All language subtitles for japhson-ms-1080p-eng

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Man: Magic is the word
that comes to mind for me

when I think
of Muscle Shoals.

It's about alchemy,
it's about turning metal,

the iron in the ground,
the rust, into gold.

You just have to listen.
And you will be transported.

You will be changed.

You're going to hear some of
the greatest voices that ever were.

* One, two, three

* One, two, three

* Ow!

* Uh! All right!

* Uh!

* Got to know how to Pony

* Like Bony Moronie

* Mash Potato

* Do the Alligator

* Put your hand
on your hips, yeah

* Let your backbone slip

* Do the Watusi

* Like my little Lucy

* Ow! Uh!

You know, I feel all right.

Feel pretty good, y'all.

* Na, na-na na-na, na-na na-na,
na-na na-na na-na

* Na-na na-na

Come on, y'all,
let's say it one more time.

* Na, na-na na-na, na-na na-na,
na-na na-na na-na

* Na-na na-na

* Ohh!

* Dancin' in the alley

* With Long Tall Sally

* Twistin' with Lucy

* Doin' the Watusi

* Roll over on your back

* I like it like that

* Ohh, help me

* Ohh, help me

We started to hear
this sound coming out.

There was an amazing feel.

Kind of magnetic,
I suppose in a way, sound wise.

And then after a while,
this word, "Muscle Shoals"

comes into the picture,
and you put two and two together

and that was when I said,
"If we get the chance,

we got to go down there,"
you know.

Man: People now still ask me,
"What is it about Muscle Shoals?"

It's just a little village
on the Alabama border.

Why does that music
come out of there?

It's an enigma.

How did so much music
take place

in such an undescript little town?

There was just something
about that place,

something that still
to this day nobody can explain.

Man: At different points in time,
on this planet,

there are certain places

where there is a field
of energy.

At this certain point in time
for this number of years,

there was Muscle Shoals.

Richards: It's a unique thing,
rooms and record-making

like that, it doesn't happen
very often.

It's usually somebody
like Rick Hall

that's like a type of maniac.

With the drive and the foresight
to do it, you know,

and he's a tough guy.

Hall: This area here is where
my roots are.

And it's helped me develop
into whatever I am today.

My father was a sawmiller,

and we lived way out
in the Freedom Hills.

No houses, no neighbors.

No kids to play with.

The floor in our house was dirt.

The heater was made
out of an oil drum.

We slept on straw beds
made out of straw

that we pulled up
in the fields.

We had no bathing facilities,
no toilets, nothing.

And we just kind of grew up
like animals.

That made me a little bitter.

Somewhat driven.

I wanted to be special.

I wanted to be somebody.

(* "Steal Away" - Jimmy Hughes)

* Can you slip away,
slip away

* Slip away, yeah

* Oh, I need you so

(tape rewinding)

The first record I cut
in this studio

was a record called
Steal Away by Jimmy Hughes.

Brand new building.
And I was hoping it had the magic.

I didn't know.

So I brought my band in,
and I went up

in the control room
and sat down.

Okay, all set?

I turned on the microphones
and nervously hit

the talk-back button
to the musicians

and said with a slight crackle
in my voice, "Rolling."

One, two, one, two,
three, four.

(music begins playing)

When they kicked off
Steal Away,

I sat behind the console...

...and wept.

I just had huge chill bumps
come up on my arms.

And the hair on the back
of my neck actually stood up.

And of course,
this was the birth

of the Muscle Shoals sound.

* I've got to see you

* Somehow

* Not tomorrow

* Right now

* I know it's late, whoa,
I can't wait

* So come on and steal away

I've heard entertainers and producers
tell me

that we got some kind
of sound here

that they can't get
anywhere else.

They have to come here.

Candi Staton: It's that, oh,
deep down into your stomach,

coming up out of your gut,

coming up out of your heart.
That's that Muscle Shoals sound.

* I won't tell

* Anybody else

* I'll keep it to myself

* I know it's late, whoa,
I can't wait

* So come on and steal away

Bono: That sound made it through
to even Ireland and Britain.

And we felt the blood in that.

We felt the...
the sort of pulse of it.

And we wanted some,
you know?

Ivey: You got to understand
that Muscle Shoals

had its own kind of R & B.

Different from Memphis,
different from Detroit,

different from New York,
different from L.A.

How did it happen in this little town
of 8,000 people,

to start this whole style of music?

Bono: It always seems
to come out of the river.

You know, even in Liverpool,

you know, the Mersey sound.

And then of course, Mississippi.

And here you have
the Tennessee River.

It's like the songs
come out of the mud.

(drums playing)

Man: We're at a place
called Ishatae.

It means it's a special place,
a holy place.

It's a place of music.

And it's a place of people.

I've been working on it
for 32 years.

There's over eight million
pounds of stones here.

It's a memorial to
my great-great-grandmother.

She was an American Indian,
and her people were Yuchi.

My grandmother's people
called this river,

that we call the Tennessee today,

they called it Nunnuhsae,
"the river that sings."

They believed a young woman
lived in the river,

sang songs to them,
and protected them.

In the year 1839,
my great-great-grandmother

was removed from right here
in Muscle Shoals.

She was taken to
the Indian Nations,

what is now present-day
Muskogee, Oklahoma.

When Grandmother
got out there to Oklahoma,

she said there were no songs.

She went and listened to
all the streams she could find

and there were no songs.

They couldn't sing,
they couldn't dance.

They couldn't hold their ceremonies.

And they got to be
very sad people.

So, she started
to come back home.

She walked all the way back.

It took her roughly five years.

She had to come back
to this river.

The river that sings.

The great dams have softened
the woman in the river's songs,

but if you go to very quiet places
and listen,

you can still hear her songs.

I know, I hear her songs
nearly every day.

Hall: When I was a young man,
starting out in the music business,

Billy Sherrill and l,
who were writing partners,

got a phone call
from a guy that wanted

to start a publishing company
with us,

and had the sum of $500
to spend on us,

which we thought was
a gold mine.

So, Tom Stafford
was a dream come true.

We went in business
and we had a little bitty studio

over Tom's father's drugstore.

We got a few cuts,
made a few bucks,

and one day, I was called in
to a meeting with Billy and Tom

and they advised me
that they were not happy

with the way things
were going and thought

that I was a little too much
of a workaholic.

And said that they wanted
to have fun

while they were
having hit records,

and that I was just too adamant
and too strong-willed,

and too pushy.

So, they decided to let me go.

So, I obviously went home,
began to lick my wounds,

and was very bitter.

During this time,
I worked at a place called

Reynolds Metals Company
in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

And I married my first wife,
Faye Marie, there.

She and I had been married
about 18 months,

and we went to Hamilton
to see Benny Martin in concert.

It was about sundown,
and I met a car

who was traveling very fast.

I swerved to go around that car.

I hit some loose gravels
on the side of the road

and went into a spin,
a tailspin.

The car turned end over end
a couple, three times,

and landed on its top.

And didn't know if she was
out or in,

but couldn't find her in the car,
it was total darkness.

I began to yell for her
and couldn't hear any noise,

except I could hear gasoline
running out of the gas tank

into the car somewhere.

And I thought, of course,
it's going to be my death

because the car's
going to catch fire

and I can't get out.

I got out of the car
and searched around

in kudzu vines
up to here.

Finally, some people stopped
with a flashlight

and we found her.

I nursed her on the way
to Hamilton Hospital.

About two o'clock in the morning,
the doctor came to me

and said,
"Your wife has passed on."

And, of course,
I freaked out.

I became a drunk,
a vagabond.

A tramp.

That changed my whole life.

It was hard times and all I had
to cling to was my music.

I slept in my car.

I ate in my car.

And I wrote songs in my car.

But I continued playing music
and it was the only love I had

at that time, and so...

I joined a little
local band in Hamilton.

From that time on,
for five years, I wrote songs,

played music,

and chased the women.

* Somebody loan me a dime

* Somebody loan me a dime

* I need to call my old time,
used to be

Hall: All this gravitated towards,

what am I going to do
with the rest of my life,

and I decided to come back
to Muscle Shoals,

but this time I came back
with a vengeance.

I came back with a determination
that I was going to

kick some ass
and take some names.

And I was going to make it
in the music business.

And so I set up shop in a little
candy and tobacco warehouse.

I closed the doors,
I hid my car.

I didn't talk to girls,
I didn't make dates,

I didn't do anything
except write songs

and I was totally obsessed
with the business.

And so shortly after that,
I ran into Arthur Alexander,

who was a local bellhop
at the Sheffield Hotel.

And he played me a song
and said, "What do you think?"

