If I ever get to drive across America, Booker T and the MG’s would be on my playlist. This is road music at its finest. I listen to them and get lost in the groove. That Hammond B-3 organ played by Booker T. Jones is just incredible. I have a reputation for not liking synths very much but a Hammond B-3? Give me more and more of it.
You may recognize the intro. Band members Steve Cropper and Donald Dunn joined The Blues Brothers, who used this in the introduction to their live show. The Clash also covered the song. It appears on their 1980 singles compilation album Black Market Clash.
The song was recorded for the 1968 movie Uptight. The members included Mr. Booker T. Jones on organ, Steve Cropper on guitar, Donald “Duck” Dunn on bass guitar, and the great Al Jackson Jr. on drums. This ensemble formed the musical backbone of the Memphis, TN-based Stax Records.
The band was responsible for bringing the Memphis Sound to millions worldwide. Booker T. and the MG’s were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
The song peaked at #6 on the Billboard 100, #8 in Canada, and #4 in the UK in 1968. Just sit right back and enjoy the groove of this song for the rest of the day.
I always thought this was one of the most commercial songs they ever released. It is a fun tight song but yes it has been played to death.
Ronnie Van Zant and Gary Rossington wrote this one night when they were in Miami with Steve Cropper and producer Tom Dowd. Cropper, the guitarist for the Stax Records band Booker T. & the MG’s, gave them some ideas.
They had a well-deserved reputation for being a hard-partying band. This song is based on a true story. One night while they were on tour, the band was drinking at their hotel bar when one of the roadies got in a fight. They all got kicked out, went to a room, ordered champagne, and continued the party.
The incident also really didn’t happen in Boise, Idaho. The first line was originally, “It’s 8 o’clock and boys it’s time to go,” but Ronnie Van Zant changed it when he found out his brother, Donnie, was opening his first national tour with his band .38 Special in Boise. The first line became It’s 8 o’clock in Boise, Idaho.
The song was on the album Street Survivors…their last studio album with the original band. They were in a plane crash just days after the release of the album.
The song peaked at #13 in the Billboard 100 and #6 in Canada in 1978.
Street Survivors peaked at #5 in the Billboard Album Charts in 1977.
From Songfacts
Three members of Lynyrd Skynyrd died in a plane crash just three days after this album was released. The album had to be given a new cover because the original one portrayed the group surrounded by flames.
This was released as a single in January 1978, a few months after the plane crash that killed Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, and Cassie Gaines.
The B-52s reached #74 in 1980 with “Private Idaho,” but “What’s Your Name” is the biggest hit song to mention the state in the lyric.
What’s Your Name
Well, its eight o’clock in Boise, Idaho I’ll find my limo driver Mister, take us to the show I done made some plans for later on tonight I’ll find a little queen And I know I can treat her right
What’s your name, little girl? What’s your name? Shootin’ you straight, little girl? Won’t you do the same?
Back at the hotel Lord we got such a mess It seems that one of the crew Had a go with one of the guests, oh yes Well, the police said we can’t drink in the bar, what a shame Won’t you come upstairs girl And have a drink of champagne
What’s your name, little girl? What’s your name? Shootin’ you straight, little girl? For there ain’t no shame
What’s your name, little girl? What’s your name? Shootin’ you straight, little girl? Won’t you do the same? Awh yeah
What’s your name, little girl? What’s your name? Shootin’ you straight, little girl? Won’t you do the same?
Nine o’clock the next day And I’m ready to go I got six hundred miles to ride To do one more show, oh no Can I get you a taxi home It sure was grand When I come back here next year I want to see you again
What was your name, little girl? What’s your name? Shootin’ you straight, little girl? Well there ain’t no shame What was your name, little girl? What’s your name? Shootin’ you straight, little girl? Won’t you do the same? Woo
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