s alright.'”

And so it was and so it is.

And here’s your daily bonus video of the day, Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions lip synching “It’s All Right” on TV in 1965. They’ve got soul and everybody knows that it’s all right.