And I said, "I think it's a hit."

He said, "What are we
gonna do about it?"

I said, "We're going to cut it."
He said, "When?", I said, "Tomorrow."

I brought my band in.

Norbert Putnam,
David Briggs,

Jerry Carrigan,
Peanut Montgomery,

and Terry Thompson
were the first rhythm section

to be in the studio
and to cut a hit record.

Putnam: Now, you gotta realize
Rick Hall is this older man.

We're all 18, 19 years old.

And Rick's what, 28, 29?

He had the vision
for the recording.

Rick made records with

a group of teenage kids, okay,

that became hit records,
world-class records.

* You asked me to give up
the hand of the girl I love

* You tell me I'm not the man
she's worthy of

The very first record,
You Better Move On,

by Arthur Alexander that I produced,
I had anything to do with was a hit.

Not the second or third,
but the first session we cut

was a hit record.

Carrigan: I know Rick
was determined to cut that hit

and he did it,
but if he hadn't,

I'm of the opinion that none of this

Muscle Shoals movement

would have ever happened.

* That's up to her

* Yes, and the Lord above

* You better move on

The rest of the world
started looking at Muscle Shoals.

Thank you very much.

We're gonna do a slow one now,
it's called, You Better Move On.

It was the only thing we did like that.

And the girls really adored this song.

It was a big hit for us
in England.

It was a number-one record.

* If you ask me
to give up the hand

* Of the girl I love

I think the Beatles
beat us to Arthur Alexander

by, like, a couple of weeks.
You know, they cut Anna

and I think we cut Better Move On
maybe a month later.

There's a love
of Arthur Alexander.

* You ask me
to give up the only love

* I've ever had

Richards: At that time, we had
no idea where this was recorded,

but it's interesting to know
one of the first things that we cut

was a Muscle Shoals production,
you know.

* Better move on

This original Muscle Shoals
rhythm section

opened for the Beatles in 1964,
their first American concert.

And of course, a year later
in '65, we all go to Nashville.

Hall: These guys went on to become
great pickers and producers

and learned from experience
here at FAME,

man, we can do it.

Johnson: When they left,
there was nobody else.

We were the only game in town
for him to get.

(crowd chatter)

They took the ball
that we started rolling,

and they rolled it
and made it bigger.

Individually, I never really
thought we were great players.

But together,
we were great players.

We had the magic together.

Beckett: We liked playing funky.

All funky was was that
we didn't know how to make it smooth.

We're rock 'n' roll players, okay?

You just didn't expect them
to be as funky

or as greasy as they were.

* I know a place

* Ain't nobody cryin'

The grooves that we set up
came from rhythm and blues music.

I remember when Paul Simon
called Stax Records,

talked to Al Bell.

And said, "Hey, man,
I want those same black players

that played on
I'll Take You There.

He said, "That can happen,
but these guys are mighty pale."

* Let me take you there

* I'll take you there

* You got to, got to,
gotta let me

* I'll take you there

A lot of people
could not believe

that my whole band was white guys
that played behind me.

Bono: People have arrived
at Muscle Shoals

expecting to meet
these black dudes,

and they're a bunch of white guys
that looked like

they worked in the supermarket
around the corner.

Johnson: The Muscle Shoals
rhythm section:

David Hood, bass player.

Jimmy Johnson, guitar.

Hawkins: Roger Hawkins, drums.

Beckett: Barry Beckett,
keyboard player.

Later on, became known
as the Swampers.

Hall: A strong rhythm section
made the difference

when you went in the studio
every day with the same pickers

and the same players,
and they became a team,

and it was hard to beat that.

We began to bring in
songwriters and musicians,

anybody that wanted
to be in the music business.

(keyboard music)

Oldham: I guess during high school,
I started going over

to FAME studio.

That was like a melting pot
for songwriters, musicians.

I was, as a teenager,
really impressed with all that.

Penn: I came up here
and I'm just a kid, really.

And all these people here
were kids, too.

I mean, nobody knew anything.

Fritts: We're just doing our best
to learn how to make records

and learn how to write songs
and learn how to play music.

Most of these guys
around here, including myself,

are country people.

We come from the country.

Arthur Alexander,
Jimmy Hughes,

they were the pioneers as far
as the artist goes down here,

Percy Sledge.
These are just local people.

Sledge: I'm from a small town
called Leighton,

right outside of Muscle Shoals.

I was a little guy
working in the fields,

chopping cotton, singing to
the older people in the field

that always said that one day,

my voice would be heard
all over the world,

but I never thought
that would happen.

Percy worked at
the local hospital.

Sledge: I was a orderly working
with the sick people.

I'd sing a song for them,
you know, and they'd go to sleep.

I got such a big kick
out of that, you know,

and I could see my patient
laying up there,

smiling, you know,
and feeling better.

So one day I was invited to sing

at the Elks Club here in Sheffield.

And it just so happened Quin lvy,

who was a disc jockey at WLAY,

and he heard me sing this song.

And he loved the melody
and the feel.

He said, "Percy Sledge,
have you ever been interested

in cutting a record?"

I remember the day
I got the call.

"Will you come do keyboards
on this recording session?

Be the first recording
this artist has ever done."

Sledge: When I came into the studio,

I was shaking like a leaf.
I was scared.

* When a man loves a woman

* Can't keep his mind
on nothin' else

* He'd trade the world
for the good thing he's found

Every time that he sang the song,

he had different levels
for different parts of the song.

And everything had to be
in your wrist.

Bring the level up and down.

All I had was a voice,
I didn't know anything

about no singing, you know.

Johnson: Somehow, I got one down,
and Percy was on time with me

with a great vocal.

* He'd give up all his comforts

* And sleep out in the rain

* If she said that's the way
it ought to be

All this was just so new to me
and these guys made me feel like

hey, man, you can do it,
you got it, you know.

I used to call them my family.

Donna Thatcher,
all of them, you know.

My first wonderful experience

was singing on When a Man
Loves A Woman with Percy Sledge,

and you never know
when you're making history.

* Baby, please don't treat me bad

(phone ringing)

Hall: Quin called me
one Sunday afternoon

and said, "Do you know
of a place we can get a deal?"

And I said, "I think so,"
and I picked up the phone

and called Jerry Wexler
in New York.

Jerry Wexler was probably the biggest
record company guru in the world.

It was a man named Rick Hall
who had a studio in Muscle Shoals.

I said, "You told me if I heard
something I thought was a big hit

to call you,
and I'm calling you."

Play a little bit
of this thing here.

(music playing)

Wexler: And I heard some music
coming from there,

and it was fabulous.

What do you think?

We pressed and distributed
the record,

and that was a big hit.

* When a man loves a woman

Hall: That began a great relationship
between Jerry Wexler,

Atlantic Records,
and Rick Hall.

And of course, the record's
still one of the most

classic records in the business.

* If she's played him for a fool

* He's the last one to know

Same melody that I sang
when I been in the field.

I just wails out in the woods
and let the echo come back to me.

* When a man loves a woman

* He can do her no wrong

l, George C. Wallace...

Hall: During that era of recording
basically all-black acts,

you gotta remember
that George Wallace

was standing in
the schoolhouse door

at the University of Alabama,

making sure that no black people
came to school there.

And I say segregation now,
segregation tomorrow,

and segregation forever.

Bono: This was a politics
that could not see

past the color of your skin.

It's the kind of thing
that I know people of this era,

they wouldn't want to believe
what it used to be.

I think of all the times
when we used to take a break

from the studio
to go out and eat.

I was somewhat frightened
from time to time

when we'd go and buy dinner
for half a dozen black people.

That's where you saw,
like, what are you...

What are y'all doing
sitting there?

Even though the civil rights movement
was already in effect,

it still hadn't dawned on people
that this is the new era.

(applause)

I have a dream that one day,

down in Alabama
with its vicious racists,

one day right there in Alabama,

little black boys
and black girls

will be able to join hands
with little white boys

and white girls
as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

When I was a young boy,
it was always if I met a white boy,

I had to say, "This is Mr. Robert

or Mr. Jimmy."

But in the studio,
we got away from that,

it was Jimmy, it was Robert,
it was Clarence, you know.

You could go that way.

Or something like,
you know...

Do it one more time.

Carter: You just worked together,
you never thought about

who was white
and who was black.

You thought about
the common thing

and it was the music.

Hall: We were color blind.

There was never any situation
that came up in the studio here ever

about, "You're black
and I'm white."

Bono: And you think about the South.

They didn't believe
that black and white people

could live together.

And here are vinyl records

that prove that not only
can they live together,

you might not know
who's black and who's white.

At the time,
this was revolutionary stuff.

