There was one song on The Hunter LP that was not a cover: “Bold Soul Sister,” written by Ike and Tina and sounding like a James Brown cut. It was a modest hit single for Ike and Tina, getting to #59 on the pop charts in 1970.
This is a hot number, with Ike getting down on the guitar and the band contributing a funky bass line and drum beat. The Ikettes come in singing “Do what you wanna, when you wanna, how you wanna / Now do your thing soul sister.”
Tina, the soul sister in question, does just that, and it turns out that what she wants to do is sing a bunch of nonsense. I am a big fan of quality absurdity, so I am grooving to this song.
Hey! Unh! / Thangs and stuff / And stuff and thangs and, and. . . stuff / GREASE me! / I’m a BOLD SOUL sister / BSS! / Ow! / SOCK it to the biscuit! / Bring it on down to the bone / Cleaner than big boys with HAIRY backs [?] / HEY hey!
I’m really curious what “grease” (pronounced “greeze”) means in this slang, because she later adds “the more I grease you, the smaller you get.” Of course, maybe they were just making up words on the spot.
“Bold Soul Sister” is in the same vein as James Brown’s “I Got Ants in My Pants” or “Mother Popcorn,” a funky workout without much structure. Ike and Tina and the band seem to be having a lot of fun, and I love Ike’s guitar sound here.
This is a good getting-dressed-up-to-go-out-on-a-Friday-night song. “It’s hanging, now let it dry!”
Post a Comment