Rufus Thomas

Listen/Download – Rufus Thomas – Can Your Monkey Do the Dog MP3

Greetings all.

Today’s post begins a full week of Stax 45s.

Stax is, next to Motown, the first American soul label most folks think of, especially the non-record-collecting civilians, which should in no way be construed as a pejorative for the label or the ‘civilians’, since once you’re locked inside the record “thing”, it is at times, straight-jacket-esque (or at least it should be…heh).

As far as Stax being a go-to for those with only a casual acquaintance with soul music, that’s cool too, since it’s a testament to the bedrock quality of the sounds on the label, many of the among the best ever recorded in the genre.

That said, among the best on Stax, are many sides by the mighty Rufus Thomas, many of which have appeared in this space before.

‘The World’s Oldest Teenager’ (and probably one of the oldest folks churning out hits for Stax), Rufus Thomas took his years as a motor-mouth DJ, and a lively sense of humor, and used them to full effect on his records.

Today’s selection hails from 1964, when it was a Top 50 R&B hit in the winter of that year.

It also falls into one of my favorite sub-sub-genres of music, that being multiple-dance-craze 45s. Here Rufus combines the monkey and the dog, the dance that he rode into the charts the previous year with ‘The Dog’ and ‘Walking the Dog’.

Following a horn fanfare, Rufus drops in with a big ‘E-I-E-I-O’ and gets going on a song that follows the ‘Walking the Dog’ blueprint fairly closely.

Like any and all Rufus Thomas 45s, it is a groover, with a lot of dance floor punch, and carries with it the composition pedigree of Rufus and Steve Cropper.

Though I can’t say so with any certainty, I’m pretty sure at some point someone tried to teach their monkey to do the dog (if anyone has film of this achievement, please let me know).

I hope you dig the track, and I’ll be back on Wednesday with some Sam and Dave.

Keep the faith

Larry

 

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PS Head over to Iron Leg too.