STRUTTIN’

A few days ago, I was involved in a conversation with a friend. The conversation was originally about the Latin Blues Band; but, eventually the topic became the tune “Soulful Strut”. For those who do not know the song, you probably do. The song has about 5 incarnations including the instrumental version that Young Holt Unlimited (former members of Ramsey Lewis’s trio) recored and released in 1968. About a year later, a version that Barbara Acklin recorded as “Am I the same Girl” was release with lyrics written by her husband, a member of the Chi-Lites. This was than covered by Dusty Springfield. In the late 1990’s Grover Washington recorded a version of “Soulful Strut.” In the early 1990′2 English group Swingout Sister again covered the song in its lyrical form. The song showed up about 20 years later as a sample on the Joss Stone album Mind, Body and Soul.

Phew…that was a lot. BUT, I am not done. The word strut and its concept is a common one in soul/jazz/R&B. The meters have TWO strut songs, Cissy Strut was one of their first hits, and later Chicken Strut with its great plucky guitar. These tunes have themselves also been covered multiple times. The term strut also appears in the classic Stray Cats tune, Stray Cat Strut…I have also included Bob Segar’s ode to the strut and the Cheetah Girls. These latter were included for the theme…and certainly not because they are good.

And the list goes on.

So without further explanation, here is my “STRUTIN’ Collection“