STAX: Soulsville, U.S.A. (2024) s01e02 Episode Script

1
-Ladies and gentlemen,
the captain has turned on
the "No Smoking" sign.
At this time, please extinguish
all smoking materials.
All of the artists that
were on that European tour
realized, "Wait a minute.
We're stars."
But you come home,
you're treated like less than.
Both of us, me and him,
. And this is true.
I remember
we were leaving the studio,
me and Jim and Otis Redding.
As we stepped out of the door,
a police car pulled up
and they jumped out
with their guns,
and they said, "Nigger,
get back in that building.
We don't allow niggers
on the streets
in Memphis with white people."
And I said "But officer,
we work here."
And he said,
"You wanna go downtown?"
It was just too strong
a system to tear down.
In Memphis, you needed
to keep your mouth shut
and hope for the best.
Or fight.
A policeman in a Black community
is a licensed killer.
Is a licensed killer.
A Black man attacking
a policeman is a rioter.
-Yeah.
That's cause the Black man
don't have the license to kill.
People had been suppressed.
You know, you can suppress
a person for so long
and they will
they will rise up.
We're coming down here,
hoping to tell you,
you, you, you,
and you with the camera,
we wakin' up.
We are in the worst crisis
we have known
since the Civil War,
and time is running short to try
to find some answers to it.
This is gonna happen
all over America.
It's gonna be a hot world,
not a hot summer.
It's a hot world.
But, brother, America
better wake up to this.
If they don't, we're gonna
burn down America.
You had
a whole society attemptin'
to take self-pride
away from you.
Isaac and I came
from a generation,
there was a spirit and attitude,
"Well, this shit
has got to change.
And we are not gonna be
receptive to someone abusing
or taking advantage of us."
I started noticing,
all the Black businesses,
if they write "soul" on the
business, they'll bypass it.
I said, "Wow.
The word 'soul'
keeps one from burning up
their establishment.
Wow. 'Soul.'
That's just pride."
So I called David.
Isaac and I talked
about a concept for a song.
I saw, in my head, a Black man.
Images of Woodstock,
the county school,
in the outskirts
of Memphis, Tennessee.
And then came this feeling,
you can rise above
whatever you're challenged with,
and it's gonna be okay
because you have
soulfulness in your spirit.
Soulfulness in your heart.
And you're gonna be okay
'cause you are a soul man.
Comin' to ya
on a dusty road ♪
Good lovin',
I got a truck load ♪
And when you get it ♪
Ha, you got somethin' ♪
So don't worry ♪
'Cause I'm coming ♪
I'm a soul man ♪
Oh! ♪
I'm a soul man ♪
If you listen to "Soul Man,"
the lyrics sounds like you're
talking about falling in love,
but you're really talking
about pride and dignity.
Grab the rope
and I'll pull you in ♪
Give you hope ♪
And be your only boyfriend ♪
-Yeah, yeah ♪
-Yeah, yeah ♪
-I'm talkin' about a ♪
-Soul man ♪
-I'm a ♪
-Soul man ♪
-And you ♪
-A soul man ♪
-Ah ♪
-Soul man ♪
And you ♪
I'm a soul man,
Sam & Dave,
at 28 minutes 'til two o clock,
200 and
Isaac Hayes
and David Porter
had written this song
that became a number one hit
on both the Black
and white charts.
They succeed commercially
and still give voice
to the community.
-And you ♪
-A soul man ♪
Stax proves you can have it
both ways at once:
make hit records
but also speak
about Black uplift.
-Oh, Lord ♪
-Soul man ♪
-I'm a ♪
-Soul man ♪
-And you ♪
-A soul man ♪
1967 motivated
the hell out of me.
I was on the kill to take Stax
to the next level.
The event that provided
that opportunity
was the Monterey Pop Festival
in northern California.
Otis Redding
was invited to Monterey.
He would be playing
for the counterculture,
a mostly white rock audience
that he's totally
unfamiliar with,
and that he's pretty sure are
pretty unfamiliar with him.
When we got to Monterey,
we were shocked.
It was the biggest crowd
we'd ever seen.
And there was
about 55,000 people
and they were hippies,
and they were
smoking dope out in public.
And the cops were wandering
around through the crowd.
Nobody seemed to care.
