Stereothematica
Welcome to Stereothematica, a podcast where two women geek out over music.
When Christina moved from LA to Texas, Christine suggested a weekly challenge to stay in touch: pick a song that fits a chosen theme. This game opened them to new perspectives on each other while deepening their own understanding of the music that shapes their lives. Each week Christina and Christine recreate the magic of their song exchange on a broader scale, deconstructing their thematic picks, providing personal anecdotes and historical insights, and sharing transformative tracks rarely spotlighted on the Billboard Hot 100.
Stereothematica
Horny
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Get your minds out of the gutter. There's only one type of horniness that we'd be talking about...
SONGS:
Fela Kuti: Water No Get Enemy (1975)
The Bar-Kays: Soul Finger (1967)
RESOURCES AND REFERENCES:
Fela Kuti: Fear No Man (Podcast Series, 2025)
Finding Fela - Full Documentary (Kino Lorber, 2014)
Fela Ransome Kuti and His Koola Lobitos (1965)
Water No Get Enemy: How Fela Kuti Predicted the Global War for the River (Rivermixer, 2026)
What “Water No Get Enemy” Says About Fela Kuti (Mayomifull, 2026)
Femi Kuti, D’Angelo, Macy Gray: Water No Get Enemy (For Red, Hot & Riot, 2002)
D’Angelo and Lauren Hill Interpolation of Water No Get Enemy (Unreleased)
How Fela Kuti’s 1975 Track Inspired D’Angelo 25 Years Later
Analytical study of “Water No Get Enemy” by Fela Anikulapo Kuti (Funmi RaphealJohn, 2025)
Fela Kuti & Africa 70 Live in Berlin (1978)
Fela Kuti is the first African pop star to enter the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (NPR, 2026)
The Legacy of Fela Kuti's Music of Resistance: Hear 15 Essential Songs (NYT, 2020)
Everytime Burna Boy Has Sampled Fela Kuti
Femi, Made, Seun cover “Water No Get Enemy” (Global Citizen Live 2021)
Afrodicia with Nnamdi Moweta (KPFK 90.7 - Saturdays 4-6 p.m. PT)
The Bar-Kays (Memphis Music Hall of Fame)
Album Essentials: Bar-Kays - "Soul Finger" (The Summit FM)
The Innovators: Stax Artist Spotlights - The Bar-Kays
A Look Back: Ben Cauley on the plane crash that took the life of Otis Redding and members of the Bar-Kays (Commercial Appeal)
The 20 Best Stax Records Songs (Paste)
Wattstax (1973) - Theatrical Trailer (YouTube)
More Horniness
Raul de Souza: Sweet Lucy (1977)
Fanfare Ciocarlia - Tiny Desk Concert (NPR, 2014)
Fela Kuti: Lady (1972)
Fela Kuti: Zombie (1976)
Connect with us on Instagram (to share your song picks or troll us), Spotify (for our ever-growing playlist), and Stereothematica.com (for extra fun)!
If you like what you’re hearing, please subscribe, and if you love it, a five-star rating and review would send us into the exosphere of excitement.
And email us at stereothematica@gmail.com! We will write back!
I'm Christine. And I'm Christina. In 2024, I moved to Texas from LA. And to keep in touch, Christine and I started a weekly game where we each pick a song that fits a chosen theme.
SPEAKER_03This game deepened our understanding of each other and the songs that shape us, inspiring the podcast you're listening to now. Each week we share our pics, swap stories, and dig into tracks you might love. And a lot of the time have never heard of.
SPEAKER_00Welcome to Stereothematica, your favorite atypical music podcast.
SPEAKER_03Christina, you know that giddy feeling when you can't think about anything else? Yeah, I usually feel that way when I'm thinking about like candy. Yeah, okay. Because you not exactly what I was thinking, but but you know, like any physical symptoms, like the hair on your arm stands up, you get a little like breathless, a little flushed. Is that what happens when you think about candy?
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah. I think I know, I know the giddiness. I usually get like like antsy, like the good kind of antsy, you know, like shaking a little bit.
