Lyrics
After the success of You Don't Know Like I Know, boy were we on a
High. We were very excited, so was Atlantic Records, so was everybody
Else associated with Stax, but now we had to follow it. And there
Was a comfort level in allowing us to follow it. If one were to
Look at the credits on the record, the credits are, during that time
It would say who produced the record and who wrote the song. Well
If you look at the credits on You Don't Know Like I Know, you may
See, "Produced by Staf". That was not true. Isaac Hayes and I
Produced the record, as well as wrote the song. But we didn't know
How important it was to be sure that our names were listed as
Producers, 'cause we were just so happy to be doing the music and
Being able to get something released in the marketplace. So we
Didn't, we didn't bitch about it, because we didn't
Know that it was worth our bitching. But certainly we
Knew we had a record, and we knew we would have the
Latitude to do what we wanted to do with Sam & Dave
By now, Isaac is now on Staf, along with me, and we're comfortably
Able to write together. Now we have to follow up You Don't Know
Like I Know. And we were looking to come up with ideas to do that
Isaac and I would come in to the studio at night, and we would
Play around at the piano, because at that time we didn't have
Our own office. So when we would write, we'd come to the studio
Sit at the piano in the studio when there was no session going
On, and we would write our songs. Isn't that interesting? We had
Had a hit record, but we still didn't have an office or a place
To physically write the next songs. Yet we'd had a hit record
So here we are trying to find a follow-up to You Don't Know Like
I Know. And we would come into the studio regularly, trying to
Come up with something. Isaac and I both were like night owls in
Some sense, because we used to sing at nightclubs regularly around
Memphis. And he had a little band that he would perform with and
Sing with, and I had a band that I would perform and sing with
This is before we had made a conscious decision just to focus 110
On writing and producing records, so we were used to being up late
At night. And so we started waiting 'til after sessions were over
And because we were comfortable just working at night. And we'd come
Up to the studio, no one in the studio, and we'd write at night
So here we are, coming up here, trying to find a follow-up to You
Don't Know Like I Know. Boy, were we trying hard. And interestingly
Enough, we were trying to be sure that we stayed inside of the
Focus of what we had thought about with an identity for Sam
Dave. So we were trying hard. You have to also picture where we
Were working, what Stax Studios was. Stax Studios was an old movie
Theater. And back in the '50s and the '60s, movie theaters were
Like a straight room, you walk in the building, and you go down
A sloped floor, and it goes up a little bit, and the screen is
Have a little bit of an elevation to it. You're sitting in your
Seats and you're looking up at the screen. The place that you
Walked in the door, right at that door, is where your restrooms are
So if you wanted to go to the restrooms, before you would walk down
The sloped floor to your seats, you could go into the restroom
Well, when Stax got this building, which was where our recording
Studio was, we had the same layout. And the auditorium for people to
Sit in, that was the studio room. We had baffles in there, things for
Sound that would help us there. We had a little elevated tier there
For the drums to sit on. And we had plugs to plug in the instrument
And the control room was really where the projector area was. So it
Was that kind of look, because it certainly was a reconfigured movie
Theater. In the back of the room, as I mentioned, were the restrooms
So one night, Isaac and I was working, trying to come up with a
Follow-up to You Don't Know Like I Know. I had to go to the restroom
And so we were working, and I told Isaac, "I gotta go to the restroom
." So I went into the restroom. I was in there for a few minutes
And Isaac was just a little bit impatient, so he screamed out to me
"Hey, man, hurry up, hurry up!" Well, I wasn't rushing out of the
Restroom, I was just comfortable. So I said, "Hey, man, hold on
I'm coming." And a light went off in my head. I got up, out of that
Restroom, said, "Isaac, I got it, I got it." He said, "What?" I said
"I got the hit for us." He said, "What is it?" I said, "Hold on
I'm coming." He said, "Hold on, I'm coming." I said, "That's it."
I said, "Think about Superman rescuing the chick." I said, "So, we
Can write the story around that kind of theme and concept." So with
The thought of a rescue song built around a guy being there for his
Girl, whatever her needs were, whenever she needed him, we sit down
And in 20 minutes, wrote Hold On, I'm Coming. It came just that
Quick. I give the restroom a lot of credit for that. It came
Just that quick.After we finished writing the song, which
Was quick as I mentioned, Isaac said, "Hey man, you know I
Got an idea. I got a horn riff that I put down a couple
Weeks ago, and I just put it down on tape. I got it, it's up
Up, up in the control room. Come on, take a listen to it."
So we both went up in the control room. Isaac pulled out the tape
He played the horn riff, which is the signature horn riff that
You hear on "Hold On, I'm Coming," on the original record
That was a horn riff that was created weeks before, with no idea
Where it would apply to. But because we had discussed having a
A rescue song, the guy being there for the girl, the, the, the
Horn feel of that sound like the rescue noise that one would
See here on a fire truck, except it had its own signature to it
And so we listened to that horn riff and said right away, "Hey
That's it, that's it." So we knew that we were going to use that
Horn riff on the song. I also knew that inside of the studio we
Wanted to have a rhythmic identity, because we'd already said that
Part of our concept was finding an identity inside of the rhythm
On the low end of the, of the songs that we were coming up with
So the day we had the session for "Hold On, I'm Coming," Al Jackson
Jr., who to me there is no drummer remotely close to the brilliance
That Al, that was inside of the creative mind of Al Jackson Jr
Al was an amazing, amazing drummer for all of the records that
That one would hear coming out of Stax. And he always was willing to
Look and find a creative way to make the musical feel of the record
Have its own identity, but also a feel that locked you into it in
In such a way that you were just blown away with the feeling of it
So Al was able to, uh, take this hint that I said to him
I said, "Al, do you remember the Lee Dorsey record?" There was
A record, there was a chart record on Lee Dorsey out of New
Orleans. The record was called "Get Outta My Life Woman." "Get
Outta My Life Woman, You Don't Love Me No More" was the record
I said, "The drum beat on that record, you remember that?" So he
Started playing the record, that drum beat from that record, '
Cause it was a great record. I said, "If we could split, speed
That beat up and put it on this idea, I think that would work."
So the drum beat that you hear on "Hold On, I'm Coming" is actually
Al taking the concept of the beat that was on "Get Outta My Life
Woman," a New Orleans record by Lee Dorsey, and converting it into
Another beat that became the signature
Beat for "Hold On, I'm Coming."
So all of you drummers who listen to the record, "Hold On, I'm
Coming," if you want to have the pure identity of what the record
Really is, you'd have to really lock into what Al Jackson was
Doing with the drums. But that became the signature sound of
That record, the beat that, that Al put on that, on that song
And it became a number one record for us, "Hold On, I'm Coming."
Also, Sam and Dave got that song that they would be able to
To, to create dynamic excitement on anywhere they performed on
Any show closing it out, uh, was, was excitement all over it
With the energy that they would put inside of that song. So we
Had a number one hit record off of a, a marriage of, uh, of
Of ideas that we knew then had given us the clear identity that
We were looking for for Sam and Dave, "Hold On, I'm Coming."