My Favorite Soul Songs

I love this genre of music. I really could put these songs in any order I wanted and it would work. I had to leave so many off…I could easily make this list with 100 different artists but I wanted the page to actually load so you could read it. This is just a partial list…if you like it I could do a part II one day.

James Carr – Pouring Water On A Drowning Man

No…his name is not a household name like the rest of the list but this song just gets to me every single time I listen to it. If you don’t listen to any other song on this post…give this one a try. I dropped Sam Cooke from this list because of Carr but I like this song that much.

His voice and that wonderful guitar. Pouring Water on a Drowning Man charted at #85 on the Billboard 100 and #23 on the R&B Chart in 1966. This song is so easy to listen to. Great guitar sound and Carr’s voice is wonderful. The small intro is worth it. The guitar can sound can seem so deceptively easy but it’s not to be right. He lived in Memphis and was called  “the world’s greatest Soul Singer” but he had a bipolar disorder and that made it hard for him to tour because of the depression.

At one time he was mentioned along with Otis Redding and they had the same manager for a while. The guy had a great voice. Check his other music out.

Arthur Conley – Sweet Soul Music

Otis Redding believed in Conley’s talent. In January 1967 Redding and his managers, Phil Walden (future ABB manager) and his brother Alan Walden (future Lynyrd Skynyrd manager) brought Conley to producer Rick Hall’s FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Conley recorded two singles at FAME Studios but they were not successful and Hall did not want to work with Conley anymore.

By this time Otis was fed up and took Conley himself to FAME and used his own band. With Jimmy Johnson Engineering they recorded Sweet Soul Music. It was a million-selling single. It peaked at #2 on the Billboard 100, #2 in the R&B Charts, and #7 in the UK in 1967.

It was written by Conley and Otis Redding. It was based on “Yeah Man” by Sam Cooke and was a tribute to soul singers. The songs mentioned in this song are “Going To A Go-Go,” “Love’s a Hurtin’ Thing,” “Hold On I’m Coming,” “Mustang Sally” and “Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song).” The artists mentioned are Otis, Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave, James Brown, and Lou Rawls.

Marvin Gaye – Let’s Get It On

I never checked the statistics…but I have to think there had to be a baby explosion nine months after “Let’s Get It On” was released in 1973. Anyone born in 1974 may owe their very existence to this song.

This song’s co-writer Ed Townsend also produced the album with Marvin and co-wrote the three other songs on the first side of the disc, including “Keep Gettin’ It On.” He wrote with Marvin again on songs for Marvin’s 1978 album Here, My Dear.

This song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, The guitar and voice are excellent in this song. There is no guessing what this song is about.

Otis Redding – Shake

This song was a highlight when watching the Monterey Pop Festival. Otis had the voice, charisma, and loads of talent. Shake was written and originally recorded by Sam Cooke. Cooke’s version reached #7 on the Billboard 100. Cooke was a huge influence on Otis Redding; along with Shake, Redding also recorded covers of Cooke’s A Change Is Gonna Come, Chain Gang, Cupid, Nothing Can Change This Love, Wonderful World, and You Send Me.

The song peaked at #47 on the Billboard 100 in 1967. Otis was on his way to superstardom. Otis made a huge impact at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival along with The Who, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin.

The Reverend Al Green – Let’s Stay Together

I never tire of hearing his voice. This song almost wasn’t released because Green hated the thin sound of his falsetto. Producer Willie Mitchell said: “The only fight I ever had with him was about ‘Let’s Stay Together,’ because he thought ‘Let’s Stay Together’ was not a hit.” It did pretty well for a song Green didn’t think was a hit.

The song peaked at #1 in the Billboard 100, #7 in the UK, and #14 in Canada in 1972. Let’s Stay Together also spent nine weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart.

It was selected by the Library of Congress as a 2010 addition to the National Recording Registry, which selects recordings annually that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

81 thoughts on “My Favorite Soul Songs”

  3. Have to like a bit of soul in the morning (or all day long), Max. This takes me back to my young dee-jay days when I lived in Jacksonville, Florida for a short time and visited their soul station WOBS (or was it WPDQ? They were transitioning their call letters then). Loved talking to their dee-jays and listening to the music, just hanging out there on some of my days off. Good times. Great music.

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    1. Oh…thats the problem….over 5 videos and sometimes people tell me the page won’t load all of the way….I’ll make more believe me! Did you know the James Carr song?

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  5. Max , I like all of these songs. There’s not an artist you listed that I haven’t made mention of myself. Apart from being great music, Soul is such an important genre in American music.