SPEAKER_03Yep. Well, today we are talking about the alluring, the titillating, the hypnotizing. We're going deep with horn sections, horn lines, horn riffs, and that's right, all around horniness. Sorry, Christina, for all the silly sex puff.
SPEAKER_00That's usually my job.
SPEAKER_03I know, but I turn into a little boy when anything like sex related. Even though this is not sex related at all. Let me make that clear. This is all about horn sections. And you know, well, I don't know if you know, but I do love a horn section.
SPEAKER_00I could guess.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And just to be clear, that's a group of wind instruments playing together. And in popular music, especially jazz, funk, soul, a horn section is usually some combination of trumpets, trombones, and saxophones. And I am thrilled that both of our songs, I think, define what it means to have very prominent horn sections. But yeah, right. But before we get to our picks, I'm curious, did you have any runners up?
SPEAKER_00You know, I think so. I I have uh some songs that come to mind when I think about them. Maybe even the artist you picked, but also like you know that like Love and Happiness by Al Green. That's such a good one. I think there's this excellent cover. I don't even know how to, it's almost like a cover compilation Blood Orange did of an Arthur Russell song. And I'll share it. Oh, that sounds nice. Yeah, I need to add that in there. Yeah. And oh, Watermelon Man. Oh my gosh, Ruby Handwick. The original, especially.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_00That one is so good. You know, you know how I feel about jazz and how I'm on the fence. And there's a lot of horns in jazz.
SPEAKER_03There's a lot of horns in um popular music too. I mean, remember um our problematic artist, I think, Michael Jackson, that song burned this disco out. That's true. That opened with a nice horn section. Very horny. Uh, seriously. And then and then I've mentioned him before, a Brazilian trombonist, Raul de Sousa. I mean, I think I mentioned him during our get up and dance.
SPEAKER_00I think they even named the Sousa phone after him. Are you being funny?
SPEAKER_03No, I'm kidding. I would I would have been impressed. Anyway, his sweet Lucy is another one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I almost picked that for today. And I'm curious, have you seen the Earth, Wind, and Fire documentary, Questloves documentary on Earth, Wind and Fire?
SPEAKER_00No, I actually haven't. Oh, oh, it's good.
SPEAKER_03I want to say just like Earth, Wind and Fire.
SPEAKER_00Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_03Something like that. But that's really good. And you get a lot of horn sections there. Nice. The Phoenix horns, the September, of course. Like that's one of my favorites of theirs.
SPEAKER_00Archie Bellum that drows tighten up. I've talked about that on the show before. That's a good one.
SPEAKER_03There's it's it's so good. There's just so much good horn music.
SPEAKER_00I just need to ask a quick question. Yes. Uh-oh. How does brass and wind differ? I mean, there's obviously a Venn diagram.
SPEAKER_03Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_00And that overlaps.
SPEAKER_03I'm glad you asked. So wind is like the general category. And within wind, there's woodwinds, and then there's brass. Okay.
SPEAKER_00So they're a part of the thing. Like a clarinet is a woodwind.
SPEAKER_03Yes, because that has a read. So basically flute. Okay, no good, good one, Christina. No flute, but it's still like the the way the you blow in. Whereas with brass instruments, it's your lips. Your lips are making the noise more so than the breast, even though it's a little bit of both, but it's basically that.
SPEAKER_00Have you ever tried blowing a horn?
SPEAKER_03I feel like when we do music in like, I don't know, elementary school, or you practice all the different instruments, and it's very hard to do that.
SPEAKER_00Hard. Yep. Maddening.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And not like I have like true experience. It's just that I dated a guy who had a, I don't know if it was like a trumpet or a trombone or something. Yeah. And I tried doing it and I was like, no, that's impossible.
SPEAKER_03It's really hard. Yeah, I can't, it's I can't imagine doing that now, especially.
SPEAKER_00But thinking about that control and then the diaphragmatic breathing that you have, like it's very impressive. I can't wait to to dig in.
SPEAKER_03Okay. I'm ready to do it. Sorry, I shouldn't clap. So for for my pick for today, I had to go with one that, like, like literally, like, I don't know, not literally, but it it does kind of capture me, at least like mentally and physically, even and just like emotionally and psychologically. So overall, it captures me from that very first note.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_03Anyway, I'll just get to it. Fela cooties, water, no get enemy.
