Mustang Sally (song)
{{Redirect|Ride, Sally, Ride|other uses|Ride Sally Ride (disambiguation){{!}}Ride Sally Ride}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Mustang Sally
| cover =
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Wilson Pickett
| album = The Wicked Pickett
| B-side = Three Time Loser
| released = 1966
| format =
| recorded =
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = R&B
| length = {{Duration|m=3|s=08}}
| label = Atlantic
| writer = Mack Rice
| producer = Jerry Wexler, Rick Hall
| prev_title = Land of a Thousand Dances
| prev_year = 1966
| next_title = Everybody Needs Somebody to Love
| next_year = 1967
}}
"Mustang Sally" is a rhythm and blues (R&B) song written and first recorded by Mack Rice in 1965.{{cite web |url=http://www.melingo.com/thesoulnet/rice.htm |title=Sir Mack Rice Discography |website=Melingo.com |access-date=2016-09-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130601150210/http://www.melingo.com/thesoulnet/rice.htm |archive-date=2013-06-01 }} It was released on the Blue Rock label (4014) in May 1965 with "Sir Mack Rice" as the artist.Singles reviews Spotlights. Billboard Mar 27, 1965 page 65 The song uses an AAB layout with a 24-bar structure.{{cite web|url=https://www.songstuff.com/songwriting/article/aab-song-form/ |title=AAB Song Form — Songstuff |website=Songstuff.com |date=18 February 2014 |access-date=2025-03-14}}
It gained greater popularity when Wilson Pickett covered it the following year on a single, a version that was also released on the 1966 album The Wicked Pickett.{{cite web|url=https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-wicked-pickett/59413850 |title=The Wicked Pickett by Wilson Pickett on Apple Music |website=iTunes |date=1941-03-18 |access-date=2016-09-29}} Also in 1966, John Lee Hooker recorded an entirely different song with a similar title — "Mustang Sally & GTO."
In 2000, the Wilson Pickett version of "Mustang Sally" on Atlantic Records was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.https://www.grammy.com/awards/hall-of-fame-award#m {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}
Personnel
Credits are adapted from the liner notes of The Muscle Shoals Sound: 3614 Jackson Highway.The Muscle Shoals Sound: 3614 Jackson Highway (liner notes). CD. Rhino Records. 1993.
- Gilbert Caples – tenor saxophone
- Charlie Chalmers – tenor saxophone
- Tommy Cogbill – bass guitar
- Roger Hawkins – drums
- Jimmy Johnson – rhythm guitar
- Ed Logan – tenor saxophone
- Gene "Bowlegs" Miller – trumpet
- Chips Moman – lead guitar
- Floyd Newman – baritone saxophone
- Spooner Oldham – organ
- Wilson Pickett – lead vocals
- The Sweet Inspirations – backing vocals
History
Rice was visiting singer Della Reese, who was considering buying a new Lincoln Continental for her drummer and band leader Calvin Shields for his birthday. Rice and other band members were teasing Shields about the pending gift, and Shields replied that he did not want a Lincoln; he wanted a Ford Mustang. Rice had never heard of the Mustang, which had just come out, but he teased Shields about wanting a smaller car. He decided there might be a song in the situation, changing it to be about a woman who doesn't want to do anything but ride around in her new car.{{cite web|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIdvn68e2F8 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211219/tIdvn68e2F8 |archive-date=2021-12-19 |url-status=live|title=Sir Mack Rice On Writing "Mustang Sally"|website=YouTube|author=GRAMMY Foundation|date=December 17, 2014|access-date=August 24, 2019}}{{cbignore}} Rice called the early version "Mustang Mama," but changed the title after Aretha Franklin suggested "Mustang Sally" because he used the name Sally in the chorus.{{cite web|url= http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=5798 |title='Mustang Sally' by Wilson Pickett| website=Songfacts.com|access-date=2016-09-29}}
Rice got part of the chorus from the children's game song (recorded by various artists) "Little Sally Walker," versions of which include the lyrics "Ride Sally ride, wipe your weepin' eyes," with variations. His variation goes, "All you wanna do is ride around, Sally/Ride, Sally, ride/One of these early mornings/You're gonna be wipin' your weepin' eyes."
