Where is "there"?
Given The Staple Singers' background I'd guess "there" is Heaven.
But from the lyrics:
Ain't no smilin' faces*...__________________
Lyin' to the races
* A reference to this 1971 song?
Full lyrics after the break
Oh, mmm..
I know a place
Ain't nobody cryin', ain't nobody worried
Ain't no smilin' faces, mmm, naw, naw
Lyin' to the races
Help me, come on, come on
Somebody help me now
(I'll take you there)
Help me, y'all
(I'll take you there)
Help me now
(I'll take you there)
Oh!
(I'll take you there)
Oh, oh! mercy
(I'll take you there)
Oh, let me take you there!
(I'll take you there)
Oh, oh, let me take you there!
(I'll take you there)
Play your, play your, play, play
Play your, play your piano now
Alright, ah, do it, do it, come on now
Play on it, play on it, big daddy now
Daddy, daddy, daddy, play your
Ooh, Lord, alright now
Baby, little Davey, easy now, help me out
Come on, little Davey, alright
Sock it, sock it, ah, oh, ah
I know a place, y'all
(I'll take you there)
Ain't nobody cryin'
(I'll take you there)
Ain't nobody worried
(I'll take you there)
No smilin' faces
(I'll take you there)
Uh uh
(Lyin' to the races)
(I'll take you there)
Oh, no
Oh!
(I'll take you there)
Oh, oh, oh!
(I'll take you there)
Mercy now!
(I'll take you there)
I'm callin', callin', callin' for mercy!
(I'll take you there)
Mercy, mercy!
(I'll take you there)
Let me
(I'll take you there)
Oh, oh!
I'll take you there
(I'll take you there)
Oh, I wanna take you there
(I'll take you there)
Just take me by the hand, let me
(I'll take you there)
Let me, let me, let me, let me lead, lead the way
Oh!
(I'll take you there)
Let me take you there!
(I'll take you there)
Let me take you there!
(I'll take you there)
Ain't no smilin' faces!
(I'll take you there)
Up in here, lyin' to the races!
(I'll take you there)
5 comments:
I'd go with "there" being heaven, too, given it's the Staples. When I saw the title, I immediately thought of this guy. Mike Farris, Grammy winner for Roots Gospel. I saw him in Asheville, NC, a couple of years ago. Talented guy. He used to front the Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies. I don't recognize any of the players on this besides him. He sings with the McCrary Sisters, but I'm not sure if that's them in this or not.
What an interesting cover, windbag, thanks! They made it into more of a call-and-response than the original. It's evident in the cover's title: "Take Me (I'll Take You There)." The Staples sing "Help Me (I'll Take You There)." That being said, I love the bass line in the Staples' original along with the subtle guitar wah-wah in the left channel.
I listened to that song and tried to figure out why it was a hit - I settled on the bass line and the fatback drumming. Other than that there really isn't much to it. I figured, based on the few words I could understand, that where they were going was a race track. Fine, take me there, just don't lie about it, okay?
There's a post over at Althouse today, referencing collective effervescence, our capacity to transition temporarily to a higher collective plane, along with a link to a crowd of 65,000 singing Bohemian Rhapsody while waiting for Green Day.
Who are the "smilin' faces lyin' to the races" now?
Nobody likes their establishment liars anymore. Testing out new models.
This song was before my time but was a staple on FM easy listening so I've heard it a lot and always wondered why it was even in rotation.
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