Mister Rufus Is Back!

 

Greetings all.

I come to you today, yet again, to preach a chapter from the gospel of the World’s Oldest Teenager.

If the mighty Rufus Thomas ever made a bad record, I have yet to encounter it, and as is often the case, I usually endeavor to crowbar as much of his groove juice into the mix here at Funky16Corners as I can without overplaying my (or his) hand.

The banger I bring you today is another bit of evidence that a record need not be funk, to be funk-y, and that the Stax ‘factory’ (if you will) was turning out product of unquestionably high quality during their peak years.

Written by Porter, Hayes and Jones (David, Isaac and Booker T), ‘Sister’s Got a Boyfriend’ hits on all of the required Rufus Thomas bullet points, i.e. fun, funny, heavy, soulful and danceable.

The record is also a lesson in dynamics, opening with a little call and response between Rufus and the backup singers, not unlike a dumptruck backing up slowly, beeping to warn you of its approach, and then at around 11 seconds, lifting up and unloading a ton of bricks on your head.

The combination of bass and drums (and that bass drum is as deep and wide as Grand Canyon) creates a seismic shift in the record (and hopefully in the dancers as well), abetted by a simple piano line and some tasty horns.

Rufus wails over it all, bringing you the tale of young love/lust moving forward in the face of armed parental resistance. At some point in the song (and I have no idea why) the dog gets pneumonia. It’s a wild time all around.

So, as is always my presecription, if you haven’t got any Rufus, go out and get you some, and if you do (have some) go and get some more, because there’s no such thing as too much.

See you on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 

 

 

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

 

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.