Carter: Music played a big part
in changing the thoughts of people,

especially in the South,
about race.

By us being in Muscle Shoals

and putting music together,

I think it went a long ways
to help people understand

that we all were just humans.

Hall: My stock went sky-high
with Wexler

after the Percy Sledge single
went number one worldwide,

and he said, "Rick, I've had
a little bit of a dispute

with Jim Stewart at Stax
and he don't want me to cut

any more records over
at his studio."

The welcoming mat for me
at Memphis was cold.

So I got the idea
of calling Rick Hall

and saying, "Hey, can I bring
Wilson Pickett down here

and make some records
with you guys?" Which we did.

(blues music plays)

Pickett: I gets off the plane,
Southern Airlines,

and here, this long, tall white man,
we call 'em peckerwoods.

Hall: I met Wilson Pickett,
picked him up at the airport.

He looked like, to me,
a dangerous man.

Pickett: He walked up like
he'd known me for 500 years.

"Hey, Wilson, come on, come on.
We gonna cut some fucking records."

We gonna really cut some records.
Come on, Wilson, come on."

I said, "Wait, wait." I'm nervous,
you know what I mean?

Now what this white man know
about producing a Wilson Pickett?

And on the way to the studio,
I'd look at him and he'd look at me,

and I could see it in his eyes,
he was thinking,

"What am I doing with this cracker
down here in Alabama?"

We went through the cotton patch,
people still picking cotton.

I said, "Is that what
I think it is?"

"Yeah, Wilson, they're still
picking cotton down here."

You can see his studio
from the cotton patch.

Pickett had a very quick temper.

I was there to make it work, period.
You know what I mean?

Hall: On session, if he didn't
like what was going on

and didn't like the attitude,

he was just liable
to whip the drummer.

Say, "Come out, son,
I'm gonna beat your ass."

I was nervous,
I was sitting behind the drums

and I was getting things together,
like drummers do,

and checking things.

Johnson: Our band was super nervous

the first time we worked
for Jerry Wexler.

We had this feeling that
if we couldn't play

what he asked us to play,
we'd probably be fired on the spot.

Wexler: I was apprehensive,
very leery,

because it was entirely different

from what we had been
doing in New York,

which was recording
with written arrangements,

arrangers, and studio players
who read the charts.

Pickett: We would get
in the studio and add

a little bit of this,
a little bit of that,

and then we'll go to lunch,
come back, and we didn't like that,

take it away, you know,
that kind of stuff.

We would sit there and we'd
make that record together.

Those guys are sitting there
in that studio,

and just find the groove,
you know?

And I'd be right there
with them, singing along

and we'd all
work it out together.

Rick Hall, he stuck there
every minute.

Rick Hall was his own engineer.
He built the studio.

He knew all the electric wiring
in there.

And that drummer they had
was fantastic.

He was a funky drummer,
but he wasn't wearing himself out

all over the place, you know?
He was just... he was just there.

We was cooking away on the thing
and Wexler was in the control room.

He said, "Baby, it's working.
Hey, baby, it's funky."

(laughing)

Rick Hall had a rhythm section
of exceptional players.

This was very inspirational to me.

Johnson: Jerry came out
at the end of the first day,

we had just cut
Land of 1,000 Dances,

and he walks out
in front of Roger,

and Roger's ears had never heard
anything like this.

Hawkins: He said, "Roger."
I said, "Yes, sir?"

He said, "Roger,
you're a great drummer."

And all of a sudden, it just...

I just kind of relaxed
and became a great drummer,

just like he said I was.

Pickett: After my first night
in that studio with them,

I was convinced that that could
be a recording home for me.

* Mustang Sally

We cut Mustang Sally
all the Funky Broadway,

The Land of 1,000 Whole Dances.

Boy, these... chewin' the...
"How do you like that, Wilson?"

Pickett and I were
soul brothers, we were.

We was nitty gritty.
Right down in the cold nitty gritty.

* Oh, guess I have to put
your flat feet on the ground now

Everything was just roses
with me with Jerry Wexler.

Jerry took a liking to us from the very
beginning.

* All you wanna do
is ride around, Sally

Wexler: There's just something
that leaps out of a record,

I call it the sonority
of the record.

It's the way the sound of the record
impacts on the ear, instantly.

And to me, that's the magic
ingredient in a phonograph record.

* Oh, I got to put
your flat feet on the ground

The Rolling Stones had it,
the Beatles had it,

and they had it,
and so from then on,

Muscle Shoals became the place that
I preferred to go and loved to go.

* Ride, Sally, ride

Hawkins: I grew up north of Florence.

It really wasn't a town,

just a dirt road.

The only way to get
to Florence, at that time,

we had no car.

My mom and I would walk

from the dirt road
down to the highway

to catch a bus
to go into Florence,

which was five miles away.

I was born in Sheffield, Alabama,

and graduated from
Sheffield High School.

While in high school, I would see
Hollis Dixon and the Keynotes.

Was the first rock 'n' roll
band around here,

and I just fell in love with that.

I thought, "I've got to learn
how to do that."

Beckett: You got Roger Hawkins
in a group called The Del Rays.

Jimmy Johnson was playing guitar.

I remember hearing
the Del Rays

when I was going to
the University of Alabama.

And I remember, I could not
get into the fraternity house.

So I had to stay outside
and listen to it.

The ground was rumbling, okay?
It was such a great band.

Johnson: We met each other
when we started playing

at the Tuscumbia National Guard
Armory at the square dance.

Half the night
was rock 'n' roll,

and then after that
it was all square dance.

We made $10 each for that.

After Wilson Pickett, I became
Jerry's right hand man.

And so he said, "I'm thinking
about signing a new act,

her name is Aretha Franklin.

She's on CBS Records
and it's not happening,

they can't sell records on her.

* I'm only one step
ahead of heartbreak

I had heard her real smooth
records on Columbia.

You couldn't really
get your teeth into 'em.

* One step is all I have to take

These lush arrangements
that she was doing at CBS,

which weren't successful either.

No one knew what to do.
She had this great voice,

but lots of people
have a great voice.

I've still got to find out
who and what I really am.

I don't know yet.

I'm trying to find the answer.

Wexler: I wasn't exactly hoping
that she wouldn't have

any hits on Columbia Records.

But the way it went, they
dropped her after five years.

A week later we were in
my office in New York,

we signed her up.

He said, "You know, I've got
this great little studio

down in Muscle Shoals,
and these cats...

These cats are really greasy.
You gonna love it."

Penn: She walks in.

Right over there.

And she's got this aura
around her, pretty thick.

I mean, the girl was special.

I remember watching the guys
being good southern boys,

They'd carry on with anything
except looking or dealing with her.

So she walked right over
to the piano.

She sat there a moment.

And then she just hit this
unknown chord, I would say.

Didn't anybody have to say,
"We're about to cut."

Franklin: We did what we called
head sessions at that time,

and there was no real music
written for it.

The musicians would just listen
to what it was I was doing,

and then they would decide what
they were going to do around that.

I think we heard a little demo of this song,

Never Loved a Man
the Way I Love You.

Penn: To me it sounded
pretty much like junk.

I'm thinking, "That's the song
they going to cut?"

There was discussions.
Jerry Wexler and Rick.

There was a little confusion
and there was a little turmoil.

Everybody was a little uptight.

We can't find a groove, a beat,
a place to start.

Penn: They were, just had
all these gears working,

but finally it just came to a...

(makes noise)

And suddenly
it was really quiet.

They had a song, they had an artist,
but nobody knew what to do.

Not even all these geniuses.

But out of that quietness
came Spooner with...

(keyboard music)

And I said,
"Hey, Spooner's got it!

That's it."
Aretha jumped right on it.

* You're a no good heartbreaker

* You're a liar and you're a cheat

It was cut within
15 to 20 minutes.

You didn't have to ask,
"What do you think?"

Everybody knew it was a hit.

I think everything came together
for Aretha in Muscle Shoals.

They got Aretha to record
a much more funky kind of style

in Muscle Shoals.
It was really the essence of her.

* 'Cause I ain't never

* I ain't never

* I ain't never, no, no

* Loved a man the way
that l, I love you

Franklin: Coming to Muscle Shoals
was the turning point.

That's where I recorded
I Never Loved a Man,

which became my first
million-selling record.

So absolutely
it was a milestone

and the turning point
in my career.

* Oh, oh, oh

* Yeah

* Yeah

* I ain't never loved a man

We cut I Never Loved a Man,
which people to this day

still regard as being
maybe her most soulful

and really funkiest record.