We walked around
and saw just odd stuff.
All these art people,
flower children,
which is another breed
of human being, I think.
We were just so outta place.
We were the only people
within miles that had suits.
It's been a real groovy day
and a great evening, and here,
let's bring on with a big hand,
Mr. Otis Redding.
Otis Redding hit the stage.
All those hippies got quiet.
They ain't seen anything
like us.
This is the love crowd, right?
We all love each other,
don't we?
-Am I right?
Let me hear you
say, "Yeah" then!
- Yeah!
-All right.
I've been loving you ♪
Too long ♪
To stop now ♪
You were tired ♪
And you want to be free ♪
My love is growing stronger ♪
As you become a habit to me ♪
I've been loving you ♪
Oh, too long ♪
And I don't
wanna stop now, no ♪
-Oh! Oh!
Can you do that one more time,
Al, just like that?
-Oh! Oh!
Do it just one more time!
One more.
-Oh! Oh!
Do it just one more time!
-Oh! Oh!
With you, my life ♪
Has been so wonderful ♪
And I don't wanna stop now ♪
No ♪
No, no ♪
He exposed
deep vulnerability.
Just a little bit too long ♪
He just
rolled over 'em like the tide.
No ♪
No, no ♪
Don't make me stop now ♪
Lord have mercy ♪
No, baby ♪
I'm down on my knees ♪
Please don't make me
stop now, yeah ♪
I love you ♪
I love you ♪
I love you
with all my heart ♪
And I can't stop now ♪
Please, please,
please, yeah ♪
Don't make me stop now,
yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
Not right now ♪
With heart and soul,
I love you ♪
I love you,
good God Almighty, I love you ♪
I love you, baby ♪
I love you, honey ♪
Good God Almighty ♪
Good God Almighty,
I love ♪
Thank you.
We felt love
from the crowd,
and it was an exchange.
It was open, and it was real.
That night, he crossed over
to alternative,
or whatever you wanna
call that crowd.
It felt like America
was different.
These flower children,
to react like they did,
opened the door
for Stax Records.
He's got a heart full of soul.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Mr. Otis Redding!
What you want ♪
Honey, you've got it ♪
And what you need ♪
Baby, you've got it ♪
All I'm asking ♪
Is for a little respect
when I come home ♪
Hey, now ♪
Hey, hey, hey ♪
By 1967,
southern soul music explodes,
and Stax was
the blueprint for that sound.
Honey, while I'm gone ♪
But all I'm asking ♪
Is for a little respect
when I come home ♪
Oh yeah, now,
hey, hey, hey ♪
With Stax getting
this level of national success,
recording studios
across the South
begin to replicate
the Stax sound.
All right, you make the first
and the second beat.
To clarify, you make the first
second, and third beat.
What you want ♪
Baby, I got it ♪
What you need ♪
You know I got it ♪
All I'm asking ♪
Is for a little respect
when you get home ♪
Baby, when you get home ♪
-Just a little bit ♪
-Mister ♪
Just a little bit ♪
When you hear Aretha Franklin,
Wilson Pickett,
Etta James,
you're hearing the sound
of Stax.
Well, "Respect" has been a big
record for Otis Redding.
He, uh, wrote the song
a while ago.
You had a big hit with it.
-Right.
-Aretha Franklin did it.
She went and sold a million.
And those royalty checks
are pouring in.
It's been a good, uh, year.
Otis was getting bigger,
and so we had enough money
to buy a 300-acre ranch.
I mean, he loved this place.
Raising hogs and cows and
If he wasn't working,
he would just sit back here
and write songs.
Music was always in his brain
because my husband wanted
to be a huge star.
Well, the next few years,
the only thing I can say
is if I'll be living,
I hope to be
still doing the same thing,
singing, you know, and
trying to make that living,
that dollar.
Otis was an extremely
ambitious individual,
and so he was constantly touring
to promote his records.
And he had had
various road bands.
Hired his trumpeter
from South Carolina.
Then his sax player
out of Macon.
But it wasn't the same as having
Booker T. & the M.G.'s,
the best band in the world,
behind him.
Otis said he wanted
Booker T. & the M.G.'s
to go on the road with him,
but Booker T. & the M.G.'s
played behind practically
all of the artists
that recorded at Stax.
