#6: Soul Limbo by Booker T & the MGs

City: Guelph, ON
Radio Station: CJOY
Peak Month: August 1968
Peak Position in Guelph ~ #3
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #17
YouTube: “Soul Limbo”

Booker T. & the M.G.’s is a band founded in Memphis in the summer of 1962. That summer 17-year-old keyboardist Booker T. Jones, 20-year-old guitarist Steve Cropper, and two seasoned players, bassist Lewie Steinberg and drummer Al Jackson Jr. were in the Memphis studio to back the former Sun Records recording aritst Billy Lee Riley. During downtime, the four started playing around with a bluesy organ riff. The president of Stax Records, Jim Stewart, was in the control booth. He liked what he heard, and he recorded it. Cropper remembered a twelve-bar blues riff that Jones had come up with weeks earlier on a Hammond M3 organ. Before too long a second track was recorded. Stewart wanted to release the single with the first track, “Behave Yourself”, as the A-side and the second track as the B-side. And so “Green Onions” was released as the B-side. However, Cropper and radio DJs argued that “Green Onions” was the better A-side. Soon, Stax re-released Booker T. & the M.G.’s’ “Green Onions” as the A-side.

Booker Taliaferro Jones Jr. was born in 1944. From childhood, Booker T learned to play the oboe, saxophone, trombone, double bass and piano at school. While at church he mastered the organ. In 1960 he contributed saxophone on Carla and Rufus Thomas’ single “Cause I Love You”. That year he joined a band headed by Willie Mitchell. It was there he met drummer Albert “Al” J. Jackson Jr, who was born in Memphis in 1935. Al had been playing the drum professionally in his father’s band since the age of five.

Al Jackson Jr. played drum on the Bar-kay’s 1967 hit “Soul Finger”, William Bell’s “I Forgot To Be Your Lover” and Bill Wither’s “Ain’t No Sunshine”. Jackson also was in the recording studio with Otis Redding for “Try A Little Tenderness”, “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay”, “The Happy Song (Dum-Dum-De-De-De-Dum-Dum)”  and “Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)”. In all, Al Jackson Jr. played on ten studio albums for Otis Redding, along with other members of Booker T. & the M.G.’s.

Steven Lee Cropper was born in 1941 in Dora, Missouri. He began to play guitar at the age of 14, five years after his family moved too Memphis. He was one of the founding members of the Mar-Keys who recorded an instrumental hit in 1961 titled “Last Night”, peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Cropper co-wrote “Knock On Wood” with Eddie Floyd, “In The Midnight Hour” with Wilson Pickett, and “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay” with Otis Redding.

Donald “Duck” Dunn was born in Memphis in 1941. He taught himself how to play the bass guitar from a young age. He joined the Mar-Keys, a house band for Stax Records in Memphis in 1958, along with Steve Cropper.

Booker T. & the M.G.s played the instruments for Sam & Dave’s soul hits “Hold On, I’m Comin’” and “Soul Man”. In the mid-60s Booker T. & The M.G.’s were less successful on the pop charts. However, they managed to chart four singles into the Top Ten on the Billboard R&B chart: “Boot-Leg”, “Hole In The Wall”, “Hip-Hug-Her” and “Groovin’”. In 1967 they were nominated for Best Rhythm & Blues Group Performance, Vocal or Instrumental for “Hip-Hug-Her”.

The following year, the band released an instrumental titled “Soul Limbo”.

“Soul Limbo” peaked at #1 in Memphis, #2 in Atlanta and Rochester (NY), #3 in Guelph (ON), Fresno (CA), and Boston, #4 in San Jose (CA) and Fort Lauderdale, #5 in New York City, New Haven (CT), Davenport (IA), and San Francisco, #6 in Charlotte (NC), Hamilton (ON), and Miami, #8 in Columbus (OH), Akron (OH), Wilkes-Barre (PA), and Detroit, #9 in Oklahoma City, Littleton (CO), Los Angeles, and Dallas, #10 in Buffalo, Windsor (ON), and Dayton (OH), and #11 in Pittsburgh and St. Louis.

Meanwhile, in 1968 the band had another Top Ten instrumental hit with “Hang ‘Em High”, the theme tune for the film of the same name. This was followed in early 1969 with another instrumental Top Ten hit titled “Time Is Tight” from the film Up Tight. Their most successful effort in the 1970s was “Melting Pot”.

Over the years Al Jackson Jr. co-wrote and performed on Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together”, “Call Me (Come Back Home)”, “You Ought To Be With Me”, “Look What You’ve Done For Me” and “I’m Still In Love With You”. He also contributed drums to “Lady Blue” by Leon Russell. In July 1975 Jackson was shot in the chest by his wife Barbara. But he chose not to press charges. Then, on October 1, 1975, he was fatally shot by the boyfriend of soul singer Denise LaSalle, his wife Barbara’s friend.

Steve Cropper played guitar on recordings for David Clayton-Thomas, “Bad Blood” and “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” for Neil Sedaka in 1975, “Tonight’s The Night” for Rod Stewart, “If I Can’t Have You” for Yvonne Elliman, The Blues Brothers, Stephen Bishop, Johnnie Taylor and others.

Donald “Duck” Dunn played on “Starting All Over Again” by Mel & Tim, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” by Stevie Nicks, albums by Ritchie Havens, Joan Baez, Eric Clapton, Neil Young and others. Both Dunn and Cropper appeared in the film The Blues Brothers as themselves. Dunn died in his sleep at the age of 70 while on tour in Tokyo, Japan.

Booker T. Jones has been credited with writing hundreds of songs and appearing as a session musician with hundreds of other songs. He won the Best Pop Instrumental Album Grammy in 2009 for Potato Hole and again in 2011 for The Road From Memphis. In 1994 he won his first Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance for “Crusin’”. Jones also was nominated for two other Grammy awards in the mid-90s for “A Change Is Gonna Come” in 1995 and “Green Onions” in 1996. The latter was for Best Rock  Instrumental Performance.

June 21, 2025
Ray McGinnis

References:
Andria Lisle, “Memphis Sunset: The Mysterious Death of Stax Heartbeat Al Jackson, Jr.” Guardian, November 25, 2015.
“Steve Cropper Bio,” Playitsteve.com.
“Legendary Session Bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn Passes Away at 70,” Vintage Vinyl News, May 13, 2012.
“Booker T. Jones,” Grammy Awards.
Eric R. Danton, “Soul Man Booker T. Jones Keeps Having ‘Fun’ (Song Premiere),” Wall Street Journal, April 16, 2013.

CJOY 1460-AM Guelph (ON) Top Ten | August 16, 1968