SPEAKER_01Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_00That's so good.
SPEAKER_03I I mean, that was the first 30 seconds of 10 minutes, which is a relatively short song for him.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, true.
SPEAKER_03Well, I mean, I have a few favorites, but this one, it's to me, it's that that horn opening just like gives me chills every time.
SPEAKER_00It is like such a good sign. You're right, from the very beginning, it just sets the tone of like, you know, this is gonna be a fucking banger. And I just want to like prowl around the room while I'm listening to it, you know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, for sure. But I'm curious, obviously, a Fala fan. So any Fela first for you? Like, like your first, do you remember your first the first time you heard his music, or do you have a favorite Fela song?
SPEAKER_00I don't remember when I first heard his music. It was definitely something we listened to in my house growing up.
SPEAKER_03Oh wow, so cool.
SPEAKER_00Like, and on you know, on the radio, they'd play it on like the because we listen to like a lot of international, you know, not my genre, but like not my termination of the genre, but like stations that would play a lot of international music and then going to like Jazz Fest, even when I was I mean it was later obviously, but when I was like 22, 23, I saw Sean Kuti at Jazz Fest, which was really funny. But I thought you'd like this. I think my second semester senior year, you know how you can have like your basically like your theme music for your radio show, uh-huh. Like kind of the opening music. Mine was a cover of a fellow kuti song by Firpois Fuscari's. Oh, and it was Let's Start. Do you know that?
SPEAKER_03Oh, nice. I don't know. I don't.
SPEAKER_00It's uh it's a good song, but the cover is also very good because they put a little like salsa twist on it. So it was called Comencemos. I'll I'll link to it because it's very good. But yeah, I thought I was very cool.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no, I I I can attest to that.
SPEAKER_00It's very cool.
SPEAKER_03No, I was yeah, I was thinking about like when I first heard his music and like Afrobeat in general, and I gotta give credit to KPFK, this station 90.7 KPFK. Before even KCRW, I was listening to KPFK regularly. And I think especially after I got back from college from Santa Cruz, getting back to LA, I was listening to a lot. And especially there was a program, Afrodesia. And I think it's it's on to this day. And he would play Afrobeat and Fela Kuti. And it's one of those things that's like when you hear it for the first time, you feel like you've always known it, but it's eye-opening, ear opening, heart, it's just opens you up to like a whole world of possibilities of music.
SPEAKER_00That's such a good way of saying it, like the way that you feel like you've known it, just because it is like there's something. I mean, I hate being this person, and I don't want to be judged, but like there is something a little bit like it's in your soul. Yeah, like it just it gets like injected right into you. No, so good.
SPEAKER_03And and even for two white girls, like uh I know.
SPEAKER_00Oh my god, thank you for saying that.
SPEAKER_03It's embarrassing, but it's true. Like, like you feel it and you're just like, oh my gosh, this is like just another world of possibility.
SPEAKER_00Totally.
SPEAKER_03And and I know a lot of musicians, and I'll I'll get to the impact Fela's had toward the end, but first I should probably, for those unfamiliar, give a little thumbnail of Fela Kuti. I'm taking it for granted that everyone knows who he is, but he was indeed the creator of Afrobeat and probably the most well-known Nigerian composer, saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, activist, and let's just say it, revolutionary in many ways. Um, he took on military dictatorships, corruption, colonialism, and so many other injustices. He was arrested about 200 times, beaten, and constantly harassed by the Nigerian government. He was also complicated, sometimes even problematic. And I'll get to that, but I really want to focus on his influences and impact first. Most of my knowledge from Fela comes from two sources. This wonderful and somewhat recent limited series podcast called Fela Kuti, Fear No Man, and Alex Gibney's 2014 documentary, Finding Fela, which sort of uses the Broadway musical Fela as a framing device. We all know you love a musical, Christina. Have you seen this?
SPEAKER_00No, I've never even heard of it. I didn't know there was a Fela Kuti Broadway musical. I'm scared a little bit. Have you seen it?
