“Don’t Play That Song (You Lied)” (Ben E. King/Aretha Franklin)
Today’s classic song of the day was a hit for two different R&B artists. The song is “Don’t Play That Song (You Lied)” and it was written by Betty Nelson, the wife of Ben E. King, and Ahmet Ertegun. (Probably all by Betty; it wasn’t unusual for the producer to take co-songwriting credit back in those days.)
The first recording of “Don’t Play That Song” was released by Ben E. King in 1962, on Atco Records. It was a hit, peaking at #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on Billboard’s R&B singles chart.
The second artist to have a hit with “Don’t Play That Song” was Aretha Franklin, the undisputed Queen of Soul. Her version of the song was released in 1970 and went to #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on Billboard’s R&B singles chart.
For Aretha’s cover of “Don’t Play That Song,” she accompanied herself on piano and brought in session aces the Dixie Flyers to provide instrumental backing. The Dixie Flyers were essentially Atlantic Records’ house band at Miami’s Criteria Recording Studios, where this track was recorded, and included Jim Dickinson and Mike Utley on keyboards, Charlie Freeman on guitar, Tommy McClure on bass, and Sammy Creason on drums. Vocalists Almeda Lattimore, Brenda Bryant, and Margaret Branch sang backup. Jerry Wexler, Arif Mardin, and Tom Dowd produced and engineer Chuck Kirkpatrick was behind the board.
Even if “Don’t Play That Song” didn’t make it to the top of the charts for Ms. Franklin, she had already notched plenty of top ten hits by that point in her career, including “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You),” “Baby I Love You,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “Chain of Fools,” “(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You’ve Been Gone,” “The House That Jack Built,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “Think” and, her signature song, “Respect.” Unfortunately, “Don’t Play That Song” doesn’t get as much play on oldies stations as those higher-charting hits, which is a shame because it’s a fine piece of work and really showcases Ms. Franklin’s soulful gospel-influenced vocals.
Which leads us to today’s daily bonus video of the day, Ms. Aretha Franklin singing and accompanying herself on piano on a live version of “Don’t Play That Song (You Lied).” This one’s from the UK’s The Cliff Richard Show in 1970, and it’s a helluva performance.
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Michael Miller is a popular and prolific writer. He has authored more than 200 nonfiction books that have collectively sold more than 2 million copies worldwide. His bestselling book is Music Theory Note-by-Note (formerly The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory) for DK.
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