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What is Soul?

John "JK" Knight

What is Soul? is a question that Ben E. King tried to answer in his famous single of the same title. It makes sense to get hold of this Atlantic single and listen not just to the lyrics but particularly to the performance combined with the lyrics. Soul music is emotive. It does not leave you untouched. Soul music is to be experienced rather than written about. Nevertheless, sometimes written explanations are necessary hence these words being read by you.

To understand Soul music and its origins it is necessary to understand Black Americans history and culture. Subjected to slavery and taken from their homelands in Africa the people we call Black Americans endured the most horrendous hardships and lives. They triumphed over their sufferings by a combination of their devout Christianity assumed under slavery and their need to express their lives in some form that could not be seen as a direct protest. Hence the musical heritage that has been their gift to the world. Soul music is a wonderful part of that musical legacy. It is a distillation of Gospel music and the Blues with an interweaving of jazz that created modern popular music as well as Soul/R&B.

R&B (Rhythm and Blues) is a much abused term. In the late 1940's and 1950's this term was a blanket cover-all to allow White Americans to identify records specially produced for Black Americans. The U.S.A. was still a very much segregated society. R&B was a description that could describe blues music, early rock 'n' roll as exemplified by Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, Doo Wop singing groups like Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers as well as harmony groups like the Platters. Elvis Presley was of course one of the big White exponents of R&D. His early Sun recordings were frequently mistaken for Black music. From him and the likes of Bill Haley came the R&B that became R&R - Rock 'N' Roll. To make matters more confusing many British groups blurred the issue even further by adopting Blues music into their repertoire and adding their own elements to it to create yet another experience. The Rolling Stones were one of the groups to perform this classic remake of R&B and make it their own. The Animals were another group to do the same ("House of the Rising Sun" was a classic blues number performed by the Animals). And so it went on an on. Soon R&B had become synonymous with the British sound and had evolved into yet another strain.

So where was Soul music in all this? Soul music evolved progressively during the 50's. It came from the sons and daughters of migrants from the Deep South States heading North to find economic prosperity. Leaving their small communities behind in states such as North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana and so on they went to that Mecca of the motor industry: Detroit. Or to Chicago. Or to New York. In all cases they headed for environments with an already established rich musical heritage. In many instances the youngsters arriving in these cities were bringing along the experience they had gained in singing in Church choirs and gospel choirs. Examine the background of any of the major Soul artists and you will see that they inevitably came from a gospel singing background.

Put plants into a hot house environment and they will flourish. Put them into a changing social and political environment where society is undergoing a massive economic boom and transformation, stir the pot and a potent mix exists. Entrepreneurs like Berry Gordy with an eye for talent were starting up with their own vision of a direction for Black music. Groups like the Platters, Billy Ward & the Dominoes, the Drifters had already been paving the way for this new rich sound. Individuals like Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, Clyde McPhatter, Curtis Mayfield, Jerry Butler and Ben E. King were making headway in the popular music charts alongside contemporaries like Presley and announcing to the world - we have something new to offer. It was enthusiastically accepted by the young around the world.

Soul music also had connotations that had not been found in R&B. Their was an ideological feel to the music that seemed to go hand in hand with the Civil Rights movement. However, this must also be taken within a context. Some writers about the Soul scene have made ridiculous claims that have had to be subsequently denied by the artists concerned.

Martha Reeves who cut the classic Motown record "Dancing in the Streets" was often interpreted as producing a song to bring about riots. According to her this was interpretation way out of reality. The song was expressing a good time for all not preaching revolution and riots. Yet their can be no denying that other artists were preaching civil rights changes. It would be foolish to deny it otherwise.

"A change is gonna come" Sam Cooke
"Respect" Otis Redding / Aretha Franklin
"I'm Black and I'm Proud" James Brown
"Keep on Pushing" The Impressions
"People get ready" The Impressions
"Freedom Train" James Carr

Set against a background of segregation, Martin Luther King, the Kennedy's, men like James Baldwin, Malcolm X, Elridge Cleaver, Stokeley Carmichael and Angela Davis popular Black music would inevitably be making it's own contribution. A contribution that in its own right did as much for Black Americans as the protest marches. For this music was made accessible to the young people of the World irrespective of their ethnicity. Its message was coherent and clear: this is Black music and it is good and worthwhile just as we are worthwhile. Black America has much to offer the rest of America and the World. Accept us for we are human beings. Listen to our music and share something that is God given and wonderful.

Is there just one kind of Soul music?

No. there are as many kinds of soul as there are performer making it. Yes. It is a pat answer. Yet it's also true. Soul music is traditionally identified as Southern Soul as exemplified by the grittier music produced in Memphis and the South and as the more polished urbane sounds created in Detroit by Motown, Chicago, New York and Philadelphia. The sound of the Northern cities should not be referred to as Northern Soul (although it would be true to call it that.) The Northern Soul label was applied to a collection of music played in English clubs in the late 60's and throughout the 70's. (See next article).

It only needs a cursory examination of the artist who performed for the Memphis based Stax/Atlantic roster with those of the Northern cities to quickly appreciate the differences. Southern Soul was defined by the likes of Otis Redding, Joe Tex, Percy Sledge, Wilson Pickett, Eddie Floyd, Arthur Conley, Aretha Franklin, Rufus Thomas and Booker T & the M.G.'s. The polished sound of Detroit was reflected in the Motown galaxy of stars that included, Marvin Gaye, Mary Wells, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, the Four Tops, the Supremes, Martha & the Vandellas, the Marvelettes and Stevie Wonder. The Chicago sound of Curtis Mayfield, the Impressions, Jerry Butler, Major Lance and many, many others. Yet any city with any sizeable Black population also produced its own variants.

It so easy to assume that all that was good emanated from the Stax/Atlantic/Motown giants of the 60's. This would be patently untrue. New Orleans produced many fine artists and musicians. So did Washington with it's tiny Shrine label. Then there was nascent Philadelphia International Records that would under Gamble and Huff bring further refinement and polish to urban soul. All would play their part in the making of the Soul music experience.

Well, I've gone as far down the line as I want to go. Trying to explain "What is Soul" in a short article is a real impossiblity. It's better to listen to the music and to learn by listening. It's even better to dance to the music and discover the underpinning emotional release that it provides. What is Soul? In the lyrics of one soul song... "You've got to feel it."