THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

831-Bar-Kays-Shake Your Rump to the Funk.

1976-Number 41 single.

Best Bit-At 0.48. Whether it’s your Booty, or your tail feather, or your groove thing, or even your money maker, when the call comes for you to take to the dance floor, you must always ‘Shake’ it.

The Bar-Kays were formed in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, in 1964, they remained an official group until 1989, but then reformed again in 1991, and at the time of writing they are still active. In total there have been 36 different members come and go, with James Alexander being the bands one constant.

The Bar-Kays started out as a studio session group, backing many of the major artists at ‘Stax Records,’ in Memphis, Tennessee, they also recorded their own music on the ‘Stax’ subsidiary label ‘Volt,’ which included their first single, and breakthrough hit ‘Soul Finger’ (1967-Billboard Number 17 & UK Number 33.) In 1967 the Bar-Kays were chosen by Otis Redding (1941-1967) (see also best songs 712 and 377) to play as his backing band on tour. On December 10th, 1967, four members of the Bar-Kays, who were, Jimmie King, (1948-1967) (guitar) Ronnie Caldwell, (1948-1967) (electric organ) Phalon Jones, (1948-1967) (saxophone), and Carl Cunningham, (1948-1967) (drums) along with Otis Redding, and the groups associate, Matthew Kelly, died when their aeroplane crashed into Lake Monona, near Madison, Wisconsin, while attempting to land at Truax Field. Ben Cauley, (1947-2015) who was the groups trumpeter, was the only survivor of the crash. As the aeroplane could only take seven passengers, James Alexander had taken a different flight. Following the tragedy Alexander, and Cauley re-built the Bar-Kays, with six new members coming in to back dozens of ‘Stax’ artists recordings, including the ground breaking 1969 ‘Hot Buttered Soul’ Album, with Isaac Hayes (1942-2008) (see also best songs 398 and 1.)

Ben Cauley left the Bar-Kays in 1971, and when ‘Stax/Volt’ records folded in 1975, the Bar-Kays signed a contract with ‘Mercury Records.’ During the early part of the 1970’s, the Bar-Kays had began to develop a ‘Funk/Rock’ sound, and this was noticeable on many of their ‘Mercury Records’ recordings, with many obvious similarities in musical style, and presentation, to that of their label mates at that time, the ‘Ohio Players’ (see also best songs 506.) The discography of the Bar-Kays includes 20 studio Albums released between 1967-2007, and 34 singles issued between 1967-2022, there is also an extended play entitled ‘Grown Folks,’ that was released in 2012. In America on Billboard, none of their Albums have managed to break in to the top 40, but 14 of those did chart within the top 40 ‘Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums’ chart. On the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, ‘Soul Finger,’ (1967-Number 23) and ‘Shake Your Rump to the Funk,’ (1976-Number 23) are their two top 40 entries, while in the UK, only ‘Soul Finger,’ (Number 33) has broke in to the top 40.

‘Shake Your Rump to the Funk,’ was the first of three singles released from ‘Too Hot to Trot,’ the sixth studio Album, and the first on ‘Mercury Records,’ released by the Bar-Kays, in October 1976, the Album peaked at Number 69 on the Billboard 200 Album chart, and Number eight on the ‘Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.’ All eight band members at that time share the songwriting credits, with ”Shake Your Rump to the Funk,’ and it’s parent Album ‘Too Hot to Trot,’ being produced by Allen Jones. Jones was born Allen Alvoid Jones Jr. on December 29th, 1940, he died of a heart attack on May 5th, 1987, at the age of 46. Jones was a music producer, and songwriter, who worked with the Bar-Kays throughout their tenure with ‘Mercury Records’ right up until his death. Allen Jones wrote songs that were recorded by artists such as ‘Sam & Dave,’ and ‘Clarence Carter,’ with perhaps his best two known co-writes being ‘Hard to Handle,’ which became a hit for both Otis Redding (Billboard Number 51 & UK Number 15-1968) and ‘The Black Crowes,’ (Billboard Number 26 & UK Number 39-1991) and ‘I Can’t Stand Up for Falling Down,’ a song which had started out life as a ‘Sam & Dave’ ‘B’ side in 1967, (the ‘A’ side was ‘Soothe Me’) but would later become much better known when released as a single by Elvis Costello (UK Number 4-1980.)

‘Don’t stop dancing to the music, just let the music make you high. We’ve got rhythm, you can use it, don’t let this feeling pass you by, by, by.’