SPEAKER_03No, I have not seen it, but one thing in particular makes me think it's worth both of our times. Questlov. Also kind of skeptical when he he found out this was being made in the process. And it's written and directed by Bill T. Jones. So already choreography is going to be pretty amazing. But he went, and when he got home that night after like watching it, he's like, he wrote a note to all of his followers, everyone, I guess it was an email, and he's like, drop what you're doing, go see this thing. This is like the best thing ever.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_03I mean, not his words, but that was the gist of it. That's the essence. And one of the things that he was really impressed with was that Antiballas, the um Brooklyn-based Afrobeat band, were the band in the musical.
SPEAKER_00Oh shit.
SPEAKER_03And he he loves them. He says they scare me. Which I think if some musician can scare Quest Love, they're doing something right and special. Totally. So so yeah.
SPEAKER_00When did that come out? I feel like now I've missed it.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so the documentary came out in 2014, but I think a few years earlier, maybe the musical was out. And it's I guess it's even been in LA. Yeah. So I kind of want to see it.
SPEAKER_00Let's see it if Auntie Ballas is playing.
SPEAKER_03I know if they're still playing. Have you ever seen them live?
SPEAKER_00Uh, I don't think so. Okay. I know I would probably remember, but you know, sometimes you go to like big festivals and stuff like that. But no, I don't think so.
SPEAKER_03I saw them in 2001 at the club or cafe Fe Dodo in LA. And you know who was there in the audience? Who? Julie Delpy. Wow. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It was, I mean, that was like her time. That was that was 2001. Seriously.
SPEAKER_03Peak Delpy. Big time. It was very cool. I get like totally mesmerized the entire show, even though you know you get these long songs. But I think it is especially Afrobeat in general, I think is especially good for a live performance because you're you're able to kind of be swept away in the magic. So, anyway, this podcast, it's 12, it's actually turns out to be 13 episodes. So they have a bonus episode, but they get into so many aspects of Fala's life. But I especially loved the episode Vengeance of the Vagina Head. And this has nothing to do with horniness, it's all about Fela's mom. And she warns a little sidetrack here because she was probably one of the most influential figures in his life. And truly, she's a legend in her own right. So a few facts about Fun Malayo Ransom Kuti. She was the first Nigerian woman to drive a car. And after noticing that some of the market women in church couldn't read, she started literary classes for them. And they later became the backbone of the Abakuta Women's Union. And it was their campaign against the sexist colonial taxation that grew into one of the most significant women's movements in African history. And after years of marches, songs, public ridicule, and mass protests, the women forced the British-backed authority, the Lalaki of Abakuta, to abdicate in 1949. And according to the episode, the Abakuta women's revolt became known as the vengeance of the vagina head because of their chance. And one of them, roughly translated from Yoruba, goes, For a long time you have used your penis as a mark of authority that you are our husband. Today we shall reverse the order and use our vagina to play the role of husband on you. Oh, you men, vagina's head will seek vengeance.
SPEAKER_00Hell yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I knew you'd like that.
SPEAKER_00She's such a badass. Like, I'm I don't know. He, of course, had to be a powerful force because of the power of his mom.
SPEAKER_03Yes. And like, so he's about seven to ten when all this is happening, and he's at his mother's side along with his older cousin, the writer, playwright, poet, Wally Shoinka. I imagine the two of them being in awe and soaking up the inspiration to use like later in their lives. Wally Shoinka is actually in the podcast and talks about in this particular episode. It's it's very cool. So Fela eventually goes to London to study music at Trinity College. He gets into jazz and forms a band called Kula Lubitos, doing what's called high life music, and that's a fusion of West African sounds with jazz. And we'll we'll share some of that because it's actually very good, I think. But eventually he meets the legendary drummer, Tony Allen, back in Lagos, and he asks him to be his drummer. And later Fela would say that without Tony, there would be no Afrobeat. And then fast forward to 1969, and Kula Lobitos ends up with a residency in LA.
SPEAKER_00Nice.
