Sam & Dave’s Soul Starter
Sam Moore, Dave Prater and others paid their dues. The soulmen from Georgia and Florida met in 1961. They cut two singles each for the Marlin label, which was in Miami. A half dozen singles were then made for Roulette, New York.
But in the first week of 1966, Sam & Dave arrived on the national US scene with what became the first in a series of classic singles for Stax, “You Don’t Know Like I Know.” The two-piece had been learning as a dynamic performing band during their apprenticeship. In 1964, Atlantic signed the pair to an agreement. Jerry Wexler, a producer, then placed them with Stax and the crack team of musicians and writers.
That didn’t produce immediate returns, even with the presence of writers Isaac Hayes David Porter. But when that pair joined forces to come up with “You Don’t Know Like I Know,” Sam & Dave turned it into soul dynamite. The song was a success and it debuted on Billboard’s Top Selling Rhythm & Blues Singles, the highest on the countdown for January 1, 1966, at No.29. It was also in good company, as it arrived the same week that Stevie Wonder’s “Uptight” and the Miracles’ “Going To A Go Go.”
Listen to the Stax Classics playlist. Apple Music And Spotify.
The Sam & Dave song made only a minor dent in the pop market, reaching No.90 on the Hot 100, but climbed as high at No.7 on the soul chart in February 1967. The duo followed up the success with the song “Really?” two months later. made their name once and for all, “Hold On! I’m Comin’.” Meanwhile, a year after the duo’s Stax breakthrough, Hayes was offering his own version of the song he co-wrote. He included “You Don’t Know Like I Know” on his debut solo album Isaac Hayes: Recorded at Stax and released February 1968.
Buy or stream “You Don’t Know Like I Know” on the 3-CD Soulsville USA compilation.
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