* Well, this is what
I'm gonna do about it

Woman: That's one of those songs,

the ones that give you the chills,

the ones that give you the goose bumps,

the ones that you're like,

"I wish I sang a record
like that."

We had a whole week planned
to cut tracks, a whole week,

but at the end of the session

we found out
that there was a problem.

There was a ruckus.

One of the horn players,

and Aretha's then husband,
Ted White, got into it.

This new horn player
started saying things like,

"Aretha, baby,"
and it was just enough

that Ted White got offended.

Wexler: They'd been drinking
from the same jug,

and now this camaraderie
and great palship

turned into some kind
of alcoholic hostility.

Hall: Ted comes into the control room
with Wexler and I and says,

"I want the trumpet player fired."
I looked at Wexler and said,

"What do you think?"
He said, "Go fire him."

So I went and fired him.

That later caused a big argument
and caused the session to end.

I got a hold
of the bottle of vodka

and I took a couple...
three drinks of it.

And I said, "Wexler,
I'm going to go over to the hotel

and get with Ted and them
and we'll work this thing out."

He said, "No,
I don't want you to go."

And I said, "Yeah, well, I'm
not going to start any trouble,"

I said, "I'll go over
and work it out.

We'll become buddies
and I'll work everything out."

He said, "No, Rick, don't go,
please don't go."

So anyhow, I had had
a couple more drinks

and I went over then.

Banged on Ted and Aretha's door
and Ted came to the door.

And he started pointing his finger
in my face and so forth.

And we fought
and fought and fought.

He was trying to throw me
over the balcony

and I was trying to throw him.
It was downtown,

and we was up on about
the fourth floor.

Franklin: My former husband
never came back that night

and I decided
that I was leaving.

I had never been
to Muscle Shoals before,

or away from home,
really, by myself.

And so I just said,
"I'm going to the airport."

And when I got to the airport,
I saw him with the bell captain.

I said, "Whoa, this son of a gun
was going to leave me down here."

Unbelievable.

Hall: They left town
the next day, early.

So Wexler came and said to me,

"I will never set foot in this
studio as long as I live again.

I will bury you."

And I said, "You can't bury me."
He said, "Why can't I?"

I said, "Because you're too old.

I'll be around
after you're gone."

So the next day I showed up
and on the board it says,

"Session Cancelled."

And I thought, "Oh, man,
it's over, we've had it."

But a few days later
Jerry Wexler calls

and asks if we can
go to New York

and finish the album there.

He didn't have
to ask us twice.

On that album was
R-E-S-P-E-C-T, Respect.

* What you want

* Baby, I got it

Hawkins: To be a part of something
like that is unbelievable.

It was milestone stuff.

* Is for a little respect
when you come home

- * Just a little bit
- * Hey, baby

- * When you get home
- * Just a little bit

- * Mister
- * Just a little bit

Hood: The Swampers went on
and recorded with Aretha

on many hit records.

Franklin: Sweet, Sweet Baby,
Natural Woman,

Think,
The House that Jack Built,

Call Me,
Do Right Woman, Do Right Man,

Chain of Fools,
and so many, many others.

Of course it worked out incredibly.

And it's been one
of the anomalies, I think,

of the era that
Aretha's greatest work

came with a studio full
of Caucasian musicians.

How do you figure it?

This is the Queen of Soul
acknowledged.

Here we have Roger Hawkins,

and David Hood,
Jimmy Johnson,

Barry Beckett,
Spooner Oldham,

coming out with
probably the deepest

and most intense R & B
of the era.

* R-E-S-P-E-C-T,
Find out what it means to me

* R-E-S-P-E-C-T,
take care T-C-B

* Sock it to me, sock it to me,
sock it to me

* A little respect

* Sock it to me, sock it to me,
sock it to me

* Whoa, babe,
a little respect

* Just a little bit

* I get tired
Keep on tryin'

* You're running out of fools
and I ain't lyin'

Hall: So after my dispute
with Wexler,

he took Aretha away.

And on my part, I felt like
I really screwed up.

So I went to Chicago
and I spoke to Leonard Chess

'cause he said,
"I wonder what I got to do

to get you to do some sides
for Chess Records."

I said, "Who do you
want me to do?"

He said, "I'd like you
to do Etta James."

When I looked at him,
I says, "God, Rick Hall.

So this is FAME
Recording Studios,

and I'm in Alabama
and now this is going to be,

you know, the real thing here.
I'm going to get

some of this Alabama mud,"
all that kind of stuff.

Hall: Etta James is probably one
of my favorite chicks of all time.

Leonard said, "You know, Rick,
I built my company on her back.

When you think she's singing
as good as she can sing,

if you'll kick her ass
and wind her up,"

he said, "She can rattle
the shingles on this studio."

* You thought
you hadn't found a good girl

* One to love you
and give you the world

Rick Hall was actually
the first white man

that I had seen
that had that kind of soul,

that was an engineer
and was soulful, you know?

Hood: We recorded
a Clarence Carter song.

With Clarence it was,
Tell Daddy,

but with Etta it was,
Tell Mama.

She didn't want to do the song
because I think she had a problem

with somebody
suggesting to her

that she was going to
take care of some man.

I would be so hardheaded
and, you know, just,

"Don't tell me nothing,"
you know?

Hall: She had a temper like a lion.

I said, "If you'll do it
for an hour, if it's not happening,

we'll garbage it,
we'll throw it in the garbage."

James: I finally realized everything
that he used to badger me about,

he was always right.

* Tell mama all about it

* Tell mama what you need

* Tell mama

And, of course, the record was
to become a big, big hit on her.

Everybody said that that song
raised her from the grave,

you know, and brought her
back to prominence.

Each time a person
went to Muscle Shoals,

they came out of there
with a hit record.

You had to know that there was
something magic in Muscle Shoals.

Man: The spirit of Muscle Shoals

permeates not only
the city itself, physically,

but I think the people
who came through there.

The place has a soul.

(piano music)

Hall: W.C. Handy was from
the Muscle Shoals area

and everyone that knows
about the blues

is familiar with W.C. Handy.

Jagger: Well, he's one of the great
popularizers of the blues.

Before, it was
a kind of gutbucket music

that didn't have
a lot of respect.

He kind of legitimized
the music.

All the bands were playing
the same thing,

but no one had written it down.

Well, he was the first one
to write it down.

That made him
the Father of the Blues,

and made this area famous.

Hall: Sam Phillips was also
from the Muscle Shoals area.

And Sam was kind of my tutor
and I kind of looked upon him

as being the guy
I wanted to be.

Bono: Sam Phillips
came out of there.

I mean, didn't he invent
rock and roll or something?

Man: My dad, Sam Phillips,
was the first to record Elvis,

Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis,
Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison.

But a lot of people don't realize

that he only worked
specifically with black artists

in the very beginning.

Well, the basic feeling I had
for black artists

of course originated
when I was very young

on a farm in Alabama.

I felt a certain spirituality
about the black man's music.

And hearing it
in the cotton fields,

that made one hell
of an impression on me.

Man: Mr. Phillips heard people
singing in the fields

and heard trains rumbling through

and the river
roaring around the bend

down here in the shoals.

It's a subconscious rhythm
that gets in your head.

There's like a groove,
there's a pocket

that sticks in your gut.

It's connected all of us.

Carter: Helen Keller
was from Muscle Shoals,

and it was just
always amazing to me

the things she was able
to accomplish being blind and deaf.

White: Helen Keller was deaf,
completely mute,

completely blind.

And her only way of
communicating with the world

is with gestures.

You can still go to her house
and see the well

where she learned
her first word,

which was "water."

Keys: There's obviously
an incredible connection

to water here.

So you can see why
that would be the first word

that Helen Keller learned, "water."

There's such a power
in this place,

and you feel it whether you can
hear it and see it or not.

I'm a great believer
that landscape

is always very important
in music,

and somehow music
can reflect landscapes.

* Something told me
it was over

* Yeah

* When I saw
you and her talking

People ask me always,
"What is the Muscle Shoals sound?"

Carter: You had a lot
of black musicians

playing with a lot
of white musicians,

and we all got
a different way of playing,

but it blends
so well together.

There was this coming together
of styles.

Oldham: And there was some
hillbilly background there,

there's some black music.

We were open minded
to be any genre.

* Ooh

* I would rather, I would rather
go blind, boy

* Than to see you
walk away from me, child

* Hoo

Hood: The Muscle Shoals sound,
I think,

has a very heavy bass and drum
featured in the sound.

And it just, that was
what sounded right to us.

"Turn up the bass,
turn up the drums."

Bono: This was, at the time,
cutting edge technology.

The fact that a drum kit
could be close-mic'd

meant that they could
turn up the bass drum.

