"Outa-Space" is an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

recorded by Billy Preston that originally appeared on his 1971

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

-debut album, ''

I Wrote a Simple Song ''I Wrote a Simple Song'' is the sixth studio album by American soul musician Billy Preston. Released in November 1971, it was his first album for A&M Records and marked the start of a run of commercial success in the United States that lasted th ...

''. To create the primary instrumental sound, Preston played a clavinet through a

wah wah pedal A wah-wah pedal, or simply wah pedal, is a type of electric guitar effects pedal that alters the tone and frequencies of the guitar signal to create a distinctive sound, mimicking the human voice saying the onomatopoeic name "wah-wah". The ped ...

. The song was created by Preston improvising while calling out chord changes to the backing band. He later added organ and hand claps. Preston named the song "Outa-Space" for the instrumental's spacy sound. While he thought it would be a hit, A&M was skeptical and issued it as the B-side of "

" in December 1971. However, radio DJs began flipping the single and, while "I Wrote a Simple Song" only reached #77 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, "Outa-Space" peaked at #2, showing that Preston's feelings about it were correct.

Chart performance

"Outa-Space" was kept out of the top spot by " Lean on Me" by

Bill Withers William Harrison Withers Jr. (July 4, 1938 – March 30, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He had several hits over a career spanning 18 years, including " Ain't No Sunshine" (1971), " Grandma's Hands" (1971), " Use Me" (197 ...

. The instrumental also topped the

R&B Singles The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart for a week, succeeding the aforementioned "Lean on Me". The single was certified gold by the RIAA for sales of one million copies. In late 1972, "Outa-Space" peaked at #44 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. "Outa-Space" won the Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance of 1972. ''Billboard'' ranked it as the #22 song for 1972.

Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1972 This is a list of ''Billboard'' magazine's Top Hot 100 songs of 1972. The Top 100, as revealed in the year-end edition of ''Billboard'' dated December 30, 1972, is based on Hot 100 charts from the issue dates of December 4, 1971 through November 18 ...

Song in Pop Culture

*In the 1990s, Intel Corporation used the song to promote their MMX-enabled

Pentium Pentium is a brand used for a series of x86 architecture-compatible microprocessors produced by Intel. The original Pentium processor from which the brand took its name was first released on March 22, 1993. After that, the Pentium II and P ...

processors.

References

1972 singles Billy Preston songs 1970s instrumentals Pop instrumentals Songs written by Billy Preston A&M Records singles 1972 songs Cashbox number-one singles {{1970s-single-stub