We said, "Otis, we can't tour."
And he said,
"Well, what am I gonna do?"
In high school, I was
in a band called the Bar-Kays.
All of the Bar-Kays
were seniors.
I was a junior, 'cause I was
the the baby of the group.
We would hang out at Stax.
They were like
the little M.G.'s.
Carl was always sitting down
under Al's drums.
James Alexander
became Duck's protege.
Jimmie King watched
Steve Cropper all the time.
Ben Cauley, the horn player.
Phalon Jones, saxophone.
Ronnie on keyboard.
We recorded a song called
"Soul Finger," a hit record.
Soul finger ♪
Soul finger ♪
Soul finger ♪
The Bar-Kays would come
to high schools.
There would be girls like, "Oh!"
I would be like, "God!
Did you see that?"
It just blew me away.
Oh! Ah!
Oh! Ah!
I'll just outright say it,
we thought we were the shit.
One night, we were playing
at this club on Beale Street
called The Hippodrome.
Otis Redding comes down,
he watches the band perform.
Then he asked did we know
any of his songs.
I said, "Yeah, I think
we could get through it."
And so he came up on stage
and sit in with us.
You got to huh! ♪
Yeah ♪
Yeah, man ♪
I can't turn you loose now ♪
If I do,
I'm gonna lose my life ♪
Oh, I can't never
turn you loose, now ♪
If I do,
I'm gonna lose my life ♪
Well, I can't turn you loose
to nobody, now ♪
'Cause I love you, baby,
yes I do, now ♪
Oh, baby, hip-shakin' mama,
I told you, honey ♪
I'm in love with only you ♪
You got to to do it,
baby, why don't you? ♪
'Cause I'm gonna give you
everything that you want ♪
Otis looked up
at the sky.
It blew Otis Redding's mind.
He said "Hey, man,
I want these boys
to go on the road with me."
The day
that we finished high school,
we left to go on the road
with Otis Redding.
with the prettiest thing ♪
I probably had been
no more than 50 miles' radius
outside of Memphis.
I can't turn you loose
to nobody ♪
All of a sudden, we on our way
to the Apollo Theater
in New York.
Oh, baby, hip-shakin' mama,
I told you ♪
I'm in love with only you ♪
Got to do it, baby,
why don't you? ♪
I'm gonna give you
everything that you want ♪
Got to, got to ♪
Got to keep holdin' on ♪
Never gonna turn you loose ♪
Got to keep
a grip on you ♪
That tour went
from the end of June
to the end of August,
and each show
was sold completely out.
Oh, yeah ♪
After the tour,
Otis went to Sausalito.
He just needed some down time.
But these thoughts
just got in his mind.
Otis was a massive Beatles fan,
and when Sergeant Pepper
came out that summer,
he listened to that album over
and over and over and over.
And it was expanding
his musical palette.
He said it was just time
to change his writing,
enhance it to something
different
than what he was doing.
Otis came back to Stax
a possessed man.
He said, "We're gonna be
in the studio
and you're not gonna be
someplace else.
We're doing this."
And man, it was a marathon.
Take one.
He was like
a big ol' football coach.
He had all this energy
aimed at you.
He would use his feet.
He would dance.
He would get in front of you
and look at you like that.
Take two.
Stay in on the mic now, Steve.
We'd call ourselves
the Midnight Recorders.
We'd go out and eat, come back,
and work in the studio.
One, two, three, four.
There were a couple of times
we didn't even go home.
One, two
One, two, three, four.
At some point,
he played this new song
You're not
gonna make it as a whistler!
Hey, man!
We recorded so much music.
And then Otis poked his head
through the wall and said,
"I'll see you Monday."
I said, "Great."
And he left to go
back on tour with The Bar-Kays.
We played Nashville
on a Friday night
and then flew directly
to Cleveland, Ohio
and did the TV show
called Upbeat.
Oh, she may be weary ♪
Them young girls,
they do get wearied ♪
Wearing that same old
miniskirt dress ♪
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
But when she gets weary ♪
The next day
we left for Wisconsin.
a little tenderness ♪
Yeah, yeah, yeah ♪
But there was weather issues,
flights being delayed.
Otis owned his own plane,
so he decided to fly to
Madison, Wisconsin anyway.
