"These Arms of Mine" is a song written by

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

musician

Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...

. Redding was at that time a member of Pat Teacake's Band, consisting of lead guitarist

Johnny Jenkins Johnny Edward Jenkins (March 5, 1939 – June 26, 2006) was an American left-handed blues guitarist, who helped launch the career of Otis Redding. His flamboyant style of guitar playing also influenced Jimi Hendrix. Career In the 1960s Je ...

, bassist Pat Teacake and vocalist/songwriter Redding, who also served as driver for Jenkins, who did not have a driver's license.

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

artist representative

Joe Galkin Joe Galkin was a Russian-born American record producer and musician, best known for his producing at Atlantic Records and his own Gerald Record label and work with Otis Redding and Phil Walden. Galkin saw the potential of Redding's " Love Twist" ...

showed interest in Jenkins and proposed to send him to a studio. On the way to a gig, Redding had the opportunity to perform the songs "Hey Hey Baby" and "These Arms of Mine" as Jenkins and

house band A house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play at an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to bands which ...

Booker T. & the M.G.'s ended their sets earlier than scheduled. The performance of the latter song was highly praised; Jim Stewart was so impressed that he offered Redding a contract to record for Stax Records of Memphis, Tennessee, which Redding signed soon afterward. "These Arms of Mine" became Redding's first-released Stax Records single, with "Hey Hey Baby" on its B-side. After a series of unnoticed numbers, the song "These Arms of Mine" became Redding's first successful single and sold around 800,000 copies. The song was also included in Redding's 1964 (Atlantic Records) Atco label debut album ''

Pain in My Heart ''Pain in My Heart'' is the debut album of soul singer-songwriter Otis Redding. Redding recorded for Volt Records, a subsidiary of Stax Records, based in Memphis, Tennessee. Volt LPs were initially issued on the Atco label, which released this a ...

.''

Recording

As a member of Teacake's Band, Redding toured in the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

, especially on the

Chitlin' Circuit The Chitlin' Circuit was a collection of performance venues throughout the eastern, southern, and upper Midwest areas of the United States that provided commercial and cultural acceptance for African American musicians, comedians, and other enterta ...

. These performance venues were safe for African American musicians during the age of racial segregation which lasted into the early 1960s. Lead guitarist

later left Teacake to become the featured artist with The Pinetoppers. Around this time, Redding met

Phil Walden Phil Walden (January 11, 1940 – April 23, 2006) was a co-founder of the Macon, Georgia-based Capricorn Records, along with former Atlantic Records executive Frank Fenter. Biography Walden received his undergraduate degree in economics from Mac ...

, the future founder of the recording company Phil Walden and Associates, and later Bobby Smith, who ran a small record label, Confederate Records. He signed with Confederate and recorded his second single, "Shout Bamalama" (a rewrite of "Gamma Lamma"), which he performed with his band "Otis and the Shooters".

Wayne Cochran Talvin Wayne Cochran (May 10, 1939 – November 21, 2017) was an American singer, known for his outlandish outfits and white pompadour hairstyle. He was sometimes referred to as The White Knight of Soul. Cochran is best known today for writ ...

, the only solo artist signed to Confederate, became Pinetoppers' bass guitarist. Around the time Walden started to look for a record label,

representative

was interested in working with guitarist Jenkins and proposed to send him to a Stax studio in

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

. Jenkins, who attended disc jockey Hamp Swain's "The Teenage Party", saw Redding's performance with the backing band, but he was not satisfied with their performance. Subsequently, he offered Redding to help winning the contest; with his help he won several weeks in a row. On the way to a gig, Redding drove for Jenkins, as the latter did not possess a driver's license. Jenkins performed with house band Booker T. & the M.G.'s. When that set ended early, Redding had the opportunity to perform. The first song was "Hey Hey Baby", but studio chief Jim Stewart thought it sounded too much like

Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...

. The next song was "These Arms of Mine", which featured Jenkins on guitar,

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

on piano,

Lewie Steinberg Lewie Polk Steinberg (September 13, 1933 – July 21, 2016) was an American musician best known as the original bass guitar player for the soul music group Booker T. & the M.G.'s. Biography Steinberg was born in Memphis, Tennessee to Baptist par ...

on bass,

Booker T. Jones Booker Taliaferro Jones Jr. (born November 12, 1944) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and arranger, best known as the frontman of the band Booker T. & the M.G.'s. He has also worked in the studios with many well-known art ...

on organ and

Al Jackson Jr. Albert J. Jackson Jr. (November 27, 1935 – October 1, 1975) was an American drummer, producer, and songwriter. He was a founding member of Booker T. & the M.G.'s, a group of session musicians who worked for Stax Records and produced their ...

on drums.

Personnel

The following musicians played on the session for "These Arms of Mine". *

– piano *

– drums *

– guitar *

– organ *

– bass

Release

"These Arms of Mine" was released on the Volt sister label in October 1962, but charted in March the following year. The single sold more than 800,000 copies. It was included on Redding's debut album ''

'', which was released on January 1, 1964 by Stax on the

Volt The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units (SI). It is named after the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827). Defi ...

sister label.

Reception

When Redding performed the song "These Arms of Mine" during a session, featuring Jenkins on guitar and Cropper on piano, producer Jim Stewart praised his performance and noted, "Everybody was fixin' to go home, but Joe Galkin insisted we give Otis a listen. There was something different about

he ballad He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

He really poured his soul into it."

In popular culture

"These Arms of Mine" was included on several

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

s, such as ''

The Boat That Rocked ''The Boat That Rocked'' (titled ''Pirate Radio'' in North America) is a 2009 British comedy film written and directed by Richard Curtis about pirate radio in the United Kingdom during the 1960s. The film has an ensemble cast consisting of Phi ...

'', '' Perfect Stranger'', in the ''

Lost Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

'' episode " S.O.S.", ''

Glory Road ''Glory Road'' is a science fantasy novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, originally serialized in ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (July – September 1963) and published in hardcover the same year. It was nominated for t ...

'', ''

EDtv ''EDtv'' is a 1999 American satirical comedy film directed by Ron Howard. An adaptation of the Quebecois film ''Louis 19, King of the Airwaves (Louis 19, le roi des ondes)'' (1994), it stars Matthew McConaughey, Jenna Elfman, Woody Harrelson, E ...

'', '' Road House'', '' The Sapphires'' and most prominently in ''

Dirty Dancing ''Dirty Dancing'' is a 1987 American romantic drama dance film written by Eleanor Bergstein, produced by Linda Gottlieb, and directed by Emile Ardolino. Starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, it tells the story of Frances "Baby" Houseman ...

''. It is also prominently featured in the TV series ''12 Monkeys'', including playing in the opening and closing sequence of the series and having an episode named after it.

Track listings

*"These Arms of Mine" – 2:35 *"Hey Hey Baby" – 2:15

Charts

Fro
allmusic

Certifications

References

;Bibliography * * * *

External links

* http://www.tunefind.com/show/12-monkeys/season-1 {{Authority control Otis Redding songs Songs written by Otis Redding 1964 songs Stax Records singles