RIP Joe South

[jillfoster]

Man, we are losing the legends left and right this year. One of the best songwriters of his era, for sure.

[soulwally]

Some great stuff with The Tams, for sure.

[nathanj06]

Oh no. So hard too see these guys leave us. RIP Joe South. Loved "Games People Play".

[jdwheat]

For the record, "Games People Play" won the 1970 Grammy Award for Song of the Year. Remember that opening sitar?

Also remember that Joe South strummed those memorable first guitar chords on Aretha Franklin's "Chain of Fools" in 1968. He also played guitar on Bob Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde" album.

In addition to his own hits [[including "Walk a Mile in My Shoes" and "Don't It Make You Want to Go Home") Joe wrote songs that were recorded by country's Lynn Anderson [[Rose Garden), rock's Deep Purple [[Hush), and pop's Billy Joe Royal [[Down in the Boondocks, I Knew You When) and Paul Revere & the Raiders [[Birds of a Feather).

R&B/soul covers of his songs were recorded by Willie Hightower, Johnnie Taylor, the Tams, Ike & Tina Turner, Johnnie Johnson & the Bandwagon, and Della Reese. Others who covered his songs included Elvis, Gene Vincent, Mel Torme, Bryan Ferry, and Dreadzone. How's THAT for variety?

He was one of the all-time best singer-songwriters from my town, Atlanta. RIP Joe, thank you for all the great music.

"Oh the games people play now
Every night and every day now
Never meaning what they say now
And never saying what they mean ..."

[nathanj06]

jdwheat, Wow I had no idea about Chain Of Fools and Hush is one of the ultimate rock songs from back then. Amazing info, thanks for sharing it.

[soulwally]

He deserved a Grammy just for that Chain of Fools intro!! I love Brook benton's version of Don't It Make You Want To Go Home

[mark speck]

"Games People Play" is one of those late '60's social consciousness songs that still has some relevance today. On top of that, he wrote many other timeless tunes and made a number of decent recordings in his own right. What a tremendous talent! RIP, Joe, and thank you...

Best,

Mark

[MCAntil]

Though you'd like to read my tribute to Joe South, one of the most forgotten heavyweights of the past 50 years. What an amazing talent. Enjoy. http://mcantil.com/joe-south-goes-home/

[MCAntil]

I blogged about Joe South recently, and thought you might be interested in one man's thoughts on one of the most sadly overlooked giants of music in the past half century. RIP Joe. http://mcantil.com/joe-south-goes-home/