I cried a little when I read today that the great Percy
Sledge had passed away. He was 73 and
died peacefully at his home in East Baton Rogue Parish, Louisiana. Check out this video on YouTube.
PERCY SLEDGE IN 1966 |
When a Man Loves a
Woman brings back vivid radio memories for me. Working as a rock jock, I loved new 45s from
Atlantic Records. The labels were bold
black type on a cherry red background.
They seemed “heavier” than releases on most other labels – Atlantic 45s
had the aura of loving warmth. Percy Sledge’s When a Man Loves a Woman was an Atlantic release.
YOU GOTTA MOVE…
There are many stories in Top 40 DJ lore about long records
used/played by DJs when they needed to take a piss. For some DJs When a Man Loves a Woman, at 3:42 [fact check me please], was one
of those “excuse me, gotta pee” songs.
Others that I recall were Sky
Pilot, Hey Jude, the long version
of Crimson & Clover and Money.
Stairway to Heaven
was always good for taking a dump. During
the long version of In A Gadda da Vita you could trip down the 7/11 and pickup some
Oreos. Alice’s Restaurant was for carnal knowledge.
The reason I am bringing this up in the context of Percy
Sledge is because one night when I was on-the-air, I needed to take a piss. So, I played When a Man Loves a Woman.
I had just started my first radio job as a KISD Good Guy at a hot, hot Top 40 hit
station in Sioux Falls. The on-air
studio was located in a large glass display window on a busy street called The Window on Main Street. People would
walk and drive by at all times of the day or night and see me – the DJ – live
on the air.
The Window on Main
Street was located in seedy neighborhood close to several notorious strip
clubs. I worked the graveyard shift, so sometimes the people watching got
interesting after the bars closed at 2:00am.
The night I decided to play When a Man Loves a Woman, I started the song, walked toward the
glass window and surprise! A beautiful young Native American woman appeared on
the other side of the glass just inches from me.
She was singing along with Percy's voice blasting from the speaker
outside the window. So, I went with my
vibe and started singing along with her – mouthing the words, sorta dancing
with each other. We both sang so
passionately. We craved every word that Percy sang like they were
pages from our own lives.
THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING
The record began to fade and I leaped back behind the control
board, hit a station jingle, and played the next record – Pushin’
To Hard by The Seeds. The woman outside the window was gone but I’ve never
forgotten her or Percy Sledge.
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