Theme from Shaft

Single infobox |
Name = Theme from "Shaft"


Artist = Isaac Hayes
from Album = Shaft
B-side = "Cafe Regio's"
Released = September 1971
Format = 7" single, 45 RPM
Genre = Soul, funk
Length = 3:15 (single edit)
4:34 (album version)
Label = Stax
STXS-2010
Writer = Isaac Hayes
Producer = Isaac Hayes
Last single = "The Mistletoe and Me" (1970)
This single = "Theme from "Shaft" (1971)
Next single = "Never Can Say Goodbye" / "I Can't Help It" (1971)
Misc = Extra album cover 2
Upper caption = Alternate label


Type = single

"Theme from Shaft", written and recorded by Isaac Hayes in 1971, is the soul- and funk-styled theme song to the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film "Shaft". The theme was released as a single (shortened and edited from the longer album version) two months after the movie's soundtrack by Stax Records' Enterprise label. "Theme from "Shaft" went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in November 1971. The song was also well-received by adult audiences, reaching number six on Billboard's Easy Listening (later Adult Contemporary) chart.

The following year, "Theme from "Shaft" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, with Hayes becoming the first African American to win that honor (or any Academy Award in a non-acting category). Since then, the song has appeared in numerous television shows, commercials, and other movies, including the 2000 remake of "Shaft", for which Hayes re-recorded the song without making any changes to it. "Theme from "Shaft" is sometimes considered more iconic than the movie for which it was written.cite web| author = Douglas Wolk| year = 2005| title = The Greatest Songs Ever! Theme from Shaft
publisher = Blender|accessdate =2006-09-06|url = http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?id=1982] cite web| author = Alex Pappademas| year = 2000| title = Shafted: The baddest "theme from" ever.| publisher = Boston Phoenix|accessdate =2006-09-06|url = http://weeklywire.com/ww/07-24-00/boston_music_1.html]

Composition and history

In 2000, Hayes told National Public Radio that he had only agreed to write and record the "Shaft" score after "Shaft" producer Joel Freeman promised him an audition for the lead role. He never got the chance to audition, but kept his end of the deal anyway.NPR, "The NPR 100," December 21, 2000. Radio program. Archived at [http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/me/20001221.me.13.rmm] . Retrieved September 9, 2006.)] Director Gordon Parks also had a hand in composing the theme, describing the character of John Shaft (the "black private dick/who's a sex machine/to all the chicks") to Hayes and explaining that the song had to familiarize the audience with him. Hayes recorded the rhythm parts on the theme first, scored the entire rest of the film, then returned to the theme song.

The song begins with a sixteenth-note hi-hat ride pattern, played by Willie Hall, which was drawn from a break on Otis Redding's "Try A Little Tenderness", a Stax record on which Hayes had played. Also featuring heavily in the intro is Charles Pitts' guitar, which uses a wah-wah effect common in 1970s funk; the riff had originally been written for an unfinished Stax song. The synthesized keyboard is played by Hayes. Even on the edited single version, the intro lasts for more than two and a half minutes before any vocals are heard.

The lyrics describe John Shaft's coolness, courage, and sex appeal, and Hayes' lead vocals are punctuated by a trio of female backup singers. At one famous moment, Hayes calls Shaft "a bad mother—" before the backup singers (one of whom is Tony Orlando & Dawn's Telma Hopkins) interrupt the implied profanity with the line "Shut yo' mouth!" [cite web | title = "Theme From Shaft" Songfacts entry | work = Songfacts |accessdate =2006-07-28 | url = http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1162] Hayes immediately defends himself by replying that he's "only talking about Shaft," with the back-up vocalists replying, "We can dig it." Other well-known passages include "You're damn right!" also uttered by Hayes, and "He's a complicated man/but no one understands him/but his woman/John Shaft."

The song was considered very racy for its time; as late as 1990, censors at the FOX Network thought it too risqué to be sung on "The Simpsons" (until it was demonstrated that the song had indeed been played on television before). [cite video| people = Al Jean| year = 2002
title = The Simpsons: The Complete Second Season", "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish" commentary track| medium = "DVD| publisher = Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment]

The song was not intended to be a single, but the success of the film and the popularity of the track in nightclubs led to a 45 record of the theme being released on Enterprise Records two months after the soundtrack. Within two months, it hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there a second week. The song had an enormous influence on the disco and soul music of the decade.

In 1972, Hayes performed "Theme from "Shaft" as part of the Academy Awards ceremony in his trademark chainmail vest, but accepted the award later that night wearing a tuxedo. Hayes dedicated his historic win to his grandmother, Rushia Wade, who joined him onstage to accept the award. Bowman, Rob (1997). Soulsville U.S.A.: The Story of Stax Records. New York: Schirmer Trade. p.229-233 ISBN 0825672848] In addition, Hayes, Rev. Jesse Jackson, and the Stax staff dedicated Hayes' win to the black community at an Operation PUSH rally following the Academy Awards.

Later that year, Hayes performed "Theme from "Shaft" live at the Wattstax concert in Los Angeles Bowman, Rob and Chuck D (2004). Audio commentary track for "Wattstax". Los Angeles: Saul Zaentz Company and Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.] Film footage of this performance was recorded for Mel Stuart's documentary film of the concert, but was cut before the film's release due to legal complications with MGM, who would not allow Hayes to perform his "Shaft" songs in any other film until 1976. A 2003 remastered version of the "Wattstax" film reinstates Hayes' performance of "Theme from "Shaft".

The song has been played or parodied in television shows including "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", "The Simpsons", "Sesame Street", "Scrubs", "The X-Files", "Father Ted", "Histeria!", and "The Wire". In particular, "Sesame Street"'s "Shaft"-inspired "Billy Joe Jive, Super Crime Fighting Ace" animated segments featured theme music reminiscent of the "Theme from "Shaft". A 1998 Burger King marketing campaign featured Hayes singing a retooled version of the song, with lyrics now alluding to Mr. Potato Head, who is seen dancing on the piano that Hayes plays. When John Singleton directed an updated version of "Shaft", starring Samuel L. Jackson, in 2000, Hayes rerecorded the theme for the new film.

ample

Credits

*Vocals, keyboards, lyrics and arrangement by Isaac Hayes
*Electric piano by Lester Snell
*Bass guitar by James Alexander
*Guitar by Charles Pitts,
*Guitar by Michael Toles,
*drums by Willie Hall
*Conga drums by Gary Jones
*Backup vocals by Pat Lewis, Rose Williams, and Telma Hopkins
*Lead Trumpet by Richard "Johnny" Davis
*Flute by John Fonville

References

External links

* [http://www.magazzini-sonori.it/esplora_contenuti/autori_esecutori/theme_from_shaft.aspx Theme from Shaft: listen to the song] , played by the Memphis All Stars Blues Band, on [http://www.magazzini-sonori.it Magazzini Sonori]