In the liner notes for The Rascals Anthology, Felix Cavaliere states that The Young Rascals recorded "Mustang Sally" and "Land of a Thousand Dances" before Pickett and that Atlantic Records "copped those two songs from them and gave them to Pickett" to record. When Cavaliere does his flashback concerts, he also recounts how Rice thanked him for having been the B-side of the Young Rascals' hit "Good Lovin'," explaining that the royalties were paid by records sold — thus, the B-side writer was paid for an equal number of sales as the A-side.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}
Popular versions
Rice's version made it to No. 15 on the U.S. R&B charts in 1965. Pickett's version climbed to No. 6 on the R&B charts and No. 23 on the Pop charts in 1966, No. 4 in Canada on the (RPM) charts, and No. 28[https://www.officialcharts.com/search/singles/Creeque%20Alley Wilson Pickett - "Mustang Sally" at UK Singles Chart Stats.] OfficialCharts.com in the UK Singles Chart on its original release and No. 62, when it was released again in 1987.{{cite book
| first= David
| last= Roberts
| year= 2006
| title= British Hit Singles & Albums
| edition= 19th
| publisher= Guinness World Records Limited
| location= London
| isbn= 1-904994-10-5
| pages= 434/6}}
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Wilson Pickett's recording of the song at No. 434 on a list of Rolling Stone{{'}}s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.{{cite magazine
|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/500songs
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060815105453/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/500songs
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=August 15, 2006
|title=The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
|access-date=2008-04-10
|magazine=Rolling Stone
|date=2004-12-09
}} The song dropped seven spots to No. 441, when the magazine published its 2010 update of the list."[http://cbs2chicago.com/entertainment/rolling.stone.songs.2.1721498.html 'Rolling Stone' Updates '500 Greatest Songs' List] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100601032239/http://cbs2chicago.com/entertainment/rolling.stone.songs.2.1721498.html |date=June 1, 2010 }}". (June, 2010). CBS. Retrieved 2010-5-29
Popular culture and covers
- Buddy Guy recorded the song in 1991, featuring Jeff Beck.{{citation |title=Buddy Guy, Mustang Sally (YouTube) | date=17 February 2017 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAyFynJXe4g |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211219/eAyFynJXe4g |archive-date=2021-12-19 |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}} Mustang Sally by Buddy Guy & Jeff Beck (YouTube)
- The song featured prominently in the 1991 film The Commitments and appears on the film's soundtrack album, sung by Andrew Strong.{{cite web|author=Commitments |url=https://www.amazon.com/Commitments-Original-Motion-Picture-Soundtrack/dp/B000002OGL |title=The Commitments - The Commitments: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack |website=Amazon.com |year=1991 |access-date=2016-09-29}} It was released as a single from the album and reached No. 63 in the UK Singles Chart, No. 43 on the Australian charts and No. 17 on the New Zealand charts.{{cite web|title=Australian-Charts.com - The Commitments - Mustang Sally|url=http://www.australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=The+Commitments&titel=Mustang+Sally&cat=s|website=Australian-charts.com|access-date=26 August 2015}} In 2022 it was certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).{{cite certification | region=United Kingdom|artist=Commitments|title=Mustang Sally|id=18238-341-1|access-date=July 21, 2022}}
- When astronaut Sally Ride became the first American woman in space on the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1983, many in the crowd attending the launch wore T-shirts printed with a play on the lyric, "Ride, Sally Ride."{{cite news |last=Grady |first=Denise |title=Obituary: American Woman Who Shattered Space Ceiling |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/24/science/space/sally-ride-trailblazing-astronaut-dies-at-61.html?pagewanted=all |newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 23, 2012 |access-date=July 27, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}
- On Fox's TV show Glee, Noah Guthrie covered the song in the second episode of the sixth season ("Homecoming").
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
{{Wilson Pickett}}
{{The Coasters}}
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Category:Atlantic Records singles
Category:Song recordings produced by Jerry Wexler