SPEAKER_03And that's when Fela meets the activist Sandra Isidore. And I'll just stick to the facts since there's a lot still to get to. But basically, she introduced him to the teachings of Malcolm X and black liberation politics. And the podcast features a rare recording of Fela talking about Sandra, saying she made him realize that music needed to educate. And while still in LA, he renamed his band Nigeria 70, which eventually became Africa 70. And then he returned to Nigeria, and Afrobeat as we know it sonically revolutionized Africa and the world. Now I wanted to lead with these two influential feminists, not to offset some of Fela's more problematic views and practices, but to provide a bit more context. Did you even know about his problematic side?
SPEAKER_00A little bit. Just what probably most people know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So one of the big things that everyone talks about is the the fact that he married 27 women at one time in 1978. And even that, I feel like there's some nuances there. The podcast gets into that. He's also, and and this is the probably the more most uncomfortable one, he has talked about having the right to beat his women. Um yeah. And then he didn't believe in AIDS and he didn't use condoms, and he died from AIDS-related complications in 1997. And sadly, his brother basically was like the equivalent of the Surgeon General, too. Oh my god. So, and I think he had to come on TV and tell people what happened. So, now as we talked about in our problematic artist episode, it's important as a fan to give yourself space for not knowing how to feel about all this. And both the podcast and the documentary do a really good job of celebrating the music and Fela's impact, um, but also exploring that problematic side. And there's actually in the podcast series an episode called The Queens, where they interview some of the dancers, his wives, the women who loved him, and some who were traumatized by him. So, yeah, I again I'm gonna say this a lot throughout my portion. Just listen to the episode. Yeah. Or the episodes. But okay, I I think I should get back to the song. This is this is the horny episode after all. So um, water no get enemy comes from the 1975 album Expensive Shit. Now, do you know the story behind that title?
SPEAKER_00I if I do, I don't remember it.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so police constantly raiding his Kalakuta Republic, which was basically his compound and trying to get him in trouble, trying to get him arrested, oftentimes just framing him. And um, in this case, in particular, one of the cops pulled out a joint from his pocket and said, Like, I found this, you're getting arrested. And he Fala's like, What is where? Where is it? And he puts it up in his face and he's like, I can't see it. And he puts it closer, and then Fela eats it. And then he's arrested, and they're going to wait for him to shit. Oh my gosh. So um, he's not shitting. Several days go by, he eventually shits. There's nothing in it. Turns out the other prisoners, totally fans of Fela, they've been switching out the shit bucket. Oh my god. So, so yeah, that's the story of expensive shit. And that's the album. That's the one song, that's it's the song on side A. And then the B side is water, no get enemy, which is based on a Europa proverb, water has no enemy, because of course everyone depends on it. And there's this essay on the environmental nonprofit website, River Mixer, that says water, no get enemy can be read as a tactical response to the raid that inspired expensive shit. And I just I love where they're going with this. So, by claiming water as his ally on the same record, they say Fela was de-platforming the government, and their next line is the perfect segue to talk about horns. I promise we're gonna get to they say you can attempt to damn a current or arrest a musician, but the hydraulic pressure eventually finds a way through any obstruction. So I kept asking myself, why do these horns tickle me so much? And I think it's because they're that force. And that force, the horn section, includes three saxophones. Likan Animachon is on baritone sax, which not to be punny here, but it's the longest and the deep. And Fela and Christopher Uaifor are on tenor sacks. And then we have two trumpets played by Tounde Williams and Stepan Ukim. And again, that opening horn line is the foundation upon which everything will be layered the drums, the keyboards, the guitars, the kongas, claves, and vocals. And it's literally the breath that propels the song. As water propels our lives. And everything else, like the vocals, the percussions, the keyboards, can meander, but the horns keep moving it forward. And a lot of the time they're in a loop and you can't help but hum along. And the closer you listen, the more tuned in and turned on you become. Musicians from Paul McCartney, he cried the first time he saw Fala. He was in Lagos actually recording Band on the Run. And yeah, broke down, lost it. David Byrne and Eno, of course, like that completely changed talking heads the sound on the second album. Questla, Santigold, they've all spoken about his impact. Barack Obama has included Fela on playlist. And the actor-comedian Ayoa Debory has been obsessed with Fela since she was a kid. And then bands like Enti Ballas have spent decades carrying Afrobeat Forward. His sons, Femi and Shan, continue touring the world with his music and theirs. And then Berna Boy, who you mentioned in our sports episode just last week. Yeah. First time I ever heard of him. And he's talked about Fela's influence and sampled him a lot. So nice.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Full circle.