There only was enough capacity
for ten people on the plane.
The pilot told us,
"I'm gonna fly Otis
and the rest of the guys
into Madison,
and then I'm gonna come back
and pick you up."
We kept waiting,
but after about
three or four hours,
he still wasn't there.
So I called the control tower,
and they said, "No word yet."
So we just kept waiting.
But they never came back.
Otis Redding,
26-year-old blues singer,
is missing and presumed dead
in Madison, Wisconsin.
Redding was one of seven people
aboard a private plane
which crashed in a Madison lake
last night.
They found one survivor.
My friend, Ben Cauley.
They took us to see Ben.
His eyes weren't blinking.
Said, "Ben, can you hear us?"
He wasn't able to
He wasn't able
to say anything back to us.
He was in a state of shock.
Then they tell us that we have
to go to the, uh, city morgue,
to identify the bodies.
Now, I'm 17 years old.
I've never experienced
anything like this.
I never experienced nothing
close to anything like this
in my whole entire life.
They were finding
musical instruments and luggage,
and they would bring in
these items
still dripping with water.
As the bodies were discovered,
there was one funeral
on one day,
another funeral,
and another funeral.
Mm-hm
It was family.
Phalon, his mom fed me
hamburgers at the Harlem House
when I was young.
Phalon was gone, and
Ronnie and and Jimmie King.
And Carl was the baby.
Carl Cunningham.
Otis was buried at home,
here on the ranch.
That was my first trip
to Macon, Georgia.
I felt like Otis was family.
I looked at him as sort
of an older brother.
But it was like, "Why haven't
I been down here before?
I should have been closer.
I should have
should have been
over to the farm."
You know, I never went.
I've got dreams ♪
Dreams ♪
To remember ♪
I've got dreams ♪
Dreams to remember ♪
-Listen, honey ♪
-I've got dreams ♪
-Rough dreams ♪
-Dreams to remember ♪
Oh, to remember ♪
I still want you to stay ♪
I still love you anyway ♪
I don't want you
to ever leave ♪
Girl, you just satisfy me,
oo-wee ♪
We chose to go to the studio.
We felt a need to be
around each other,
with each other.
The death had taken
so much out.
So much out.
We began to realize
that Otis was quite a bit more
than just a singer
in our roster.
He was really
an emotional leader too.
Must have been a couple days
gone by,
I get a call
from Atlantic Records.
They said, "We need to put
the record out with Otis."
Jim Stewart came to me,
"What do you have ready, Steve?"
I said, "Nothing.
Now, I can't go in
and mix something on Otis now."
He said, "You have to."
Mixed "Dock of the Bay"
all night long.
Hardest thing I ever had to do
in my life.
The next day, I handed it
to a flight attendant.
She hands it to a representative
from Atlantic.
We had records out
almost immediately.
Sittin' in the mornin' sun ♪
I'll be sittin'
when the evening come ♪
Watching the ships roll in ♪
And then I watch 'em
roll away again ♪
Yeah, I'm sittin'
on the dock of the bay ♪
Watching the tide roll away ♪
Oh, I'm just sittin'
on the dock of the bay ♪
Wastin' time ♪
"Dock of the Bay"
was the first song
of Otis Redding's
that made it to the number one
spot on the pop charts.
Headed
for the 'Frisco Bay ♪
It was
his first million seller,
and he was unable to see that.
And look like nothin's
gonna come my way ♪
So I'm just gon' sit
on the dock of the bay ♪
Watching the tide
roll away ♪
There was
a deep loneliness inside him,
and that was one of the sources
of these original songs.
Look like nothing's
gonna change ♪
Everything still
remains the same ♪
After I mixed that record
I just couldn't listen to it.
Not mentally, not physically.
I never got over Otis.
Let's do another one.
The death of Otis Redding
in December of 1967
had an unbelievable impact.
Then, we started having big
problems in Memphis, Tennessee.
Some garbage men
were working
this white neighborhood.
Back then, all of the sanitation
workers were Black.
All of the drivers were white,
with no exception.
It started to rain.
There were two men
that were sitting
in the back of the truck.
And while these two men were
sitting in the back of the truck
waiting on the rain to stop,
they were crushed in the back
of the truck
by the compactor.
People inside their houses
could hear them screaming.
