Muscle Shoals Page #5

Well, this is what

I'm gonna do about it

That's one of those songs,

the ones that give you

the chills,

the ones that give you

the goose bumps,

the ones that you're like,

"I wish I sang a record

like that."

We had a whole week planned

to cut tracks, a whole week,

but at the end of the session

we found out

that there was a problem.

There was a ruckus.

One of the horn players,

and Aretha's then husband,

Ted White,

got into it.

This new horn player started

saying things like,

"Aretha, baby,"

and it was just enough

that Ted White got offended.

They'd been drinkin'

from the same jug,

and now this camaraderie

and great palship

turned into some kind

of alcoholic hostility.

Ted comes into the control room

with Wexler and I and says,

"I want the trumpet player

fired."

I looked at Wexler and I said,

"What do you think?"

He said, "Go fire him."

So I went and fired him.

That later caused a big argument

and caused the session to end.

I got a hold

of the bottle of vodka

and I took a couple...

three drinks of it.

And I said, "Wexler,

I'm gonna go over to the hotel"

and get with Ted and them

and we'll work this thing out."

He said, "No,

I don't want you to go."

And I said, "Yeah, well, I'm

not gonna start any trouble,"

I said, "I'll go over

and work it out."

We'll become buddies

"and I'll work

everything out."

He said, "No, Rick, don't go,

please don't go."

So anyhow, I had had

a couple more drinks

and I went over then.

Banged on Ted and Aretha's door

and Ted came to the door.

And he started pointing his

finger in my face and so forth.

And we fought

and fought and fought.

He was trying to throw me

over the balcony

and I was trying to throw him.

It was downtown, and we was up

on about the fourth floor.

My former husband

never came back that night

and I decided

that I was leaving.

I had never been

to Muscle Shoals before,

or away from home,

really, by myself.

And so I just said,

"I'm going to the airport."

And when I got to the airport,

I saw him with the bell captain.

I said, "Whoa, this son of a gun

was gonna leave me down here."

Unbelievable.

They left town

the next day, early.

So Wexler came and said to me,

"I will never set foot in this

studio as long as I live again.

I will bury you."

And I said,

"You can't bury me."

He said, "Why can't I?"

I said,

"Because you're too old.

I'll be around

after you're gone."

So the next day I showed up

and on the board it says,

"Session Cancelled."

And I thought, "Oh, man,

it's over, we've had it."

But a few days later

Jerry Wexler calls

and asks if we can

go to New York

and finish the album there.

He didn't have to ask us twice.

On that album was

"R-E-S-P-E-C-T, Respect."

What you want

Baby I got

To be a part

of something like that

is unbelievable.

It was milestone stuff.

Is for a little respect

when you come home

- Just a little bit

- Hey, baby

- When you get home

- Just a little bit

- Mister

- Just a little bit

The Swampers went on

and recorded with Aretha

on many hit records.

"Sweet, Sweet Baby,"

"Natural Woman,"

"Think,"

"The House that Jack Built,"

"Call Me,"

"Do Right Woman, Do Right Man,"

"Chain of Fools,"

and so many, many others.

Of course it worked out

incredibly.

And it's been one

of the anomalies, I think,

of the era that

Aretha's greatest work

came with a studio full

of Caucasian musicians.

How do you figure it?

This is the Queen of Soul

acknowledged.

Here we have Roger Hawkins,

and David Hood, Jimmy Johnson,

Barry Beckett, Spooner Oldham

coming out with

probably the deepest

and most intense R&B

of the era.

R-E-S-P-E-C- find out what it means to me

R-E-S-P-E-C- take care T-C-B

Oh a little respect

Sock it to me, sock it to me,

sock it to me

Whoa, babe,

a little respect

Just a little bit

I get tired Keep on tryin'

You're running out of fools

and I ain't lyin'

So after my dispute

with Wexler,

he took Aretha away.

And on my part, I felt like

I had really screwed up,

so I went to Chicago

and I spoke to Leonard Chess

'cause he said,

"I wonder what I gotta do

to get you to do some sides

for Chess Records."

I said, "Who do you

want me to do?"

He said, "I'd like you

to do Etta James."

When I looked at him,

I says, "God, Rick Hall."

So this is fame,

recording studios,

and I'm in Alabama

and now this is gonna be,

you know, the real thing here.

"I'm gonna get some

of the Alabama mud,"

you know,

all of that kind of stuff.

Etta James is probably one of

my favorite chicks of all time.

Leonard said, "You know, Rick,

I built my company on her back."

When you think she's singing

as good as she can sing,

"if you'll kick her ass

and wind her up,"

he said, "She can rattle

the shingles on this studio."

You thought

you hadn't found a good girl

One to love you

and give you the world

Rick Hall was actually

the first white man

that I had seen that

had that kind of soul,

that was an engineer

and was soulful, you know?

We recorded

a Clarence Carter song.

With Clarence it was,

"Tell Daddy,"

but with Etta it was,

"Tell Mama."

She didn't want to do the song

because I think

she had a problem

with somebody suggesting to her

that she was gonna

take care of some man.

I would be so hardheaded

and, you know, just,

"Don't tell me nothin',"

you know?

She had a temper like a lion.

I said, "If you'll do it

for an hour",

and it's not happening,

we'll garbage it,

"we'll throw it

in the garbage."

I finally realized

everything that he used

to badger me about,

he was always right.

Tell mama all about it

Tell mama what you need

Tell mama

And, of course, the record was

to become a big, big hit on her.

Everybody said that that song

raised her from the grave,

you know, and brought her

back to prominence.

Each time a person

went to Muscle Shoals,

they came out of there

with a hit record.

You had to know that

there was something magic

in Muscle Shoals.

The spirit of Muscle Shoals

permeates not only

the city itself, physically,

but I think the people

who came through there.

The place has a soul.

W.C. Handy was from

the Muscle Shoals area

and everyone that knows

about the blues

is familiar

with W.C. Handy.

Well, he's one of the great

popularizers of the blues.

Before it was

a kind of gutbucket music

that didn't have

a lot of respect.

He kind of legitimized

the music.

All the bands were playing

the same thing,

but no one had written it down.

Well, he was the first one

to write it down.

That made him

Father of the Blues

and made this area famous.

Sam Phillips was also from

the Muscle Shoals area.

And Sam was kind of my tutor

and I kind of looked upon him

as being the guy

I wanted to be.

Sam Phillips came out of there.

I mean, didn't he invent

rock and roll or something?

My dad, Sam Phillips,

was the first to record Elvis,

Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis,

Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison,

but a lot of people

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