That's what created that blacker
sound, that African sound,

that allowed you
to be sweet on the topsoil

but knowing that deep down
in the ground

there was some fierceness.

* Ooh

* I was just,
I was just

* I was just
sittin' here thinkin'

* Ooh

* Of your kiss
and your warm embrace, yeah

Hall: Woo, come on, there.

(horn honking)

Woo! Woo!

Hall: When I was a young boy,

my mother was washing clothes

out in the yard
with a wash pot.

And the pot had
boiling hot water in it.

My brother,
who was three years old,

was playing in the backyard
with my first cousin,

and they were
pulling on a stick.

My brother ran backwards

and fell into the pot
of scalding water.

So my mother took him
in her arms

and went screaming
across the field

hunting my father.

He came running
and they took him to the doctor

in Red Bay, Alabama.

And they took his clothes off

and all of his skin
came off inside of his clothes.

He died three days later.

That was the start
of the decline

between my father's
and my mother's relationship.

He kind of blamed her
for the accident,

and she probably blamed him
for not being at home.

She left us and said,

"I'll never live with you again,"
and, "Forget about me."

She moved in with Aunt Ess
who ran a red-light district.

So my father asked people
what she was doing up here.

And they said,
"Well, Herman,

you know what
the other girls are doing?"

And he said, "Yes, I do."

And they said,
"Dolly is doing the same thing."

It was earth-shattering for me.

Even after all these years
and being away from her

and not spending much time
with her in my life,

not a day goes by that I don't
really miss my mother.

More acoustic guitar.

* I ain't easy to love

* Scars have made me
black and blue

* But I feel
a lot less broken

Okay, all right, hold on.

There's too much happening.

I just need the intro and
everybody needs to cool it

a little bit and back off.

If everybody comes in
from the top,

where are you going to
go from there?

If you get a chance or two
to cut a record,

produce a record and
get a budget to do it with

and you don't have a hit,
you will never get another call.

So I was always aware of that.
I always felt that every record,

my life depended on it.

Time is like, "time." It's like
you're whispering that part.

All right. You know,
I can always do mine over.

I know we can, honey,
but I like to do it this way.

- All right.
- Staton: Rick is so meticulous.

Oh, it's just a joy and pain
to work with Rick.

'Cause he won't stop
until he gets what he wants.

If it takes three days
on one song,

Rick's going to get
what he wants.

We're doing just what we just
got through doing.

We're doing the same thing
over again,

and I just want to perfect it
a little better.

We've changed a couple
of things, so you got to listen.

Hood: Rick was
a very demanding boss.

He would take a thousand takes
of something till he was satisfied.

And sometimes he would not know
what he was looking for,

but he would keep working
until he got it.

Hall: I'm talking about...
it's too bright.

Oh, okay, I thought you were...
wanted it bright.

Well, I did want it bright
until I heard it.

When you hear it with the track
it's a whole different thing.

You got to listen to it
in perspective.

That was very frustrating
and hard on the musicians

because you think,
"Well, I already did that."

Nobody ever worked
in the music business

without getting their ass kicked.

If they did,
they're on the street somewhere

pushing a wheelbarrow of concrete.

Boyce: He was kind of like
a task master,

and I don't fault him for that

because he is
an imperfect perfectionist.

That's what made him
great, though.

* Oh, please forgive me, darlin'

* I ain't easy to love

(guitar music)

Hall: Duane Allman, of course,
came into Muscle Shoals

and wanted a gig.

So he put up his pup tent
on my parking lot

at the studio and found me.
I gave him his shot.

Hood: When Duane showed up,

he was probably
one of the first guys

with long hair
and kind of the hippie look,

but what really
made him stand out

was he was
a wonderful guitar player.

Hall: I had never heard
a slide guitar

played like Duane Allman
could play it.

Hood: Duane had been
in Los Angeles,

had a group called The Hourglass
with his brother Gregg.

Man: They signed us
on this big contract,

and they wouldn't let us play anywhere.

I think the first year we were there
we played like three concerts.

So he finally said,
"Hey, I've had it with this place.

I'm leaving."

And he wound up
in Muscle Shoals.

But right before he left,

I talked him into going
horseback riding with me

'cause we weren't
doing anything.

Finally went out there
and I said,

"Listen, we go from
the barn out to the field.

We got to cross a paved road."

I said, "The horse is shod."
He says, "What?"

"It's got shoes on,
you know?

And if he slips,
he'll bust both of your butts,

so don't give him any reins."
And guess what happened?

And he hit right here.

He couldn't play.

And he wouldn't let me
in his house for about six weeks.

And, I mean, that was...
that was terrible

'cause, I mean, you know,
growing up without a father,

he was somewhat
of a father figure to me

even though he was only
a year and 18 days older.

So it came his birthday,
November the 20th,

and I went out and bought
the first Taj Mahal record

and a bottle of Coricidin pills.

He had this cold
and he had his arm in a sling.

He was pissed off
at the world,

and I did what I could do.

I put it down
in front of his door,

I had it wrapped up
and everything.

And I knocked on the door
and ran.

(blues guitar)

I guess about
two and a half hours later

my phone rings and it's him.

He says, "Get over here,
baybrah, quick!"

And "baybrah," he called me that,
"baby brother,"

endearing handle
he had for me.

He said, "Man, check this out."

He had been listening
to Jesse Ed Davis

play Taj Mahal
and he's playing slide.

He said, "Man, I dumped out
all them pills,

and I washed the label
off the bottle."

He said, "Check this out."
He's got his hand still in the sling

and he's going... you know,

and he's just already
killing it, you know?

I've still got that bottle,
by the way, somehow.

Hood: When Duane came here,

he was on the Wilson Pickett session
that we did.

Johnson: There was always a slight
problem when we would go out,

all of us white boys
with a black artist,

that we would get looks, okay?

But there was nothing
as bad as going out

with a long-haired hippie
with us white boys.

They couldn't stand that, right?

And so both of them
stayed back.

So, they went on lunch break

and my brother went up
to Wilson and he said,

"Man, why don't you cut Hey Jude,

you know, that Beatles song?"

Pickett: And at that point,
I was mostly trying to create

an original career
Wilson Pickett, right? My songs.

Pickett and l, in unison,
both said, "Look, are you crazy?

We're going to cover the Beatles?"

And of course Duane said, "Exactly."

While we were gone,
Duane changed our whole session.

* Just remember
to let her under your skin

When you get to the vamp,

it goes into just
an unbelievable groove.

* Ow

* Ah

* Ahhh

* Oh oh ooh

* Hey, Jude

* Ahh

Johnson: Duane Allman was playing
such great guitar fills

that something happened
in that vamp.

* Ahh, hey

And all of a sudden,
there was southern rock.

* Gonna be all right

That was the beginnings
of The Allman Brother Band.

Allman: Jaimoe met my brother first.

The two of them got together.

Man: When I met Duane,
he had a cabin he lived in

down on the river
in Muscle Shoals.

And it was like...
Well, it was a nice place down there.

Allman: In his spare time,
he would do a lot of fishing.

Muscle Shoals seemed to be

the place for him
to be at that time.

Jaimoe: He would do sessions.

And I would sit over
with them at practice.

And when he would
get through the session,

he'd roll his amplifier over there

and the two of us would play.

And then,
when Berry Oakley came down...

(whistles)

Boy, the three of us had never
played music like that.

But that was pretty much
the base of what turned out to be

The Allman Brothers Band.

Hall: Duane said, "Well, Rick,
this is the kind of music

that's coming in,
this is going to be big again.

The kids are really
liking this stuff."

And I said, "Yeah, don't breathe
on me, Duane, back off."

I never believed him
and I told Phil Walden,

"I don't understand this." They're
sleeping in the studio all day

under quilts and things,
and I wake up Duane and he says,

"Man, you know,
the stars and the moon

are not quite lined up right."
I'm not into all that.

He said,
"Well, hang in there, man.

Turn on the machines
and let them run

and eventually you're gonna
make a billion dollars."

I said, "I can't do that,
it's not me."

So I missed the boat
on that one.

(train whistle blowing)

(keyboard plays)

Sledge: Time, old time.

Things change it, you know.

I never will forget
when Jimi Hendrix

played behind me
on Broadway.

He was playing in the band
with King Curtis, and I told King,

"I think I'm going to steal
that guitar player you got."

He said, "Percy Sledge,
that guy there

is going to be so big
in the next year or two."

He said, "I can't keep him and you
won't be able to keep him either."

When Jimi came out
with his style of music,

well, our style of music
kind of slacked back.

Time always changes organizations

and things that
you're doing in life.

Johnson: Things happened in our world
that changed everything.

