Pickin' the nits out of the grits. or something.
233. Shirley Ellis "Nitty Gritty"
First off, I can't think of any other soul record that captures a wild party atmosphere as well as this one with it's hollering call-and-response vocals, handclaps and crowd noise. The popping snare drums alone could animate a week-old corpse. This is a much covered standard for good reason.
And there's plenty of songs about transcendent love, but few evoke good old-fashioned lust so ripely. The rhythm that thrusts like a piston and growling bass male background vocals will put to rest any mystery about what kind of nitty-gritty is being got down to, exactly.
First off, I can't think of any other soul record that captures a wild party atmosphere as well as this one with it's hollering call-and-response vocals, handclaps and crowd noise. The popping snare drums alone could animate a week-old corpse. This is a much covered standard for good reason.
And there's plenty of songs about transcendent love, but few evoke good old-fashioned lust so ripely. The rhythm that thrusts like a piston and growling bass male background vocals will put to rest any mystery about what kind of nitty-gritty is being got down to, exactly.
Comments
For my money, you can't beat "The Clapping Song" though.