Retro Music 56

~ beetleypete

In 1968, I bought a record called ‘Stop Her On Sight’ (also known as S.O.S.) It was by the powerful American Soul singer and Motown recording artist named Edwin Starr. I already owned his previous UK hit record, ‘Headline News’. I really loved that new record, and went on to buy others by Edwin, including ‘Agent Double-O Soul’, ‘Twenty Five Miles’, and ‘War’.

Then in 2002, we discovered he was coming to London’s Jazz Cafe in Camden, just around the corner from where I lived. This intimate venue was a great place to see live acts, and I was not about to miss Edwin on stage. It was a great gig, and I had a fair bit to drink while watching him perform. I had been waiting for him to sing S.O.S., then I needed a toilet break, so missed most of the song.

When he later asked if we had requests, I had got close to the stage and yelled out “SOS!” He laughed, and replied “I already did that”. I shouted back, “I missed it because I was in the toilet”. He laughed again, and said “Okay”. They played it again, much to my delight, and the amusement and enjoyment of the crowd.

He had been based in England since 1983, and died in Nottinghamshire at the age of 61 the year after we saw him in Camden. We later became friendly with his brother, Angelo. He had played in the backing band for Edwin, and went on to tour with a tribute act to his brother.

I was originally going to feature ‘Headline News’, but in memory of that night in London, here is ‘S.O.S.’

Hey, hey, hey, I’m sending
Out an S.O.S.
(Sending, sending)
Hey, hey, hey, I’m sending
Out an S.O.S.
(Sending, sending)
I’m sending out an S.O.S.
Because I’m in so much distress
And if you see my baby
If you see my baby, stop her on sight
Hey, hey, hey, I’m sending
(Yes I am)
Out an S.O.S.
(Sending, sending)
(From me to Mexico)
Hey, hey, hey, I’m sending
(Hey now)
Out an S.O.S.
(Sending, sending)
I’m gonna tell the F.B.I.
I’m likely to get myself a secret spy
Because I lost my baby
So if you see my baby, stop her on sight
I lost
I lost my baby
I lost my baby
You can tell her by the way she walks
You can tell her by the way she talks
And you can tell her by the way she smiles
I guarantee you it will drive you wild
So if you see my baby
If anybody sees my baby
Stop her on sight
Hey, hey, hey, I’m sending
(Yes I am)
Out an S.O.S.
(Sending, sending)
(‘Cause I miss my baby so)
Hey, hey, hey, I’m sending
(Hey now)
Out an S.O.S.
(Sending, sending)
(I don’t know, I don’t know where she’s gone)
Hey, hey, hey, I’m sending
(But I want you)
Out an S.O.S.
(Sending, sending)
(I want you to stop my baby)
Hey, hey, hey, I’m sending
(Stop her on sight)
Out an S.O.S.
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Hamilton / Willie Hatcher / Morris

27 thoughts on “Retro Music 56”

  1. Pingback: Retro Music 56 | Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News

All comments welcome

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.