You Gotta Move (song)

{{Short description|Traditional spiritual song adapted by several artists}}

{{Infobox song

| name = You Got to Move

| artist = Mississippi Fred McDowell

| album = You Gotta Move

| released = {{Start date|1965}}

| recorded = Berkeley, California, July 5, 1965

| genre = Hill country blues

| writer = Unknown

| label = Arhoolie

| producer = Chris Strachwitz

}}

"You Gotta Move" is a traditional African-American spiritual song. Since the 1940s, the song has been recorded by a variety of gospel musicians, usually as "You Got to Move" or "You've Got to Move". It was later popularized with blues and blues rock secular adaptations by Mississippi Fred McDowell and the Rolling Stones.

Early gospel songs

The Two Gospel Keys recorded "You've Got to Move", which was released on a 78-rpm record in 1948.{{cite magazine| date = January 10, 1948| title = Advance Record releases| magazine = Billboard| volume = 60| issue = 2| issn = 0006-2510| page = 29}} Emma Daniels (vocals and guitar) and Mother Sally Jones (vocals and tambourine) comprised the gospel music duo.{{cite book| last = Wade| first = Stephen| author-link = Stephen Wade (musician)| year = 2012| title = The Beautiful Music All Around Us: Field Recordings and the American Experience| location = Urbana, Illinois| publisher = University of Illinois Press| isbn = 978-0252094002| page = 184}} Similar renditions followed by Elder Charles D. Beck (1949),{{cite magazine| date = May 14, 1949| title = Advance Record Releases| magazine = Billboard

| volume = 61| issue = 20| issn = 0006-2510| page = 127}} Sister Rosetta Tharpe (1950),{{cite magazine| date = 1966| title = Sister Rosetta Tharpe| magazine = Coda |volume = 7| issue = 5–12| page = 9| issn = 0010-017X

}} the Original Five Blind Boys of Alabama (1953),{{cite web

| url = http://www.allmusic.com/album/oh-lord-stand-by-me-mw0000263549| title = Oh Lord, Stand by Me| last = Nations

| first = Opal| website = AllMusic| access-date = March 6, 2015}} and the Hightower Brothers (1956).{{cite magazine| date = 1982| title = The Hightower Brothers| magazine = Blues Unlimited| volume = 142–146| page = 37}}

Reverend Gary Davis recorded the song in 1962;{{cite magazine| date = October 20, 1962| title = Singles Reviews| magazine = Billboard| volume = 74| issue = 42| issn = 0006-2510| page = 44}} his lyrics include:

{{cite book| last = Phillips| first = Bill| chapter = Piedmont Country Blues| title = America's Best Music| year = 1974| publisher = The Institute for Southern Studies| page = 59}}

{{poemquote|You may run, can't be caught

You may hide, can't be found

Brother when God gets ready, you got to move}}

Later renditions

Soul singer Sam Cooke recast the song with lyrics about a broken relationship for his 1963 album Night Beat. Cash Box described it as having "top shuffle-rhythm blues sounds."{{cite magazine |title=CashBox Record Reviews |date=October 19, 1963 |page=12 |access-date=2022-01-12 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/60s/1963/CB-1963-10-19.pdf |magazine=Cash Box}} In 1965, Mississippi bluesman Fred McDowell recorded it as a slow, slide guitar hill country blues solo piece. The song generally follows a seven-bar or an eight-bar blues arrangement and has been compared to "Sitting on Top of the World". McDowell uses lyrics closer to Davis' 1962 rendition,

{{cite magazine

| author = Sing Out

| date = 1969

| title = You Got to Move

| magazine = Sing Out!

| page = 12

| issn = 0037-5624

}} but adds a haunting slide guitar line that doubles the vocal.

{{cite web

| url = http://www.allmusic.com/artist/mississippi-fred-mcdowell-mn0000898331/biography

| title = Mississippi Fred McDowell – Biography

| last = Koda

| first = Cub

| author-link = Cub Koda

| website = AllMusic

| access-date = March 1, 2015

}} A verse from the song is inscribed on his headstone:

{{cite book

| last = Cheseborough

| first = Steve

| title = Blues Traveling: The Holy Sites of Delta Blues

| year = 2004

| location = Jackson, Mississippi

| publisher = University Press of Mississippi

| isbn = 978-1578066506

| page = 216

}}

{{poemquote|You may be high, you may be low

You may be rich child, you may be poor

But when the Lord gets ready, you got to move}}

= In Internet culture =

McDowell's version has been used for several memes themed around racism against Black Americans, mainly in TikTok. Some of these memes have received criticism from several users for allegedly promoting said racism.{{Cite web |date=2022-10-25 |title=The true story behind TikTok's 'Jamal did it' meme and how it turned controversial |url=https://thetab.com/uk/2022/10/25/jamal-did-it-tiktok-controversial-drama-meme-real-life-jamal-278780 |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=The Tab |language=en-GB}}

The Rolling Stones version

{{Infobox song

| name = You Gotta Move

| artist = the Rolling Stones

| album = Sticky Fingers

| released = {{Start date|1971|04|23}}

| recorded = 1969–1970

| genre = Blues rock

| length = {{Duration|2:32}}

| writer =

| label = Rolling Stones

| producer = Jimmy Miller

}}

McDowell's rendition inspired many subsequent recordings, including a version by the Rolling Stones. The Stones regularly performed "You Gotta Move" during their 1969 US tour. They recorded a version at the Muscle Shoals Sound Studios in Alabama in December 1969, with later recording in England in 1970. It was later included on their 1971 album Sticky Fingers without a songwriter's credit. Later reissues listed the authors as McDowell and Gary Davis.

Mick Jagger sings the song in a Southern black dialect, with Mick Taylor's electric slide-guitar accompaniment. In an interview originally published in Guitar Player, Taylor said he used a Fender Telecaster for the slide part and a 12-string guitar. He explained that Keith Richards played a National guitar, though Taylor could not remember which one Richards used{{snd}}the all-steel one or the "really great, beautiful guitar{{nbsp}}... made of wood and metal."{{cite web |last= Obrecht|first=Jas|url=http://jasobrecht.com/mick-taylor-rolling-stones-john-mayall-playing-guitar/ |title=Mick Taylor on the Rolling Stones, John Mayall, and Playing Guitar: interview|website=Jas Obrecht Music Archive|date=October 16, 2011|orig-year=June 22, 1979 |access-date= January 23, 2020}}

Two different concert versions are included as bonus tracks on the group's Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! (1970) album and another on Love You Live (1977). The latter features Billy Preston, who had played when he was 16 years old on Sam Cooke's 1963 version.{{cite AV media notes | title=The RCA Albums Collection | year=2011 | others=Sam Cooke | type=liner notes | publisher=RCA Records/Legacy Recordings | location=US | id=88697898702}}{{efn|Sam Cooke's Night Beat album also contains an updated "Little Red Rooster" along with "You Got to Move", both songs which the Rolling Stones later recorded closer to the original/blues versions.}}