"Little Walter" is the debut single by

Tony! Toni! Toné! Tony! Toni! Toné! was an American soul/ R&B band from Oakland, California, popular during the late 1980s and early to mid-1990s. During the band's heyday, it was composed of D'wayne Wiggins on lead vocals and guitar, his brother Raphael Saadiq ...

. It was the lead single from the R&B group's debut album ''

Who Who or WHO may refer to: * Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun * Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * World Health Organization Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book '' Horton He ...

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Background

The narrator in the song describes a roommate by the name of Walter who makes money from an undisclosed job, and rather than pay rent, he spends his money on a lavish lifestyle. The narrator has had enough of this, and decides to confront Walter about it only for both to break into an argument that lasts "half the night". When the argument was finished "there was a knock at the door and when Walter went to open it he was blown to the floor" meaning he may have been shot dead (according to the video for the song). Walter was portrayed by comedian Sinbad in the video whom incidentally was portraying Walter Oakes on "The Cosby Show" spinoff "A Different World". The melody is taken from the instrumentation on the spiritual tune "

Wade in the Water "Wade in the Water" (Roud 5439) is an African American jubilee song, a spiritual—in reference to a genre of music "created and first sung by African Americans in slavery." The lyrics to "Wade in the Water" were first co-published in 1901 in ...

Chart performance

"Little Walter" spent one week at number one on the U.S. Soul chart. It also peaked at forty-seven on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

References

External links

Song review A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetition ...

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

1986 songs 1988 debut singles Tony! Toni! Toné! songs Songs written by Denzil Foster Songs written by Thomas McElroy Songs written by Raphael Saadiq Songs written by D'wayne Wiggins Song recordings produced by Foster & McElroy Wing Records singles {{1980s-R&B-song-stub