SPEAKER_03I know. I like I like when that happens. But it's it's really hard to find any modern musician who doesn't owe him something. And did you know? This year, Fela Kuti will become the first African pop musician inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame under the Musical Influence Award.
SPEAKER_00I did not know, and how the hell has it taken them this long?
SPEAKER_03Truly. I know.
SPEAKER_00Wow.
SPEAKER_03I know. And and you know what? It's they're going to do the induction ceremony in LA at the Peacock Theater in November. So I wonder if like that'll be open for tickets. If anyone can get us tickets, reach out. Yep. Thank you. We'll be there with bells on. Yes. But we've barely scratched the surface, Fela, his impact and his issues. But we do need to move on. And I'm so horny, Christina, to hear about your face.
SPEAKER_00You horn dog. Um, I really love that you deep dove into Fela's mom because I listened to a podcast sometime back that talked about her, and I was blown away. So I never knew about her. And I am so jazzed to learn to learn more about his life. So this is just such a fun theme. And not just for the double entendre. Sorry. Speak a little French, Christine. Yeah, I think I think what we both agree on is like music with horns, they tell you this song is gonna be lit. And speaking of which, I'm gonna jump right into it. Here's my song for this week Soul Finger by the Barclays from their 1967 debut album by the same name. Speaking of killer openings, how good is that opening, Chris?
SPEAKER_03So much fun. I love it. I was so happy when you shared this one.
SPEAKER_00It is a blast. Like the whole thing is just it's so fun. And I actually I'm like 90% sure that a fellow radio DJ at my station had this as their um opening music.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, that's it.
SPEAKER_00Which is really quite fun. But yeah, this one too, because it's very largely instrumental. But wait a minute, because we have to go back to my question. My song, it's got a brass instrument that is a trumpet, but a trumpet is not a horn. And you're not kicking me off the podcast?
SPEAKER_03No, because this is a case where colloquially it counts as a horn, especially as it's a part of a section. In pop music, funk, jazz, whatever, like RB soul, trumpets are horns. Oh, saxophones are horns.
SPEAKER_00I'm in.
SPEAKER_03Again, not actually not technically speaking, but just as a thing. People call it their horns. And especially as a group, then it is definitely a horn section. But like if you want to be technical, a French horn is a horn.
SPEAKER_00And there are other horns.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_00I went down such a crazy Wikipedia rabbit hole.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I was spending time on the trumpet page. I was spending time on the horn page. I was looking up the shofar. Why? Because I don't want to get in trouble.
SPEAKER_03No. And I I do appreciate it. It's funny how this is one case where I'm I'm going to go with I'm not being technical here.
SPEAKER_00Okay, good. That's good. I'm glad I'm not kicked off the stereothematica team. I know that you need me to run the Instagram and whatnot. So I'll be here, listeners. Let's talk a little bit about the Barclays before we dive into Trumpet Madness. Do you know them? Do you know this band?
SPEAKER_03Yes, very much. I love their music. It's been featured in one of my favorite movies, opening credits of Super Bad. Do you remember that?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I do now.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Well, for our friends and listeners who are not familiar with the Barquets, they're a classic Stax Records band who got their start, of course, in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1966. You're familiar with Stax, right? Yes. Yeah. Okay. I know that, of course, we are. I'm a big fan. If you've if you or the listeners have not been, oh my gosh, go do a Stax Record tour in Memphis. It is such a blast. They have Shaf's car there. There's tons of musical history, and you get to see some of the recording studios and everything. Anyway, highly recommend. And the Barquet's name was supposedly a take off of Bacardi Rum and the Marquees, which was another Stax band. So I think these were really young guys. And you know how I love the young'uns, but they were still in high school when they formed.
