Today in Music (1962): Booker T & the MGs topped the R&B chart with “Green Onions”

Green Onions Booker T. & the MGs

Writer(s): Steve Cropper, Al Jackson, Jr., Booker T. Jones, Lewie Steinberg Released: July 1962 First Charted: August 11, 1962 Peak: 3 BB, 3 CB, 3 GR, 3 HR, 14 RB, 7 UK, 39 CN, 73 AU, 7 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, 42.1 video, 239.82 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Booker T. & the MGs were the house band for Stax records, “soul’s biggest hit factory after Motown.” TB The group of session musicians consisted of keyboardist Booker T. Jones, guitarist Steve Cropper, drummer Al Jackson, and bassist Lewis Steinberg. With Donald “Duck” Dunn later replacing Steinberg, the collective would back classics by Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and Sam & Dave in the 1960s. The song “Green Onions” came about when the band were waiting to start a session with rockabilly artist Billy Lee “Red Hot” Riley. SS They started jamming and engineer Jim Stewart “got an earful of a low-down blues that the MG’s were cooking up. He thought it was dynamite. He quickly switched on the tape and caught it all.” SJ Then they played him a dance tune they’d been working on. The latter became “Green Onions.” SJ The single was backed by “Behave Yourself,” the first song the group had played for Stuart. SJ When it was released, Booker had just graduated from high school. SS The title apparently came about because, according to Cropper, someone said, “Boy, this is some funky music; this music stinks. What’s the stinkiest, nastiest thing you can think of?’” SJ Steinberg “declared green onions the funkiest thing he’d ever smelled.” SS Author and critic Dave Marsh said the song was “what happens when the best backup band in the universe decides it’s time to be noticed.” DM Thomas Ryan said it was “part R&B, part jazz, the groove was as uncluttered as a rhythm section could get without disappearing altogether.” SS Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Booker T. & the MGs DM Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New American Library: New York, NY. Page 81. SJ Bob Shannon and John Javna (1986). Behind the Hits: Inside Stories of Classic Pop and Rock and Roll. Warner Brothers, Inc.: New York, NY. Page 103. SS Steve Sullivan (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings (Volumes I & II). Scarecrow Press: Lanham, Maryland. Page 479. TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 54. First posted 1/18/2024.