Old music is understandably relative. It can come with baggage, attachments, bias and context. It can be a go too, a safe space, a place where the feelings you receive are a known quantity, an emotional guarantee. Old music can also book mark stand out moments in life.
New music’s cool but have you ever heard ‘Shake A Tail Feather‘ by Ray Charles? Picture, if you will, a young Mr Cutts. Full of wonder embarking on a musical education of The Beatles, The Stones and other British invaders. Unbeknownst at the time that in classic historical fashion, Britain was re-packaging and selling it back to the country of origin – but that’s another story for another time.
I was at my friend Martin’s house when he asked if I wanted to watch The Blues Brothers. All I could tell you was the actor who played Ray Stantz from Ghostbusters was in it, so I quickly said yes. Little did I know it would be partly responsible for a soul awakening and it would blow my tiny brain.
The Blues Brothers movie introduced me to James Brown, Aretha Franklin and Cab Calloway who’s rendition of ‘Minnie The Moocha‘ is unrivalled, as they all had cameos. But the song that stole my focus was from the ultimate cameo, Ray Charles.
‘Shake A Tail Feather’ is an explosive call-to-arms for anyone remotely near a dancefloor. It seems to build and build and keep on building, like the chord progression is a never ending upwards rollercoaster.
This complete hold of tension along with tempo means it constantly uplifts. It constantly delivers. The horn section seem to bounce off each other – with the saxophone then serving as the reply to the brighter horn’s questions. Charles’ delivery is utterly flawless both on the mic and on the keys.
The overall innocence and high energy make this an absolute heater. To be fair the whole soundtrack is. Especially the version of ‘Think’ by Miss Franklin. Watch the film and enjoy…
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Words: Owen Cutts