SPEAKER_02No way.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And even this album came out when they were in literally still in high school, which is so funny to me. So I feel like them using Bacardi, it feels very like teenage of being like, I drink. I'm cool. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Exactly.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00But so the original band consisted of Jimmy King on guitar, James Alexander on bass, Ronnie Caldwell on electric organ, Ben Cauley on trumpet, Phelan Jones on saxophone, and Carl Cunningham on drums. And like I said, all of these guys were high school friends. They attended Booker T Washington High School, except for Ronnie Caldwell, who was white. And that is important because their school wasn't integrated at this time. So Ronnie was so committed to music and this band. And he begged his parents to switch schools so that he could go to Booker T Washington High School so that he could be with his bandmates. And he wanted to be there so that the minute the bell rang, they could all like hit the road and go rehearse together. Isn't that so?
SPEAKER_03Oh, that's so cool. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I know. I just love that story. But the group was actually pretty successful locally. They they played a lot of parties and events in Memphis, and they were really hanging around Stacks trying to get you know that record deal. Stacks, which I love, is called Soulsville, USA. I don't know if you knew that, but they were, yeah, they were trying to get a record deal, and they eventually won over the label's founder, Jim Stewart, who got them to work and they started working on their debut album. So this is what's so funny to me is that Soulfinger, which was their single, was recorded on March 31st, 1967 and released just two weeks later on April 14th. So it's like they were not waiting around. Like they were getting that music out there. And I think Stax must have been eager to get them out because like they had so many other successful artists like Booker T and the MGs, one of my faves, Sam and Dave, Rufus Thomas, and Otis Redding. So, you know, they wanted to see what they could do with this young group. And once the song was released, Soulfinger did really well on the charts. And especially when I remember that this was literally high school guys.
SPEAKER_02Unbelievable.
SPEAKER_00I I don't know. It's just so interesting.
SPEAKER_02And how it came out so fast.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I know. I mean, that's what I'm like. They were pressing it, and maybe even it was just locally, like I have to wonder. But it's I love it. But eventually they did reach number three on the Billboard Hot 100. And I know why, because right out the gate, there's that captivating, trilling trumpet that just hooks you in. And of course, the fun of the Mary Little Mary Had a Little Lamb, which is made even funnier to me that the only lyrics of this song are the little kids shouting soul finger every now and then. I think it's sweet.
SPEAKER_03No, I love it. It's it's even just talking about it, like I'm hearing the song in my head, and I want to move.
SPEAKER_00It's kind of hard not to, right? And especially even the soul, yeah, yeah. But I love this little, and I hope it's true, but supposedly they got the neighborhood kids who would hang out or outside of the stack studios, they got them in the studio and repaid them for doing this part by giving them Coca-Cola. Because of their success, the same year this single and later the full album was released, they were selected by Otis Redding to be his backing band. Oh, wow. That is pretty cool, right? Yeah. I mean, like, because he was such a rising, like, meteoric presence. And I love this fact, except if you know about Otis Redding's tragic demise, which we will get to a little bit later. Before I get there, I want to celebrate these young men, both from Otis and from their families, because everybody encouraged them to finish high school before they hit the road to go on tour with Otis Redding. Because he had asked them to come with them. And then they're like, we can't, we're still in school. And yeah. So they're we don't hear that every day. No, you don't. And like, can you imagine how they must have been gods at their high school? Yeah. Oh God. That's maybe that's why they didn't want to leave. Oh, yeah, that too. They wanted to milk it a little bit. Yeah, why not? And you know, there's got to be something exciting but also a little bit scary about being like, This is this is gonna happen for us. But they did wait almost as soon as they finished graduating, they hit the road for New York City to play at the Apollo Theater in June 1967. So they graduate and then they just go play one of the most iconic venues. And it was crazy. I know, right? And it's Otis Redding's debut at the Apollo 2. Right. Yeah, they're just like truly there, they went from playing like house parties in Memphis to playing the Apollo, and there was a really cute story. And again, this is all like hearsay, so I'm just hoping it's true. But they, I think, had like a three or four night gig at the Apollo with Otis Redding, and they didn't know that people would come back multiple nights in a row, so they only had one suit. And after like the second night, I think that somebody saw them, they were like, Y'all need to get some new suits. And they were like, We didn't know that people would keep coming back to the show, which I think is really cute and sweet. Well, but anyway, I think if you do know a little bit about Otis Redding, you might know where this is going. Sadly, in December 1967, just six months after their show with The Apollo, Otis Redding and four members of the Bar Case, Jimmy King, Ronnie Caldwell, Phelan Jones, and Carl Cunningham, along with their valet, died in an airplane crash while on their way to Madison, Wisconsin. Ben Cauley was on the plane and he survived.