We decided to become entrepreneurs

and become studio owners.

So we had to tell Rick,

who was our mentor and friend
and who had gave us our chance.

We elected Roger
to go break the news to him.

Hall: I had gone to L.A. to try to
make a new deal with Capitol Records.

We made a great deal
and things were really exciting,

and I came back and had
a meeting with the Swampers.

We were supposed to come up
and sign the contract

and be exclusive to Rick.

Rick's office is upstairs

and we're just kind of
looking at each other like,

"Oh, my God,
we got to go up those stairs."

Up the stairs we go,
knock on the door.

Everybody's quiet.

I began to tell them
of this great new deal

we'd made with Capitol.

I'm looking at them like,
"Come on, guys, help me."

And they're just like...

One of the guys
stopped me and said,

"We've already made a deal
with Jerry Wexler

and he is going to build us
a studio across town.

We'll be leaving here,
going with him."

And when Roger dropped that bomb
in that office,

we were expecting
a huge explosion.

I felt like the whole bottom
of my life had fell out.

It's like we have thrown shit
on his dreams.

Johnson: Do you remember
what he said?

He said,
"You're never gonna make it."

It was war.

Total war.

Hood: When we bought the studio,
we were very nervous

about whether or not
we would have any hits.

And you have to have hits
to keep recording.

Hawkins: Jerry came to record at
our place, and he brought Cher in,

and that was our first client.

Nothing happened,
it wasn't any good.

Six months went by,
seven months, almost eight months.

I think we would have killed
for the hit record.

We always wanted to own a studio
and it was like,

"What the hell have we done?"

And then all of a sudden,
the English rock and roll guys

started wanting to come
to Muscle Shoals.

When we went to record in Muscle
Shoals, it was a lightning visit.

We just went in there, set up,

and, you know, played our stuff
for a couple of days.

The sound was in my head
before I even got there.

And then, of course,

when that actually
lives up to it and beyond,

you know, then you're in
rock and roll heaven, man.

* You got to move

* You got to move

* You got to move, child

* You got to move

* Oh, when the Lord

* Get ready

* You got to move

The first thing we did
was a blues tune, You Got To Move.

Richards: We're down in Alabama,
you know, in Muscle Shoals,

we've got to cut
some Fred McDowell stuff.

If ever I'm going to do it,
it's got to be here, you know,

and we're probably soaking up
the Indian maiden, too.

* Get ready

* You got to move

We don't come from here,
but we know quite a bit

about the Deep South.
From here.

Johnson: Their producer did not show.

And it wound up
I became the engineer.

And I was thinking,
"Oh, man, can you believe this?"

Because right when they come in,
you know, you're...

Yeah, but that's there,
it doesn't come in till the solo.

No, I know.

Johnson: But I must point
something out here,

that nobody was drinking
and nobody was drugging.

Well...
(chuckles)

* You got to move

(tape rewinding)

Jagger: I think we were drinking
quite a lot.

I'm sure there were
lots of drinking

and smoking marijuana
and so on.

Well, you know, I mean,

you put it on a scale
of what, you know?

That was recording
in those days,

that was part of it.

But otherwise it was a lot
of serious work as well.

And once we knew
the room was tuned to us

and we were tuned to the room,
then it became, you know,

"Right, let's get as much done here
as we possibly can," you know?

Jagger: Keith had this tune
Wild Horses,

but I don't think
that was really finished.

He had a chorus,
but that was about it.

So that was all written
on the spot.

It was just an idea,

and it had to go to the bathroom
for a little while,

just to sort of figure it out.

And then say, "Okay, I'm ready."

Back in, and then take,
you know?

* Childhood living

* Is easy to do

* The things you wanted

Jagger: Muscle Shoals Studio is in
this rather interesting place.

Being there does inspire you
to do it slightly differently.

Wild Horses is a sort
of country song,

and I remember
we used Jim Dickinson,

he played tack piano.

* A sin and a lie

* I have my freedom

* But I don't have much time

* Wild horses

* Couldn't drag me away

* Wild, wild horses

* We'll ride them someday

I thought it was
one of the easiest

and rockingest sessions
that we'd ever done.

I don't think we'd been
quite so prolific ever.

I mean, we cut three,
four tracks in two days,

and that, for the Stones,
is going some...

We left on a high with Brown Sugar.

We knew we had one of
the best things we'd ever done.

Jagger: The thing about Brown Sugar,
it had this sound,

it was quite distorted.

It was pretty funky, you know.
That was the whole idea of it.

I always wanted to go
back there and cut more.

Then shit happened,
so we ended up in France

in a basement doing
Exile on Main St. There,

but otherwise, Exile would probably
have been cut in Muscle Shoals,

but politically,
it wasn't possible.

I wasn't allowed
in the country at the time.

So, there's that, you know.

* Brown sugar

* How come you taste so good

* Brown sugar

* Just like a young girl should

Those sessions were as vital to me

as any I've ever done.

I mean, all this other stuff,

Beggars Banquet
and the other stuff we did,

Gimme Shelter,
Street Fighting Man,

Jumpin' Jack Flash,
you know.

But I've always wondered

that if we'd have cut them
in Muscle Shoals,

if they might not have been
a little bit funkier.

* Drums beatin',
cold English blood runs hot

* Lady of the house
wonderin' where it's gonna stop

* House boy knows
that he's doing all right

* You shoulda heard him
just around midnight

(whooshing)

Hall: So, I got this great new deal
with Capitol Records,

but I've had this feud with Wexler,
and he's taken my musicians

and going across town and going to
put me out of business, so he says.

Ivey: I imagine Rick was pissed.

Hey, I got this deal.

Now I don't have a rhythm section.

Hall: But if Jerry thinks
these are the only guys

left in the world that you
can cut hit records on,

then he's mistaken,
because I believed

that I could cut hit records
with any group of musicians.

We began to call
every musician we knew

and put them under contract.

Ivey: So, that's why he calls me,
get me up there real quick,

and he said,
"Do you know a bass player?"

I said, "I know
a great bass player."

Boyce: So I started playing,
and he said,

"Do you know of any other
rhythm guys?"

I said, "Yeah, Freeman Brown,"

who became one of the best
fat back drummers for Muscle Shoals.

He said, "And I also
need a horn section."

And I said, "Yeah, there's some guys
that I met out of Nashville."

Thompson: Rick Hall
wanted to put a band together

and call it the "Fame Gang,"

and I ended up being part of that.

Hall: For me to surround myself
with the strongest people I could

made me a better producer.

Now, here's what we're going
to do, we're going to let him

play back the tape
four or five times in succession,

I want to work with the horns.

This is a sad song.

So don't jive it up too much.

(imitates horn)

And take away from the lyrics
so it sounds like a dance record.

The truth is after Barry Beckett,
and Jimmy Johnson,

Roger Hawkins, David Hood left
and bought their own studio,

we come in here with
this new rhythm section

who was not really
a studio band yet,

but 1971, Rick Hall's
the producer of the year.

He didn't have that
with the other guys.

Hall: I started over again,

and I believed I was
as good as anybody.

Here's Candi Staton
to sing her big, big hit on FAME.

Boyce: At FAME, we experienced
a lot of great artists,

starting with Candi Staton.

Pretty mama.

We started to explode.

The world was coming
to Muscle Shoals.

* You may think I'm silly

* To love a man twice my age

* But I know from experience, girls

* Sometime, it pays

I did Bobbie Gentry
for Capitol Records,

I did King Curtis, I did Lou Rawls.

Little Richard, Willie Hightower,

Mac Davis, Joe Tex.

* I'd rather be
an old man's sweetheart

* Than to be
a young man's fool

Ivey: And we cut all those records
when Donny Osmond,

the Osmond Brothers,
in 1971.

I think they sold something
in the neighborhood

of 23 million records
in one year.

Hall: Joe Simon, the group Alabama,

Paul Anka, and Tom Jones.

Clarence Carter,
Wilson Pickett, Bobby Womack.

Hall: I had one of the biggest record
companies in the world behind me.

I was getting twice
the quality rate

that I was getting
from Atlantic and Chess.

So I was shitting
in high cotton.

(laughs)

* I'd rather be
an old man's sweetheart

* Than to be
a young man's fool

* Don't want to be your fool

Johnson: We were forming a production
company in about '69 or '70.

And our friend, Alan Walden,

found this band in Jacksonville
called Lynyrd Skynyrd.

I was a sucker to want
to cut that band immediately,

so we signed them.

Man: When I first joined
Lynyrd Skynyrd,

Ronnie had always talked

about the guys in Muscle Shoals.

