Issue No. 29 of Johnny Be Good features one of 45 songs from the book, Anatomy of a Song: The Oral History of 45 Iconic Hits That Changed Rock, R&B and Pop, by Marc Myers. Read John Pearson's review here. Order from Amazon here. Listen to the book on Libro (9 hours, 34 minutes). Each blog will spotlight a song from the book and a guest blogger’s color commentary. Click here to subscribe. Each issue of Your Weekly Staff Meeting will highlight the latest blog.
“That’s not us. We’re church people.”
Today’s blogger: “Production Guy”
Song: #29 of 45
Title: "Respect Yourself"
Musicians: The Staple Singers
Released: September 1971
Editor’s Note: Today’s guest blogger prefers to remain anonymous. This is his third blog. (Read his commentary on “You Really Got Me” from Feb. 19, 2024, and “White Rabbit” from April 9, 2024.)
I APPRECIATED THIS:
Since I’m privileged to serve part-time on the production team at our church—setting up for services, etc., I’m always intrigued to see the stark difference between rehearsals (when a new song is being tweaked) and the actual “performance.”
At our church, I gently remind our worship team that they are not performing, they are worshipping. And then I suggest they read Ian Morgan Cron’s novel, Chasing Francis, about the megachurch pastor who burned out. At the end of the book, the pastor has this epiphany:
“I remember telling our architect that I wanted all the technological goodies you’d find in a world-class performing arts center. Looking back, I realize that what I had asked for was ‘lights, camera, action!’ rather than ‘Father, Son and Holy Ghost.’”
(Sorry…I got a little preachy there. Let’s talk about “Respect Yourself.”)
Marc Myers writes that “born in the black church, gospel took a secular turn in 1971 when the Staple Singers recorded ‘Respect Yourself.’ Written by Mack Rice and Luther Ingram, the message song with a soul-gospel feel encouraged self-empowerment and dignity, and soon became a civil-rights anthem.”
The Staple Singers were, at first, reluctant to move from gospel music to “message music” (although—think about it—gospel has the greatest message!). The black power movement was emerging with “message songs about injustice, street life, pollution, drugs, and other social issues.”
The family—the Staple Singers—included Roebuck (“Pops”) Staples and his three daughters, Mavis, Yvonne, and Cleotha. His son, Pervis, was in the group prior to being drafted into the U.S. Army.
I hope you’ll read the entire chapter—and whether you’re on the music side, the “audience” side (we don't use that term at our church), or the production side, you’ll see why I asked Pearson if I could blog on this chapter.
Read more in Marc Myers’ WSJ article, Jan. 26, 2016, “A Look Behind the Staple Singers’ Hit ‘Respect Yourself.’ The Staple Singers’ 1971 hit reached No. 2 on Billboard’s soul chart and became a civil-rights anthem.”
Editor’s Note: The Staples (plural) family named their group the Staple (singular) Singers.
Listen to “Respect Yourself,” sung by the Staple Singers. The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002.
MY FAVORITE NOTES & QUOTES:
Mack Rice, who wrote the song with inspiration from Luther Ingram, introduced the song to the Staple Singers. Mavis Staples described the scene to Marc Myers:
“Mack ad-libbed between the verses halfway through (Ms. Staples illustrates): ‘Deep, dee-diddy, dee, dee/ deep, dee-diddy, dee, dee.’ Pops cut him off. ‘Wait a minute, Mack. That’s not us. We’re church people.’ Mack said, ‘Pops, you got to do that part, man. You’ll get all the kids singing it.” [My sisters] Yvonne, Cleo and I liked it. It was fun and made us feel joyful.
Al Bell, vice president of Stax Records tells Marc Myers: “…I wanted to create a folk sound for the Staples, to inch them out of gospel but not compromise their integrity as gospel performers.”
WHERE WERE YOU WHEN YOU FIRST HEARD THIS SONG?
My father-in-law has a massive collection of records from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. He told me about Marc Myers WSJ column, "Anatomy of a Song," so back in 2016 I happened to read the piece about "Respect Yourself." I had to listen to the song on YouTube and I downloaded it from iTunes.
JOHNNY BE...GOOD, BETTER, OR BEST?
• GOOD: The lyrics:
If you disrespect anybody that you run in to
How in the world do you think anybody's s'posed to respect you
If you don't give a heck 'bout the man with the bible in his hand, y'all
Just get out the way, and let the gentleman do his thing
You the kind of gentleman that want everything your way, yeah
Take the sheet off your face, boy, it's a brand new day
Respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself
If you don't respect yourself
Ain't nobody gonna give a good cahoot, na na na na
• BETTER: Mavis Staples: “After the song became a big hit, Al asked us to appear at Wattstax, a large outdoor concert he was producing in August 1972 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. We went on around 3:30 p.m. and sang five songs, but ‘Respect Yourself’ was the high point. When we started, you didn’t hear a peep. You could see people were listening and thinking.” (Note: attendance that day was 112,000!)
• BEST: Al Bell: “When I played Mack Rice the finished single, he looked at me and shook his head, saying, ‘Man, you destroyed my song.’ Several months later, when the song was a huge hit, Mack stuck his head in my office and said, ‘Doc, I just dropped by to really thank you for destroying my song.’"
Today's blogger says he enjoys podcasts and recently listened to this 26-minute gem, “Barry McGuire: From 'Eve of Destruction,' LSD Trips, The Mamas & The Papas to Radical Faith in Jesus.” (See God Reports for more videos.)
THIS ISSUE'S COMMENTARY BY "Production Guy"
TODAY’S GUEST BLOGGER (aka “Production Guy”) serves part-time on the production team at his church—setting up for services (he labels his work, “lights, camera, action”). He’s not a professional musician (never made the cut at his megachurch), but says he did dabble in music (drums, songwriting, and more) in his school years.
NEXT UP: Song #30 of 45, “The Harder They Come,” by Jimmy Cliff.
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It all started in 2023, when John Pearson read and reviewed a "fun" book, Anatomy of a Song: The Oral History of 45 Iconic Hits That Changed Rock, R&B and Pop, by Marc Myers. Read John's review here. Order from Amazon here. Listen to the book on Libro (9 hours, 34 minutes).
If you'd enjoy being one of 45 guest bloggers, along with John Ashmen, Dick Nelson, Suzy West, Dave Barton, Patsy Barton, Paul Palmer, Bill Butterworth, Jim West, Melinda Schmidt, Jason Pearson, Gary Rea, Callista Dawson, John Walling, Ed Barrett, Larry Beatty, Skye Matlock, Scott Anderson and others, read more here and contact John Pearson. Click here to subscribe to this blog and enjoy the toe-tapping musicians in each weekly blog post—reminding you of these iconic songs of yesteryear.