As a young child,
there wasn't a Saturday that
my father didn't walk me out
to say hello to
the garbage workers
as they came down the alley
to pick up the cans.
And so, when they started
to get physically hurt,
it became a big cause
for concern
in the African American
community.
Sweep all the way
down from London,
all the way back.
You understand?
All right, lock arms,
four of you
on each side of the street
and let's sweep it
all the way down.
Did you read
about the flood? ♪
It happened a long time ago ♪
Way in a little
country town ♪
It rained and it rained ♪
Listen, the people worried ♪
And they began to cry ♪
Lord, have mercy ♪
As long
as you continue to break the law
and endanger the public health
and welfare,
there will be no further talk
at any level of government.
The minute the men
go back to work,
discussions will resume.
Loeb said
that he wanted garbage
to pile up as high
as the apartments.
Let's help him pile it up!
We just wanted respect
and equal rights,
but we didn't have it.
And that's what
the sanitation worker strike
was all about:
respect, fair employment,
and equal rights.
And it affected me and everybody
else in Memphis, Tennessee,
whether we were down there with
the sanitation workers or not.
Mm-mmm,
wasn't that a mighty time? ♪
I supported every bit
of the movement.
I supported
not only financially,
but with my actions as well.
When I'm watching
the six o'clock news,
and I'm seeing close buddies
of mine carrying a sign,
it's not that I was
against it or anything,
it was just a shock seeing it.
Because there was no color
at Stax.
There was too much
ugly influence
from the leadership in Memphis
on that issue.
It was just not something
that you could be on the
on the other side of.
I cannot
guarantee anybody that Memphis,
or any other city
in this country,
will not have a riot
this summer,
if for no other reason
than that our government
has not done anything,
and most white people
have not done anything,
about removing the conditions
that brought riots
into being last summer.
Chaos has just broken
out downtown.
That sound you just heard
was the sound of the tear gas
fired by a police officer.
Tear gas burns.
You know, wherever there's
moisture on your skin,
it burns.
, son of a bitch!
Get us outta here!
Move it! Move!
Police sicced dogs on us.
They shot mace on us.
I was, like, 17.
I didn't know anything about
that kind of violence
or that kind of hatred.
I saw things that I never
thought I'd see
people do to each other.
Good friend of mine
named Joe
Joe was beat so bad.
He was bloody.
They beat him so bad he
he has brain damage now.
This movement has got to insist
that no matter what
white citizens,
or some white citizens
might say,
we know what police brutality
and harassment means,
and we are through with it,
and we want to see it end
once and for all.
Dr. Martin Luther King
returned to Memphis,
determined to lead
a peaceful mass march
in support of
striking sanitation workers,
most of whom are Negroes.
On April the third,
Al said, "Doc's
coming into the airport."
He said, "Would you mind?
Several people at Stax
are gonna
go to the airport and carry bags
and do whatever is needed."
And I said,
"Well, sure. Why not?"
On the way out the door,
I thought,
and I just grabbed
a Nikon camera.
And I get down
one of the concourses,
and here comes Jesse Jackson,
Ralph Abernathy, and Dr. King.
Seeing him in person,
there was an aura.
I start taking some pictures.
And then I drove them
to the Lorraine Motel.
That's where a lot
of Stax people would hang out.
For Stax,
it was our second home.
If I wanted to find
Steve Cropper,
Isaac,
Al Jackson,
well, I went to the Lorraine.
In Memphis, it was
the only place outside of Stax
that whites and Blacks
could socialize.
It was an oasis for us.
The Moses of 1968,
Martin Luther King.
April third night,
he had a speech.
So I went there,
and got in a side door,
and was up
right near the podium.
And there's thunder
and lightning outside.
A big storm came,
raining like crazy.
Well, I don't know
what will happen now.
We've got
some difficult days ahead.
But it really doesn't matter
with me now
because I've been
to the mountaintop.
He was just
so vibrant and brilliant.
And I have seen
the promised land.
I may not get there with you,
but I want you to know tonight
that we as a people
will get to the promised land!
So I'm happy tonight.
I'm not worried about anything.
I'm not fearing any man!
Mine eyes have seen the glory
of the coming of the Lord!
My mother,
she was attending this cafe,
and they were getting ready
to close.