Apparently, they had
gone up there and recorded

an entire album
with Jimmy Johnson producing.

They had no money,

and I remember they would come up
here and they'd check in a truck stop

where they'd get in fights
with the truckers

'cause of their long hair.
And basically,

all they had to eat
was peanut butter sandwiches

the whole time.

But I loved this band.

I didn't know if it'd be a hit,
but I'll tell you one thing,

if you listen to those songs,

some of the best rock and roll songs
I've ever heard.

Especially one.

(piano music)

At the time we were
cutting Free Bird,

we took a little lunch break.

We walk in, the engineer
had started playing the tape.

Billy Powell,
who's the roadie,

he was sitting in there
playing this concert piano

that was so unbelievable,

that we walked in just in,
like... awe,

with our mouth open.

And I look at Ronnie
and he looks at me,

and I said, "I got to go
and record with that.

I don't know about you."
And he said, "You got it."

We put him on the record,
and then he became

a band member
within a few months.

He was a concert pianist,

and nobody knew it,
not anybody.

I think he thought
they wouldn't like that,

you know, that he had studied.

But what a great thing
he added to their records.

But there was something
different about this band.

I mean, on this album,
I had a nine-minute single,

and I'm going to go and try
to sell it to a record company

that's never had a single
over three and a half minutes.

I mean, I got problems.

* If I leave here tomorrow

* Would you still remember me

But there started to be
a lot of interest,

and they said,
"We want you to cut it down

to 3:45 on this one."

I said, "Nope, can't do it."

And I knew
that if I did that,

I'd destroy the integrity
of the band.

I said, "Go listen to them live,

and then you'll know
what to do."

* But if I stay here with you now

* Things just couldn't
be the same

Not one A & R department
would go listen to them,

so it wound up,
I lost a band.

And here, I had
all these great cuts,

I cut the first Free Bird,
Simple Man,

I mean, all this stuff, you know?

And I wasted almost
two years of my life,

and it's very depressing for me,

and I'm sure it was for them.

* And this bird
you cannot change

* Oh

But the Skynyrd boys had one thing
in their favor going for them:

that guy, Alan Walden,
that I talked to you about,

he got them on a Who tour.

World tour with The Who.

When they came
off of that Who tour,

they were a hit band.

* Lord, I can't change

* Won't you fly high

* Oh, free bird, yeah

(crowd cheering)

Johnson: And then the crash happened.

And Gary and Allen
got well enough from the crash,

they come to me and say,
"We want 11 songs

of your 17 to be the next album,"

and it was called,
"The First and the Last."

(engine starting)

Hall: My father raised me,
he cooked the meals,

he got us off to school.

I spent hours and hours

in the woods with him
cutting timber.

He preached to me constantly,

"You got to be the best
at whatever you do,

and good is not good enough,

you've got to be
the best in the world,

not just the best
in this county."

He had worked hard,
and I'd worked hard with him

all of our lives,
and so I wanted to do something

to make life easier for him,

so I bought him a new
John Deere tractor.

He'd always wanted a tractor.

We never could afford a tractor.

During this time,

my dad was plying
on the little tractor

about a quarter of a mile
from our house.

My stepmother went out
to look for my father,

and she saw the tractor wheels
turned up in the air,

and she knew something bad
had happened.

He was pinned under the tractor.

He had tried to get away
and had pawed in the ground

trying to free himself.

Of course, after his death,

I went into a deep stupor.

I mean, it's just overwhelming.

I was playing in Texas,

and Rick Hall
called me and told me

he had a song he wanted me
to come up there and do.

* I was born and raised
down in Alabama

* On a farm
way back up in the woods

* I was so ragged that folks
used to call me Patches

* Papa used to
tease me about it

* Of course, deep down inside,
he was hurt

* 'Cause he'd done
all he could

Carter: When Rick played the song
to me,

I said, "We're going
the wrong direction."

Hall: He didn't like the song

because he thought
it was a downer

for his people,
the black people.

* My papa was a great old man

"My papa was
a great old man,

I can see him with
a shovel in his hand.

Education he never had,

but he did wonders
when times got bad."

* The little money
from the crops he raised

And it was my story
about me and my father.

* Oh, life had kicked him
down to the ground

* When he tried to get up,
life would kick him back down

* One day Papa called me
to his dying bed

* Put his hands on my shoulders
and in tears he said

* He said, Patches,
I'm depending on you, son

* To pull the family through

* My son,
it's all left up to you

All the things
went through my mind

of how he killed himself
working for his son

and had lived vicariously through me

thinking, "I couldn't make it,
but maybe my son Rick can make it."

* Sometimes I felt
that I couldn't go on

* I wanted to leave,
just run away from home

* But I would remember
what my daddy said

* With tears in his eyes
on his dying bed

So, I was so taken
by the story

that I wanted to do a special
production on it with strings,

and I wanted to go to L.A.
and do it, and I did.

* To do the rest

I was a believer in Rick Hall
knowing what to do,

and if he said
that was a good song,

okay, let's sing the song.

* Patches, I'm depending
on you, son

* To pull the family through

When it came out,

it was going up the charts
in a hurry.

That was a number one record.

* Patches, I'm depending
on you, son

* I tried to do my best

* It's up to you
to do the rest

The artists who come here,
they come to get away from it all.

They can rest,

stay away from the telephone,

the hustle and bustle,
and people bugging them

regarding autographs
or what have you.

Nobody knows them here,
in other words.

Jagger: People like to go to places

that had a kind of magical
kind of vibe about them,

but they also liked
to get out of New York

or out of L.A.
or out of London sometimes

to do these sessions.

King: I mean, that was really
the first of its kind

that attracted music people
from all over the world.

Sure, people go
to New York to record.

You know, big deal.
You know, go to Muscle Shoals

where you can actually
get lunch at a meat and three

and really experience
the Southern way of life.

I mean, there's nothing like it.

Cliff: When I went to Muscle Shoals
to record,

for me, it was more
like going to my village

in Somerton, in Jamaica.

I did actually feel,
I'm at home.

* Sitting here in limbo

* But I know it won't be long

Hood: Jimmy had a very definite
Jamaican songwriting style,

and this was
pre-Bob Marley,

so nobody was really hip
to the Jamaican sound that much.

Cliff: Here I am, going there
with a different brand of feeling,

and they were readily
adaptable to it.

Hawkins: When an artist
would come in,

what our job was to us
is to become their band.

King: They were able
to change who they were

depending on the artist
that walked in the door.

That was the true genius of it.

* I can't say
what life will show me

* But I know what I've seen

* I can't say
where life will leave me

* But I know where I've been

* Tried my hand at love
and friendship

* But all that is past and gone

* This little boy is moving on

Cliff: The song, Sitting in Limbo,

was such a fresh piece of music

that you couldn't help but notice it.

* Sitting in limbo

And so, definitely the Swampers,

all white guys,
played their role

in bringing reggae
to the forefront of the public.

* Sitting in limbo, limbo, limbo

It was after those sessions

that Chris Blackwell had the idea

to link them up
with Steve Winwood.

Winwood: When we were going through
our formative years,

I started hearing
this Southern soul music,

and of course, I didn't
really have any concept

of Muscle Shoals
or the musicians

or their background,

when I was first
hearing this music.

I just knew that the music had
something very special for me,

so when we actually
got to work with them,

it was an amazing experience for us.

* Sometimes I feel so uninspired

Hawkins: Recording with Traffic
was a very strange thing.

It was...
To me, it was strange.

Winwood: Of course, Traffic
weren't a mainstream band at all.

We would try
and take elements

of rock, jazz, folk music,

all sorts of different
ethnic music.

Our own particular name for it
was Headless Horseman music.

* But don't let it get you down

Hawkins: They didn't
go about recording

the way that we were used to.

At that time, I was
trying to be real precise.

Traffic was the exact opposite.

It sounds terrible,
let's play it anyway.

It might not ever sound good,
but let's play it.

It wasn't an immediate,
easy marriage.

Hawkins: But as time went on,
I started,

I guess you might say,
opening up a little bit.

I was forced to learn
how to jam again.

Winwood: The song that stands out
for me off that album

is (Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired.

What Muscle Shoals did to that song
was truly spectacular.

They brought these rhythmic elements
and harmonic elements

that we could never have reached.

Hawkins: And then
Chris Blackwell says,

"Well, we'd like for you guys
to go on the road with us."

And so, we'd go out
and play with Traffic

at these big venues
and 20,000 people.

Winwood: We were just thrilled
that they agreed,

but of course,
they'd actually never

been on the road with anyone.

There were times
when Jim and I and Chris

would get together
and sort of worry,

say, "Are we corrupting
these guys' minds?",

and that their music possibly came
out of some sort of innocence.

