“In the Midnight Hour” – Wilson Pickett
(Words/music: Steve Cropper and Wilson Pickett, available on The Exciting Wilson Pickett, Atlantic 1966)

Previously, I’ve owned up to the gap in my musical knowledge about soul music and 1960s/1070s R & B music, and it hasn’t changed much over the past few months.  It’s still on my “to do” list because I enjoy the few things I know (I’d be game for any and all starting places you might offer me as well).  I first came across Wilson Pickett when my high school band played “Land of 1000 Dances” at football games.  Years later, “In the Midnight Hour” would be the first of his songs that caught my attention.  It’s a fairly simple arrangement – even the instrumental break (where one might expect a solo) sticks to the written part faithfully.  There really isn’t much of a hook – there’s a contrasting section like in a twelve bar blues progression, only there are more than twelve measures.  Instead, it’s mainly an instrumental vamp to set up Pickett’s vocal performance.  Pickett’s voice isn’t as smooth as someone like Otis Redding, but this rough-around-the-edges performance gives his songs a grittier feel.  When he sings the line “you’re the only girl I kno-oh” at the end of the second “verse,” his voice cracks perfectly as he’s reaching just out of his comfort range.  I hear this like a saxophone player who plays a note slightly out of tune on purpose – it’s a deliberate gesture that calls attention to the performer rather than a “mistake.”  I think Picket could croon if he wanted to croon, but instead his songs thrive on this raw energy.

It’s this paradox – the calmly paced soul vamp fueled by “raw energy” that makes the song so compelling to me.  Often, we think that energetic music has to be fast (or, in some cases, rushed), and while it’s often the case, but one doesn’t require the other.  Just as we can have “lazy” punk song, we can have moderately paced, high energy songs.  Pickett’s vocals ooze energy, yet his band keeps the tempo from speeding up.  Perhaps this only encourages him, daring him to improvise and create those vocal flourishes rather than just trying to keep up with his accelerating backing band.

On a (semi) related note, I chose “In the Midnight Hour” as a slight reference to my tendency to post my entries in the hour just before midnight (and as I write this, it’s 11:13 PM).  I’ve also found at the end of this post that the song’s “paradox” applies to my writing process as well – I often find it takes longer to write than I’d like, and even when a deadline approaches (the end of the day, in my case), I can’t write any faster, no matter how energized I am.  Sometimes, this is a good thing – it forces me to think through an idea rather than spew out whatever I’m thinking at that moment.  Other times, however, it’s frustrating when I want to finish but can’t find the words fast enough.  So as I continue to scratch out these late night posts, I’ll take a cue from Mr. Pickett and follow my band’s pace, letting my energy come out through the keyboard rather than changing up the tempo.

More on Wilson Pickett: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm