Joe South

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I'm half-tempted to leave the whole "classic/dud" business behind, even though the man did have his "dud" moments. From a distance, singer/guitarist/producer/songwriter/sessionman Joe South may sound like a poppier Tony Joe White, but he did occupy a zone of his own. Gritty swamp-rock mixed with singer-songwriter introspection. Yes, the man could get preachy every now and then -not only do the lyrics to "Walk A Mile In My Shoes" sound like every politically-correct Greenpeace volunteer you knew in college, BUT THE VERSES GO ON AND ON AND ON; the song needs a bridge or some kind of instrumental break something terrible!

But the good far outweighs the bad: "Games People Play," BLONDE ON BLONDE, the nasty guitar intro to Aretha Franklin's "Chain Of Fools," "Down In The Boondocks" (Billy Joe Royal's hit version is definitive), "I've Got To Be Somebody" (Billy Joe Royal had the hit, but Joe's own version is definitive), and the fact that he worked an old Hank Williams catchphrase ("if the good Lord's willing and the creeks don't rise") into a song ("Don't It Make You Want To Go Home").

And - can't forget - "Walk A Mile In My Shoes." Still a fine song, although it is a LITTLE heavy-handed.

And his pudding-bowl hairdo and mod attire looked pretty hip for the time. (Do a Google image search, or see if that clip of him from THE JOHNNY CASH SHOW is still online - the man knew how to style.)

― Rev. Hoodoo (Rev. Hoodoo), Sunday, 9 July 2006 17:32 (nineteen years ago)

Do you have a complete session-ography for Joe? I'm a complete novice to his work but I know a little bit about Dylan and I had no idea J.S. was on Blonde on Blonde! He also wrote "Hush" (the one that was later a hit for Deep Purple and Kula Shaker) and his version isn't bad at all.

The Joe South greatest hits I have is very good all the way through, breaking into excellence on the hits. "Don't It Make You Want To Go Home" is definitely my personal favorite; though certainly suffering from the heavy-handedness you describe, it's softened by the excellent vocal performance that makes the preachyness personal ("...and God how I wanna go home!").

― Doctor Casino (Doctor Casino), Sunday, 9 July 2006 20:47 (nineteen years ago)

i have the "Introspect/Don't It Make You Want To Go Home" twofer and it's pretty amazing. there's some wild, psychedelic stuff on it. "Mirror of Your Mind" is especially trippy

― flëétwøöd måçk (jaxon), Sunday, 9 July 2006 20:56 (nineteen years ago)

it's weird how much his own version of "walk a mile..." sounds like a template for elvis's version. i mean, he sounds a lot like elvis...intonation, phrasing, everything. elvis's version is better of course.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Sunday, 9 July 2006 21:47 (nineteen years ago)

"joe south" can't have been his given name, right?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Sunday, 9 July 2006 21:47 (nineteen years ago)

This can not be verified, of course, but I KNEW it was a Rev. Hoodoo thread.

― jim wentworth (wench), Monday, 10 July 2006 01:22 (nineteen years ago)

interestingly (or maybe not), i just bought a copy of billie joe royal's *down in the boondocks* LP in philly for $2 yesterday, and on the bus on the way home i was marvelling at how snazzy both royal *and* south (who produced the album, and gets TWO photos of himself on the back cover -- how often does that happen?) are. in one shot, south actually looks kind of like josh homme of queens of the stone age, to my eyes. anyway, i've been on a sort of country-soul kick lately, and south is somebody i really want to research more (and i even said so on the rolling country thread last week); one question i've got is how atypical or typical for him was "games people play"?

― xhuxk (xheddy), Monday, 10 July 2006 01:39 (nineteen years ago)

"Games People Play" was typical. The swamp-rock rhythms, the Coral electric sitar, the soap opera strings that add drama at the right time, the psychoanalyst lyrics - it's all there in his songs (and sounds way better than my description of it may seem). Little bit of Box Tops, little bit of Tony Joe White, mix in some psychedelia, and yeah, that's where South was coming from.

That said, the most consistent Joe South albums I've ever heard are the best-ofs (the one I have is on Rhino, although I know there are several others). His actual albums have their moments here and there (and you may as well get those since they always turn up cheap, at least where I live), but the compilations hit the mark dead-on.

There is one downright weird moment that got buried on the DON'T IT MAKE YOU WANT TO GO HOME? album - "A Million Miles From Nowhere," where over an instrumental music track we hear a transcription of South trying to call the White House to wish then-President Nixon peace and love, or something like that. (I don't own this album, but South wishes Nixon something along those lines - if I remember correctly, South didn't get past the White House receptionist.)

Oh yeah, the JOHNNY CASH SHOW appearance I mentioned is on You Tube.

And Amateur(ist), who wondered if that was a stage name - if there can be an Ollie NORTH, there can definitely be a Joe SOUTH.

― Rev. Hoodoo (Rev. Hoodoo), Monday, 10 July 2006 03:28 (nineteen years ago)

psychoanalyst lyrics

reminds me vaguely of jimmy webb, except webb got increasingly abstract...

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 10 July 2006 05:26 (nineteen years ago)

- if there can be an Ollie NORTH, there can definitely be a Joe SOUTH.

agreed, but as a name for a country-soul singer it's a little too perfect isn't it?

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 10 July 2006 05:27 (nineteen years ago)

Customers Who Bought Joe South Would Also Like:
- Tony Joe White
- Bobbie Gentry
- Jim Ford
- Jerry Reed
- Travis Wammack (ca. 1970's)
- Lonnie Mack (on his GLAD I'M IN THE BAND and WHATEVER'S RIGHT elpees)
- David Allan Coe (PENITENTIARY BLUES)
- Johnny Jenkins (rest in peace)

P.S. Gentry and Reed had SERIOUS Vegas tendencies...but as the Flamin' Groovies once sang, "apart from that, (they're) fine."

― Rev. Hoodoo (Rev. Hoodoo), Monday, 10 July 2006 10:39 (nineteen years ago)

one month passes...

My Pandora station just played a really cool track called "Concrete Jungle" from this comp. Anyone have this - recommend or no?

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 21:20 (nineteen years ago)

That looks good. I have a bunch of those tracks on "Retrospect," a best-of Koch put out a few years ago. That's out of print, though, and also doesn't dig quite as deep as the one you posted the link to. I'm really curious about the later stuff from his Island album, which I've never heard. Anyway, all the things I do know on there are superfine. His version of "Hush" really cooks.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 23:31 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

was cranking the vinyl of "Games People Play" this AM...goddamn i love this big lug.

his version of "Hush" is so hot.

― M@tt He1ges0n, Thursday, 27 March 2008 16:24 (eighteen years ago)

What, no mention of "Rose Garden"?

― Dingbod Kesterson, Thursday, 27 March 2008 16:33 (eighteen years ago)

Did you guys vote in the poll? TS Sonny Curtis vs. Joe South

― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 27 March 2008 16:50 (eighteen years ago)

No, I didn't think so.

"joe south" can't have been his given name, right?
Souter is his real last name.

― James Redd and the Blecchs, Thursday, 27 March 2008 16:59 (eighteen years ago)

two years pass...

been jamming his first two records lately. good stuff!!

― not everything is a campfire (ian), Monday, 23 August 2010 21:17 (fifteen years ago)

well, your momma and your poppa sent ya to the finest school
never let it be said that their little darlin was a fool.
with a credit card and your good name
you were drawn like a moth to a flame
to the people of the night where you more or less lost your cool

― Ward Fowler, Monday, 23 August 2010 22:15 (fifteen years ago)

seven months pass...

yeah, this shit is awesome. the "introspect" album in particular. love love love "rose garden"--the "by my baby" drum into, the baion (sp?) beat, the awesome lyrics.

what's up with that awesome processed guitar sound throughout this album?

also, what's joe up to now?

― by another name (amateurist), Sunday, 3 April 2011 22:39 (fifteen years ago)

one month passes...

really digging "party people"

― by another name (amateurist), Sunday, 22 May 2011 19:23 (fourteen years ago)

two months pass...

damn this guy rulez

― by another name (amateurist), Wednesday, 3 August 2011 20:59 (fourteen years ago)

party people has heavy lyrics too

party people sometimes cry / when the party's over

etc.

― by another name (amateurist), Wednesday, 3 August 2011 21:04 (fourteen years ago)

weirdly my interest in joe south is very surface.. never gave his records the attention they deserve, pegging him as a decent songwriter & not much more. been meaning to go back to the few LPs i have tho..

― one dis leads to another (ian), Thursday, 4 August 2011 01:38 (fourteen years ago)

ten months pass...

wo-ah

― Trip Maker, Thursday, 14 June 2012 21:08 (thirteen years ago)

two months pass...

RIP Joe South :(

http://www.cmt.com/news/country-music/1693242/singer-songwriter-joe-south-dies-at-age-72.jhtml

― one dis leads to another (ian), Wednesday, 5 September 2012 22:01 (thirteen years ago)

aw RIP. don't know all that much beyond his hits, but i lovvvve "Hush". need to explore more.

― tylerw, Wednesday, 5 September 2012 22:03 (thirteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AirBbS4R7Z0

― one dis leads to another (ian), Wednesday, 5 September 2012 22:05 (thirteen years ago)

also, i believe he's playing lead on "stuck inside of mobile (memphis blues)" on blonde on blonde, so obviously super classic.

― tylerw, Wednesday, 5 September 2012 22:06 (thirteen years ago)

RIP

He also claimed he came up with the "Yes she does" line in "Just Like a Woman".

― Hut Stricklin at Lake Speed (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 5 September 2012 22:14 (thirteen years ago)

Great great singer

R.I.P.

― Jandek at the Disco (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 5 September 2012 22:22 (thirteen years ago)

very sad.

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Wednesday, 5 September 2012 22:38 (thirteen years ago)

So much great music. RIP. "Chain of Fools" on repeat right now on my mental radio.

― POLLed Turkey Has Got Me (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 6 September 2012 01:45 (thirteen years ago)

too young to go. RIP

― curmudgeon, Thursday, 6 September 2012 02:20 (thirteen years ago)

it's been a gas, joe. RIP

― Ward Fowler, Thursday, 6 September 2012 06:02 (thirteen years ago)

need to start with Spotify and recommendations here on further Joe South listening (note to self!)

― curmudgeon, Thursday, 6 September 2012 15:42 (thirteen years ago)

just saw this cover, pretty wild!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BvUEtOV-aI

― tylerw, Friday, 7 September 2012 17:00 (thirteen years ago)

two months pass...

Shit - missed the RIPs. This dude was a great player, underrated songwriter, and had a pretty cool and possibly unique sound on this records, this line between country, psych, and wall-of-sound, muffled but booming and chunky and down-home. Had no idea he wrote "I Never Promised You A Rose Garden" - that's just nuts.

― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 27 November 2012 07:58 (thirteen years ago)

I missed this, too. Damn, doesn't get his due, that's for sure.

― in the business of making memories (qiqing), Tuesday, 27 November 2012 11:47 (thirteen years ago)

one year passes...

I think, before tonight, I'd only ever heard his versions of Games People Play and Hush. Liked them a lot, but now I'm getting deeper into his catalogue and I'm drooling. Even the stuff that doesn't work works.

― Johnny Fever, Friday, 18 July 2014 05:01 (eleven years ago)

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