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  6. Can’t go wrong with Al Green and you picked probably his best. ‘Sweet soul Music’ is a good one too, though it illustrates my confusion on the sound somewhat- even though it has ‘soul’ in the name it kind of sounds R&B to me. A lot of times I don’t know where the boundary would be (rather like rock/pop I guess)

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    1. I was thinking the same thing when I was writing it…Shake is fast as well…. kinda like Power Pop and Heavy Metal/Hard Rock….where is the line?

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  9. Great songs and artists. I hadn’t t been familiar with James Carr until several years ago, when I would keep coming across his name in articles saying he should have been as well-known as Otis Redding, etc., so I decided to check him out. The man was intense. I even found some CDs on Amazon that were from the early 90’s, I think. Still had a great voice then.

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    1. I’m glad you had heard of Carr…I just had to include him since he gets no love anywhere else much. I never heard from him until blogs.

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  10. I knew James Carr from “The Dark End of the Street” (which I first heard as a Country & Western song). “Pouring Water…” is great! I loved Arthur Conley’s song when it came out – as long as we’re mentioning name-dropping in songs, Van Morrison with “Jackie Wilson Said” introduced some white folks to the great Jackie Wilson. (And at 2:15 Conley’s guitarist lets us know that less sometimes is more.) Marvin Gaye had to be on the list. Otis Redding (on this recording) is backed by (arguably, and I will argue it) the best backing band there ever was (Booker T. and the MGs). I was not a big fan of Al Green until I saw him at the Madison Blues Festival.

    Since you listed this as your favorites, not the best, there’s no room for argument.;) While my list might not match completely, I have no argument with yours! 🙂 Of course, choosing only five might make the list change day-to-day.

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    1. Thanks so much! Yea they would change day to day and the response has been postive so I might do a part II or III…I’m glad you heard of Carr and yes I like that song as well. I like picking the ones that deserve more recognition…and he is one.
      Oh wow…you got to see Al Green…that is awesome.

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    2. I would like your opinion on something if you don’t mind….I don’t think there is a defined answer….what is the difference if anything between R&B and Soul…when does Soul begin and R&B end?

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      1. Damn…I guess I’d say that R&B arose from roots in jazz and blues (think Louis Jordan) and soul from gospel (think early Sam Cooke), or maybe gospel and blues. Are they separate genres, or a continuum (and does that continuum include funk)?

        Ralph Ellison spoke of three “impulses” rather than genres, and identified them as jazz, blues, and gospel. That way you could describe a piece of music as arising from a particular impulse…so a song might not be a traditional 12-bar blues but still arise from that impulse.

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      2. Thanks! That makes sense tracing where they came from…some I listed like Shake and Sweet Soul Music probably would be considered R&B.
        I like the impulse label…

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      3. Craig Werner builds from Ellison’s ideas (as a sort of Call & Response) in his book “A Change is Gonna Come: Music, Race & the Soul of America “ and uses those terms as section headings.

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  12. The Carr song is very mid sixties soul vibe. Good stuff.

    Pray good sir, please enlighten this poor innocent virtuous soul about what, if anything, is being implied in ‘Let’s Get It On?’

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  14. That’s one sweet list, Max, and you have my permission to do a part II! 🙂

    These are all great songs but the one standout to me is “Pouring Water On A Drowning Man” by James Carr. I simply had never heard of him. That song is so good – love his vocals in particular!

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      1. I first heard that amazing song during the movie “The Commitments.” I think it’s called “The Dark End of the Street.”

        The soundtrack of that picture has really great soul music. Andrew Strong had (has?) a fantastic voice! Apparently, he’s still around.

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  20. Two of my favourites on the list. My Father used to have Sweet Soul Music on his car stereo all the time. Also loved watching my parents dance to Let’s Stay Together in their cheesy but loving way. Will have to check out the James Carr song!

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  21. I’m a long-time lover of soul music, and grew up with some of these songs. The only one I wasn’t familiar with was James Carr’s, whose vocals remind me of another couple of male soul singers I can’t put my finger on at the moment.

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    1. Yes his voice does remind me of someone else as well. I just fell for that song and I do love soul. I’ll make another one of these for sure. I didn’t want to put more than 5 youtube videos on one post. Thanks for reading Jeff!

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  22. Badfinger (Max): What a fantastic list of soul songs! Each one brings back such vivid memories. I especially loved your mention of James Carr—his voice is truly captivating. Speaking of unforgettable experiences, I recently wrote about my time at Burning Man, where music played a huge role in the atmosphere. If you’re interested, you can check it out [here](https://wp.me/p9c8HE-c7J). I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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