Groove Me

"Groove Me" is a song recorded by R&B singer King Floyd. Released from his eponymous album in late 1970, it was a crossover hit, spending four non-consecutive weeks at number-one on Billboard Soul chart and peaking at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[2]

The song was recorded and produced by Wardell Quezergue at Malaco Records' Jackson, Mississippi recording studios during the same session as another Quezergue-produced song, Jean Knight's "Mr. Big Stuff".^[3] "Groove Me" was originally released as the B-side to Floyd's "What Our Love Needs" on the Malaco subsidiary Chimneyville. When New Orleans disc jockey George Vinnett started playing the B-side, the song began meriting attention, and as the record emerged as a local smash, Atlantic Records scooped up national distribution rights.^[3]

Credits

No credits are listed for the Malaco studio musicians on the record. According to Rob Bowman's liner notes from the 1999 box set, The Last Soul Company: Malaco, A Thirty Year Retrospective, the musicians for this session included:

Vernie Robbins – bass
James Stroud – drums
Wardell Quezergue – organ
Jerry Puckett – guitar

During this time at Malaco, horn lines were typically played by saxophonist Hugh Garraway and trumpeter Perry Lomax.^[4]

Origin

According to Rob Bowman, Canadian professor of ethnomusicology, "Groove Me" had been inspired by a young college student who had worked about twenty feet away from Floyd at an east L.A. box factory. In Floyd's words: "She'd just watch me and smile at me all day. When I went to the water fountain, she would make it her purpose to come up to the water fountain. But, I was so shy. So, I decided one day that I was gonna write this poem and give it to her and I wrote 'Groove Me.' Believe it or not, after I finished it she never came back to work. It blew me away. So, I never gave her the poem. Man, I'd sure like to meet her one day just to thank her!"^[4]

Cover versions

A cover version by The Blues Brothers appears on their 1978 album Briefcase Full of Blues and on one of their many compilation albums, The Blues Brothers Complete.
In 1979, Fern Kinney, who sang backing vocals on King Floyd's original version, released a disco version of the song on her album Groove Me, which reached #6 on the Billboard dance chart.
Renowned singer Etta James recorded an R&B version for her 2011 album The Dreamer.
Angie Stone recorded a version of the song for the Austin Powers in Goldmember soundtrack, which was released in 2002.

Use in film and television

The song is played in The Simpsons episode "Bart Carny", and the films Austin Powers in Goldmember, Swingers, and We Are Marshall. The song is also used in a 1990s Got Milk? commercial.
The first line of the song "Aww, sookie sookie now" is a catchphrase used by Regine Hunter in the 1990s sitcom Living Single. It is also looped as a sample throughout the song "Six Secs" by the digital hardcore band Cobra Killer on their self-titled album from 1998.
The phrase "Aww, sookie sookie" is used by Christina Applegate and Cameron Diaz in the 2002 movie "The Sweetest Thing".

References

↑ Letsch, Glenn (2005). R & B Bass. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 24–25. ISBN 0634073702. Retrieved August 6, 2013.
↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 209.
1 2 "King Floyd - Biography". Billboard. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
1 2 Bowman, Rob (1999). "Malaco Records: The Last Soul Company" (PDF). Peermusic.com. p. 17. Retrieved 2016-07-26.

Preceded by "Stoned Love" by The Supremes	Billboard's Best Selling Soul Singles number one single January 2–16, 1971	Succeeded by "If I Were Your Woman" by Gladys Knight & the Pips
Preceded by "If I Were Your Woman" by Gladys Knight & the Pips	Billboard's Best Selling Soul Singles number one single January 30, 1971	Succeeded by "(Do The) Push and Pull" by Rufus Thomas

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