Slip Away (Clarence Carter song) explained

Slip Away
Type:single
Artist:Clarence Carter
Album:This Is Clarence Carter
B-Side:Funky Fever
Recorded:1967
Studio:FAME Studios
Genre:Southern soul
Label:Atlantic
Producer:Rick Hall
Prev Title:Looking for a Fox
Prev Year:1967
Next Title:Too Weak to Fight
Next Year:1968

"Slip Away" is a song written by William Armstrong, Marcus Daniel, and Wilbur Terrell and performed by Clarence Carter, featured on the 1968 album This Is Clarence Carter.[1]

Original version

Composition

In its musical structure and theme (of infidelity), "Slip Away" would seem based on the template of "Steal Away", the 1964 self-penned Jimmy Hughes hit which had been the first single recorded at FAME Studios.[2] The official songwriting credit for "Slip Away" lists three musicians from Clarence Carter's touring band: keyboardist William Armstrong, bassist Marcus Daniel, and drummer Wilbur Terrell.[3]

Marcus Daniel, Carter's sideman since 1962, had previously co-written - with Carter and Wilbur Terrell - "Tell Daddy" which, after becoming Carter's inaugural R&B hit at the start of 1967, would - as "Tell Mama" - be recorded by Etta James that summer to become an R&B Top Ten R&B hit and Top 40 crossover. Daniel would nevertheless recall that in 1967 he had been feeling uneasy about his musical career:(Marcus Miller 2008 quote:)"I got down on my knees and asked God to allow me to do better" - as a songwriter and musician - "and stay with the band, and within twenty minutes I sat up in bed with both the melody and the lyrics of 'Slip Away' in my mind." Commenting on the arguable incongruity of a divinely inspired song being focused on infidelity, Marcus Daniel would state: "I wrote about what I knew":"back then

...I was a bad womanizer, which...shames to this day": in 1988 Daniel would leave his musical career behind, serving as pastor of the Piney Groves Missionary Baptist Church in Mathews, Alabama until his 10 May 2021 passing.[4]

Clarence Carter would in 2009 have a somewhat contrasting recollection of the song's genesis: "My bass player had written some lyrics

...and he and I sat down and really put 'Slip Away' together."[5]

Recording/ release

"Slip Away", arranged and produced by Rick Hall, was recorded at FAME Studios in a mid-1967 recording session whose players, besides vocalist Clarence Carter himself on guitar, included visiting American Sound Studio (Memphis) session regulars Spooner Oldham on keyboards and Tommy Cogbill whose bass riffs on the track would become iconic in the canon of Southern soul: other session players included drummer Roger Hawkins and - in one of his first session jobs - Duane Allman on guitar.[6] [2] [7] Despite the track's credentials, Rick Hall decided against releasing "Slip Away": that the track would eventually serve as the B-side of the April 1968 single release "Funky Fever" was according to Carter his own suggestion, made in the hopes that "Slip Away" would prove to be a "flip hit".[8]

Impact

As Clarence Carter had hoped, it would indeed transpire that as "Funky Fever" ended its comparatively unimpressive chart run - reaching #49 on the U.S. R&B chart and #88 on the U.S. pop chart[9] - in June 1968, "Slip Away" would "breakout" as a "flip hit" in Cincinnati,[8] becoming Carter's first Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending 17 August 1968 on its way to a #6 peak in October, which is the month it reached its R&B chart peak of #2 (behind James Brown's "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud",[10] "Slip Away" already having been certified gold for sales of one million units in September.[11] Billboard year-end charts would rank "Slip Away" as the #44 biggest Pop hit of 1968, and as the #2 R&B hit of 1968 (again, behind James Brown's "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud".[12] [13]

RPM, the music industry journal for Canada, would rank "Slip Away" as high as #12 on its national 100 single survey/[14]

Other charting versions

Other versions

In popular culture

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Clarence Carter, This Is Clarence Carter. Discogs. September 1968 . March 26, 2019.
  2. Book: Jones, Roben . 2010 . Memphis Boys: the story of American Studios . Jackson MS . University Press of Mississippi . 159–160. 9781604734010.
  3. Montgomery Advertiser 26 March 1982 "Elks Club House Band Musicians Add Skill, Variety to Syndicate By Tommy Hicks p.37
  4. Montgomery Advertiser 21 March 2008 "Daniel Gave Up the Rock 'n' Roll Life to Answer God's Call" by Kenneth Mullinas p.D1
  5. Cincinnati Enquirer 27 February 2009 "Clarence Carter Still Strokin' Old R&B hits" by Chris Varias p.E11
  6. Web site: Clarence Carter, "Slip Away" Single Release. Discogs. 1968 . March 26, 2019.
  7. Book: Poe, Randy. Skydog: the Duane Allman story. 2006. Milwaukee WI. Backbeat Books. 978-1-6171-3487-6.
  8. Tampa Tribune 6 August 1983 "Carter Moves Into the '80s With the Blues" by David Okamoto p.11
  9. Web site: Clarence Carter, "Funky Fever" Chart Positions. March 26, 2019.
  10. Web site: Clarence Carter, "Slip Away" Chart Positions. March 26, 2019.
  11. Record World Vol 23 #1112 (28 September 1968) "Carter Gold" p.39
  12. Web site: Billboard Top 100 – 1968. 2011-01-05. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20101125102556/http://longboredsurfer.com/charts/1968.php. November 25, 2010.
  13. Web site: Top 100 R&B Singles of 1968 - 45cat.
  14. RPM Vol 10 #7 (14 October 1968) "The RPM 100" p.5
  15. Web site: Dottsy, "Slip Away" Chart Position. March 26, 2019.
  16. Web site: Gregg Allman, "Slip Away" Chart Position. March 26, 2019.
  17. Web site: Hank Ballard, You Can't Keep a Good Man Down. March 26, 2019.
  18. Web site: Eddie Floyd, I've Never Found a Girl. Discogs. 1968 . March 26, 2019.
  19. Web site: Don Bryant, Precious Soul. Discogs. July 1969 . March 26, 2019.
  20. Web site: Tyrone Davis, Can I Change My Mind. Discogs. 1969 . March 26, 2019.
  21. Web site: Barbara Lewis, The Many Grooves of Barbara Lewis. Discogs. 1970 . March 26, 2019.
  22. Web site: Travis Wammack, "Whatever Turns You On" Single Release. Discogs. 1972 . March 26, 2019.
  23. Web site: Narvel Felts, Narvel Felts. Discogs. 1975 . March 26, 2019.
  24. Web site: Billy Price and The Keystone Rhythm Band, Is It Over?. Discogs. 1980 . March 26, 2019.
  25. Web site: Cassell Webb, Songs of a Stranger. Discogs. 1989 . March 26, 2019.
  26. Web site: Slim Smith, A Unique Technique - Classic Rocksteady and Reggae 1968-72. Discogs. March 26, 2019.
  27. Web site: Carla Olson & The Textones, Detroit '85 Live & Unreleased. Discogs. March 26, 2019.
  28. Web site: Armand Schaubroeck Steals, God Made the Blues to Kill Me!. Discogs. March 26, 2019.
  29. Web site: The Commitments Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Discogs. 1991 . March 26, 2019.

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