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_00So that right there, that musical talent on that plane was such such a huge loss for their families and for the world. But Ben Cauley and bassist James Alexander, who wasn't on the plane, they went on to rebuild the barcase. And they ended up having a pretty successful career, especially as they eventually became Isaac Hayes' backing band for his album Hot Buttered Soul. I could talk a little bit more about the barcase, but since it's the horny episode, I thought I might zero in for a moment on the trumpet and soul finger. So, of course, in my opinion, it's the most recognizable part of the song. And the weird thing is, Ben Cawley, the only survivor of the fateful plane crash, was the barcase trumpet player. And in addition to reviving the barcase, he played on albums for Wilson Pickett, Rufus Thomas, Donovan, B.B. King, Levon Helm, Keith Richards, and Boz Skags, to name a few notable artists. And in 2008, a scholarship was established in his name to support students attending the Stax Music Academy. Collie ended up dying in 2015 at the age of 67, but he had such a huge impact on music. And I just wanted to take a minute to recognize him for his talent and also just what a strange miracle it was that he did not die. And it is, I mean, you can find plenty of articles about it and his experience. But one other thing I'll say is if you love Stax artists as much as I do and you haven't seen Watts Stax, have you seen it? No, no. Oh man, this is a cool one. Do you know about Watts Stax? No. Okay. Watts Stax was an event that happened in, I want to say 72, because it was the seventh anniversary of the 1965 Watts riots. And it's called like the Blackwood Stock because there were so many great um artists that performed. A lot of them, of course, were Stax musicians.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And it happened at the USC stadium.
SPEAKER_03Oh.
SPEAKER_00It was a dollar a ticket. So it was completely packed. And it was just a really cool event. And I will link, of course, to the Watt Stax documentary, which is kind of hosted and narrated by Richard Pryor. So it's got some a lot of hilarity in there. But yeah, just a really interesting story, I think, that we can we can share. And that's all the horn adjacent information I've got.
SPEAKER_03I'm so glad you went into Barquet's because I do love their music and have, but I didn't know much about them. So that is like something I feel very appreciative of. And also learning about this documentary, which I definitely will be watching. So I I I thank you very much.
SPEAKER_00Totally.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So I've talked a lot today, and I still feel like there's so much more to say about Fayla Kuti. So my unsolicited advice for y'all listen to the Fay Kuti Fear No Man podcast. All of it from start to finish. There's so much I've left out. And just like you need to do yourself a favor and me and just listen to it. Christina, will you listen to it, please?
SPEAKER_00You don't even know, but I'm gonna download all the episodes as soon as we finish recording today.
SPEAKER_03Thank you. And if you don't trust my recommendation, I know you do, Christina, but if I just don't, the New Yorker named it the number one podcast of the year in 2025. So there you have it.
SPEAKER_00Okay, that's saying something.
SPEAKER_03Right?
SPEAKER_00Because they have their own podcasts.
SPEAKER_03That's right, they do. So that's pretty impressive. Also, one more thing I want to ask. Just listen to all of Water Noga Enemy start to finish. We played you only about a tenth of the song today. So there's a lot more beyond the horns to enjoy. Christina, I think you'd agree with me on that one.
SPEAKER_00It's only 10 minutes long. Sometimes I wish it were longer.
SPEAKER_03I know. This is this is definitely one of those cases. Anyway, thank you. Thank you for listening. And I think my advice for the week is over. Christina, any hints for next week?
SPEAKER_00Next week, we're rediscovering old favorites.
SPEAKER_03Thanks for listening to Stereothematica. If you like what you're hearing, please consider a review, a rating, or sharing with a friend.
SPEAKER_00And follow us on Instagram at Stereothematica, where you can share your favorite horny songs. We've also got our infinite Spotify playlist linked in our show notes.
SPEAKER_03And visit stereothematica.com for more fun.