I Want to Take You Higher
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| "I Want to Take You Higher" | ||||||||||
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| Single by Sly & the Family Stone | ||||||||||
| from the album Stand! | ||||||||||
| Released | 1969 | |||||||||
| Format | 7" single | |||||||||
| Recorded | 1969 | |||||||||
| Genre | Psychedelic soul, funk | |||||||||
| Length | 5:23 | |||||||||
| Label | Epic 5-10450 |
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| Writer(s) | Sly Stone | |||||||||
| Producer | Sly Stone | |||||||||
| Sly & the Family Stone singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"I Want to Take You Higher" is a 1969 song by the soul/rock/funk band Sly & the Family Stone, the B-side to their Top 30 hit Stand!". Unlike most of the other tracks on the Stand! album, "I Want to Take You Higher" is not a message song; instead, it is simply dedicated to music and the feeling one gets from music. Like nearly all of Sly & the Family Stone's songs, Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart was credited as the sole songwriter.[1]
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[edit] About the song
"I Want to Take You Higher" opens with a bluesy guitar riff played by Freddie Stone. The song, one of the most upbeat recordings in the Family Stone canon, is a remake of sorts of "Higher", a song from the band's 1968 Dance to the Music LP. "Higher" itself has its origins in "Advice", a song Sly Stone co-wrote and arranged for Billy Preston's album The Wildest Organ In Town in 1966.
"Higher" made the setlist for the band's performance at Woodstock alongside "Dance to the Music" and "Music Lover"; Sly Stone used the song during a memorable interlude, during which he had the entire Woodstock crowd repeating, at three in the morning, the song's frantic cry of "higher!"
Even though it was a b-side, "I Want to Take You Higher" became a Top 40 hit of its own in 1970. That same year, Ike & Tina Turner released a cover of the song that became a hit as well, peaking 4 spots above the original Family Stone recording on the US pop charts (at #34), and one position below the original on the R&B singles chart.
[edit] Legacy
From May 10, 1997 through February 28, 1998, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum presented their first temporary exhibit entitled I Want to Take You Higher: The Psychedelic Era 1965-1969 [2], timed to correspond with the 30th anniversary of the Summer of Love. It opened with a day-long outdoor festival MC'd by Chet Helms that drew thousands to the Museum’s plaza, featuring Big Brother and the Holding Company, Country Joe McDonald, and Donovan, with guests Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters (complete with the Further Bus). It accompanied the publishing of a book of the same name in 1997 (Chronicle Books) documenting the exhibit and the period. The last day featured an appearance by sixties icons Wavy Gravy and Paul Krassner, provided by the Cleveland-based group ACE.
In March 2005, Q magazine placed "I Want to Take You Higher" at number 84 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.
In 2008, Backbeat Books published the bibliography I Want to Take You Higher: The Life and Times of Sly & the Family Stone, by Jeff Kaliss, featuring a foreword by and the first interview in twenty-one years with Sly Stone. [3]
[edit] Cover versions
Aside from the famous cover by Ike & Tina Turner, Australian rock band Noiseworks recorded the song as 'Take You Higher' with Michael Hutchence of INXS in 1992, for the third Noiseworks album Love Versus Money, releasing their version as a single in Australia.
Duran Duran recorded two versions for their 1995 covers album Thank You.
The Jackson 5 cover the song in their T.V. soundtrack Goin' Back to Indiana
Sonia Dada recorded 'I Want To Take You Higher' for their 1999 live album, Lay Down and Love it Live. Also released as a single, it did not chart.
Tesla recorded a version for Real to Reel (2007).
The guitar riff from the original version was sampled for "Woodstock Hood Hop", by Slaughterhouse featuring M.O.P., in 2009.
[edit] Personnel
- Lead vocals by Sly Stone, Rose Stone, Freddie Stone, and Larry Graham
- Background vocals by Rose Stone, Freddie Stone, Larry Graham, Greg Errico, Jerry Martini, and Cynthia Robinson
- Harmonica, keyboard by Sly Stone
- Guitar by Freddie Stone
- Bass by Larry Graham
- drums by Greg Errico
- Horns by Jerry Martini (tenor saxophone) and Cynthia Robinson (trumpet)
- Written and produced by Sly Stone
[edit] References
- ^ Henke, James; Charles Perry, Barry Miles (1997). I Want to Take You Higher. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN 0811817008.
- ^ I Want to Take You Higher: The Psychedelic Era 1965-1969, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum website.
- ^ Kaliss, Jeff (2008). I Want to Take You Higher: The Life and Times of Sly & the Family Stone. New York: Backbeat Books. ISBN 0879309849.
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