I'll Take You There
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"I'll Take You There" is a number-one single written and produced by Al Bell and performed by soul/gospel family band The Staple Singers, released on Stax Records in February 1972 (see 1972 in music). The song spent a total of fifteen weeks on the charts and reached number one on the Hot 100.
History
Included on the group's 1972 album Be Altitude: Respect Yourself, "I'll Take You There" features lead singer Mavis Staples inviting her listeners to seek heaven. The song is almost completely a call-and-response chorus, with the introduction being lifted from a Jamaican instrumental reggae tune titled "The Liquidator". A large portion of the song is set aside for Mavis' sisters Cleotha and Yvonne and their father "Pops" to seemingly perform solos on their respective instruments. In actuality, these solos (and all music in the song) were recorded by the famed Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. When Mavis Staples says "Daddy, now, Daddy, Daddy" (referring to "Pop's" guitar solo), it is actually Eddie Hinton who performs the solo on record. Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section bass player David Hood performs the song's famed bass line. Terry Manning added harmonica and lead electric guitar. Roger Hawkins played drums, Barry Beckett was on electric piano, and Jimmy Johnson and Raymond banks contributed guitar parts. The Memphis Horns played the signature soul horn lines.
Rolling Stone editor David Fricke described this song as the "epitome of the Muscle Shoals Sound". It was recorded in Muscle Shoals, AL at the famous Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, and overdubbed and mixed at Ardent Studios in Memphis by Engineer Terry Manning.
Bolstered by a "feel-good" vibe, "I'll Take You There" peaked at number-one on the Billboard R&B Singles chart for four weeks May 1972. In June, "I'll Take You There" reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for one week. The song, ranked #276 on the Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, remains the most successful and recognizable single of the Staples' half-century-long career.
The song was used from 1997–1999 in commercials for the Chevrolet Malibu.
Notable remakes
- In 1988, Big Daddy Kane remade the song on his Long Live the Kane album.
- In 1996, SWV covered "I'll Take You There" on the "NBA at 50: A Musical Celebration" album.
- "I'll Take You There" returned to number one on the R&B chart in 1991 when it was covered by BeBe & CeCe Winans, with Mavis Staples featured as a guest artist on the track. The single also made #90 on the Hot 100.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- In 1994, the British band General Public released a cover of "I'll Take You There" featured in the Lara Flynn Boyle/Stephen Baldwin film Threesome. It was a surprise American hit, peaking at #22 on the Hot 100.
- Female rap trio Salt-N-Pepa sampled "I'll Take You There" in their 1991 hit "Let's Talk About Sex."
- Female pop and R&B trio Destiny's Child Remade the song for Live 8 in Philadelphia.
- R&B singer Kelly Price's cover was featured on the soundtrack to Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns.
- American gospel singer Karen Clark Sheard recorded a live cover of the song.
- The American rock band Sammy Hagar and the Waboritas recorded a cover of the song "I'll Take You There" on his 2006 album Livin' It Up!, albeit with the incorrect title, "Let Me Take You There".
- The American New Wave band Blondie performed this song as a medley with their number one single "The Tide is High" on their 2009 tour "Call Me Invincible."
- In 2010, British Rap artist Dizzee Rascal sampled the track on his single Dirtee Disco.