We suffered a certain
amount of guilt for that.

Hood: Musicians are pretty noted
for the gypsy life,

moving around and playing
a different venue every night,

but we really liked
our family life.

When I first started in music,
I had visions of New York

and Los Angeles and travel,
different places,

and the more I've done that,
the more I've realized

that this is the best place.

It is my home
and I love it here.

We had many opportunities
to move our operation.

We thought, "People would come to us.

Why would we have to go to them
when they'll come to us?"

* Sometimes even now

* When I'm feeling lonely and beat

* I drift back in time
and I find my feet

* Down on Mainstreet

Johnson: I'm gonna tell you,
working with Bob Seger

was just magnificent,
it really was.

He was the kind of guy,
that he had no ego.

* Down on Mainstreet

And Mainstreet is one
of my really favorite cuts.

Seger really put
his heart in that one.

Most of the people in Detroit
and the Muscle Shoals people

thought they were talking about
the Main Street of their town.

We had a ten-year run with him

that we were at least
doing half the album

each time he put
out an album.

Godchaux: The studio just started
taking a life of its own.

Stars fell on Alabama,

and everybody who was anybody

came to record at that studio.

* When I think back
on all the crap

* I learned in high school

* It's a wonder
I can think at all

Johnson: When we really got moving
in the '70s,

we were doing like,
50 albums a year.

Richards: It was one of
the best rooms I've ever worked in.

The sound was like
the perfect sound.

It was the sound that
you'd been going for

everywhere else,
but couldn't get,

and that's why it became the place
where everybody wanted to record.

* I got a Nikon camera

* I love to take a photograph

* So Mama, don't take
my Kodachrome away

Hood: We were very fortunate
to get to work

with a lot of the big stars.

Bob Dylan, Paul Simon,
Boz Scaggs, Staple Singers.

Rod Stewart, Joe Cocker.
I mean, I just named you a list.

- Johnson: Johnnie Taylor.
- Hood: Glenn Frey.

- Johnson: Leon Russell.
- Hood: Willie Nelson.

- Johnson: Levon Helm.
- Hood: Donnie Fritts.

- Johnson: Carlos Santana.
- Hood: John Prine.

- Johnson: Millie Jackson.
- Hood: R.B. Greaves.

- Johnson: JJ Cale.
- Hood: Dire Straits.

Johnson: Simon and Garfunkel.

* Mama, don't take my Kodachrome

* Mama, don't take my Kodachrome

* Mama, don't take
my Kodachrome away

* Mama, don't take my Kodachrome

Hawkins: Still amazes me today
that all that music

was played by us guys,

a lot of the music was hits.

Johnson: You look back,
you see the discography,

we're as amazed as anybody.

(crickets chirping)

(owl hooting)

(fire crackles)

Hall: My whole life
has been based on...

...a lot of rejection.

And to be honest with you,
I think rejection

played a big role
in my life because...

...I thrived on it.

I wanted to prove the world
was wrong and I was right.

I was rejected by my mother.

I was rejected by schoolmates

because I was poverty-stricken.

As I grew older, I was rejected

by Atlantic Records
with Jerry Wexler.

I don't think I've
ever been more angry

than I was at Jerry Wexler

and the Swampers
who left me at that time.

It was bitter.

But that all
passes with time.

Those things change.

Hawkins: My respect for Rick Hall
is never-ending.

He was our mentor.

He gave all of us an opportunity

that we would have
never gotten without him.

Hood: We all got our start
working with Rick Hall.

Rick is really the founder

of the music business
in Muscle Shoals.

Hall: These are guys
that I love with all my heart,

and we'd worked together
for years,

who wanted, like I did,

to become special
in the music business.

Winwood: Because they played on so
many of these wonderful hit records,

they will take their place
in the history of American music.

Richards: That's the great thing
about recording.

From there on, you're immortal

because it's in the grooves, right?

Sledge: Everything that
everybody's done here,

it came from their heart,

and that's what makes
Muscle Shoals so powerful.

Bono: What music built there
is not something

that you can see
with your eye.

In fact, if you look
at the recording studios,

they were humble shells,

but what they contained
was an empire

that crossed race
and creed, ethnicity.

It was revolutionary.

I'm honored to step
in the place of people

who I wish
I could have met.

You know, there's still
a piece of Etta here,

there's still a piece
of Aretha here,

there's a piece of everybody
who walked through these doors.

White: There's a perfect storm here.

Everybody needs to know
all the different nuances

that went into making
this thing happen

and all the stars aligning

and exploding the way it did.

Godchaux: I'm just so proud
to be from this area

and to see everything
that is to come

out of this incredible
singing river.

I am honored.

(piano music)

* Well, I'm pressing on

* Yeah, I'm pressing on

* And I'm pressing on

* To the higher calling
of my Lord

* Can't you see
that I'm pressing on

* I'm pressing on

* I'm pressing on

* To the higher calling
of my Lord

* Lord

* Shake the dust off your feet

* Don't look back

* Nothing gonna hold you down

* There's nothing you lack

* Temptation's not an easy thing

* Adam gave the devil reins

* And because he sinned,
I got no choice

* It runs in my veins

* But I gotta keep pressing on

* On and on and on and on

* I gotta keep pressing on

* I'm gonna keep pressing,
pressing on

* To the higher,
higher calling of my Lord

* Yeah

* I gotta go higher

* On and on and on and on

* I gotta go higher

* I'm gonna go higher

* To the higher

* To the higher calling
of my Lord

* I know somebody,
somebody feels what I'm saying

* Somebody knows
what I'm going through

* Who knows
I want to go higher

* I know you want to keep
pressing on, yeah

* To the highest calling
of the Lord

Turn it up.

King: Ronnie had always talked about
the guys in Muscle Shoals.

Then when we wrote
Sweet Home Alabama,

the last verse says,

"Muscle Shoals
has got the Swampers."

I went, "Ronnie,
what is that, Swampers?"

He goes, "Oh, that's Jimmy and Roger
and the guys at Muscle Shoals."

* Now Muscle Shoals
has got the Swampers

* And they've been known
to pick a song or two

Hood: We were given that name
by Denny Cordell

who was the producer
with Leon Russell.

I think he just thought
it sounded good,

'cause Muscle Shoals
has a lot of water here.

You got to have a name.
Swampers is a good nickname.

* Sweet home Alabama

* Lord, I'm coming home to you

There's two guitar solos
in that song, one short one

one very long one, and they both
came to me in a dream,

absolutely note for note,
all the transition points,

the fingering,
the chord voicings.

I woke up out of the dream,
picked up the guitar,

and it was done.

* Here I come,
Alabama

* Home

* Alabama, home

* Alabama, home

* Alabama, home

* Alabama

* Big wheels keep on turnin'

* Carry me home to see my kin

* Singing songs about the Southland

* I miss Alabamy once again

* And I think it's a sin, yes

* Well, I heard Mr. Young
sing about her

* Well, I heard old Neil
put her down

* Well, I hope Neil Young
will remember

* A Southern man
don't need him around anyhow

* Sweet home Alabama

* Where the skies are so blue

* Sweet home Alabama

* Lord, I'm coming home to you

* In Birmingham,
they love the governor

* Boo, boo, boo

* Now we all did
what we could do

* Now Watergate
does not bother me

* Does your conscience bother you

* Tell the truth

* Sweet home Alabama

* Where the skies are so blue

* Sweet home Alabama

* Lord, I'm coming home to you
Here I come

* Alabama

* Home

* Alabama, home

* Alabama, home

* Alabama, home

* Alabama

* Now, Muscle Shoals
has got the Swampers

* And they've been known
to pick a song or two

* Lord, they get me off so much

* They pick me up
when I'm feeling blue

* Now how about you

* Sweet home Alabama

* Where the skies are so blue

* Sweet home Alabama

* Lord, I'm coming home to you

* Sweet home Alabama

* Oh, sweet home

* Where the skies are so blue

* And the governor's true

* Sweet home Alabama

* Lord, I'm coming home to you

* Sweet home Alabama

* Oh, sweet home

* Where the skies are so blue
And the governor's true

When you hear musicians,

five or six of them
in a room,

and you hear the imperfections,

that's the human element.

If a guy falls off of the stool

who's playing the drums,
I really don't give a shit,

as long as he don't
miss a beat.

He can get back up
and climb back up,

and most people, including myself,
think that's great.

That's the human element, there's faults.

So, the imperfections
gives it the human element,

which I believe is what
we need today more of,

and that's how you make
magic and great records.

Amen.

That's my sermon
for the day, by the way.

(laughing)

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