My uncle and I
went to pick her up.
We parked in front
of the building on Calhoun.
When we got out of the car,
I heard this "pow,"
and I said, "Wow,
that's truck backfire, huh?"
My uncle,
who had been in the Navy,
he said, "No, that's a gunshot."
I'm driving along.
The wind is high.
It's like we're having
these whirlwinds,
these, in the street,
and the paper's swirling.
And I'm listening to the radio.
"Dr. King has been shot
at the Lorraine Motel."
Dr. King was standing on the
balcony of the Lorraine Hotel
on the second floor
when a single shot
came from across the street.
He was in Memphis in support of
striking garbage men there.
It was our place.
Home away from home.
We were just devastated.
Yesterday, in our staff meeting
that we held, uh
uh, he was challenging the staff
to remain non-violent.
Not because we were afraid,
as they so often say,
but because we're living
in a sick world.
And the pathology
and the sickness
and the neurosis of
of Memphis,
and of this racist society
in which we live,
is that that really pulled
the trigger.
Um
God knows this is
the most tragic thing
that has ever happened in
in my life.
To some extent, Dr. King has
been a buffer the last two years
between the Black community
and the white community.
The white people do not know it,
but the white people's
best friend is dead.
Uh, the Black people's leader,
our Moses,
the once in
a 400- or 500-year leader
has been taken from us
by hatred and bitterness.
At Stax,
no one talked about
Dr. King's assassination.
I started to, deep down,
feel that something was amiss.
They didn't understand
my daily life
as a Black person in Memphis.
I don't think they knew
our world.
They never talked about it.
If they if they felt
that way, the way they do now,
why didn't they say
something then?
The close relationship
that we had in the studio
didn't happen
outside of the studio,
so I didn't feel comfortable
bringing up those subjects
with the band.
Something is wrong at home.
We're saying this can be done.
Whites and Blacks
can work together
in pure total harmony
with music,
and it can have the essence
that you can take
and not worry about it,
and love these songs,
and have a good time,
and live your life, and have
no misgivings whatsoever.
And that was not the truth.
The season and the time
that we were living in
it was hard, and it was real.
I handled it inside
as best as I could.
I tried to retain, you know,
looking like a regular fella.
And Whew!
I tried.
I don't know how I came off,
but I tried.
Uh, so this is April 1968.
In mid-May 1968,
Atlantic Records
decided to merge
with Warner and Elektra,
and they would no longer be
distributing Stax Records.
And, to our shock,
we learned that
as a result of the agreement
between Jim Stewart
and Jerry Wexler,
all of our music that had been
released in the marketplace
were the property
of Atlantic Records.
Jim Stewart signed
a very bad contract.
The original Stax agreement
with Atlantic
was a handshake deal.
But in 1965, Jerry Wexler said,
"We're looking to sell Atlantic,
and you're not protected.
We should draw up
a formal contract."
Jim didn't read it.
And this gave Atlantic
the rights in perpetuity,
forever,
to about 97% of Stax's catalog.
And they lost Sam & Dave because
Stax did not own their contract.
For Jim Stewart,
your word was your bond.
For Jerry Wexler,
it was dog-eat-dog.
Get stuff in contracts,
own everything you can.
Bigger fish
swallowing smaller fish.
New York company
screwing a Memphis company.
In order to be a record company,
you have to have a catalog
and they wiped us out.
Sam and Dave gone.
Otis Redding gone.
No catalogs.
Stax is dead.
Stax is dead.
Last time I saw
peace and harmony ♪
They were headed
down your way ♪
Won't you please
turn them around ♪
And send them straight
on back to me ♪
Winding, winding road ♪
Send peace and harmony home ♪
Is it a world situation ♪
Or tell me, road, is it me? ♪
You know you,
you hold the answer ♪
Tell me, road,
where can they be? ♪
Winding, winding road ♪
Send peace and harmony home ♪
Winding, winding road ♪
They've been gone too long ♪
Tell me,
what did we do wrong? ♪
Seems like
all the love is gone ♪
Please help man
to see the light ♪
Send them back,
make things all right ♪
Winding, winding road ♪
Send peace and happiness
home ♪
Winding, winding road ♪
Oh yes, they've been gone
too long ♪
Winding, winding road ♪