"Soul Finger" is the first single released by R&B group the Bar-Kays. It was issued by

Stax Records Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in September 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records. ...

on the Volt Records label on April 14, 1967.

Background

The song was written by the Bar-Kays while they were rehearsing with Norman West to perform a cover of J. J. Jackson's "But It's Alright".Liner notes, ''The Complete Stax/Volt Singles, 1959–1968''.

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

, 1991. p. 31. It begins with the

melody A melody (), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of Pitch (music), pitch and rhythm, while more figurativel ...

of the popular children's song " Mary Had a Little Lamb" and then cuts into the main riff, punctuated with a high

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

trill. It features a chorus of neighborhood children who had been loitering outside the

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and Audio mixing, mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home proje ...

; they were instructed to shout "Soul Finger!" and were paid with

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

. The idea for the title and the shouts came from the Stax songwriters

Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records in the 1960s, serving as an in-house songwr ...

and David Porter. The track was used as the opening theme tune to BBC Radio 1 DJ Stuart Henry's shows from 1969 to 1974.

Chart performance

"Soul Finger" was a hit in the United States, peaking at number 3 on the U.S. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' R&B singles chart and number 17 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Billboard Singles

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

. The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

of the single was "Knucklehead", written by Booker T. Jones and

Steve Cropper Steven Lee Cropper (born October 21, 1941), sometimes known as "The Colonel", is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He was the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, which backed artists such as ...

, which reached number 28 on the R&B singles chart and number 76 on the Hot 100. "Soul Finger" and "Knucklehead" were the first two tracks of the Bar-Kays' first LP, '' Soul Finger'', issued on July 10, after nine more tracks had been recorded on June 23. Review of ''Soul Finger''

References

{{Authority control 1967 songs 1967 debut singles 1960s instrumentals Stax Records singles The Blues Brothers songs