Saturday Music Post - I Hear You Knockin’ on Wood

In 1966, Eddie Floyd and Steve Cropper wrote "Knock on Wood" on a stormy night in Memphis at the Lorraine Motel, about two years before Martin Luther King would be assassinated in the same location. At the time, the Lorraine was one of the few places in Memphis where Black and white people could meet together, or where Black people could stay in modern commercial accommodations. Over the years, virtually all of the great Stax acts stayed there, including Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, the Staple Singers, Otis Redding, and others. According to Steve Cropper, the thunderstorm gave them the idea for the refrain, "like thunder, lightning, the way you love me is frightening." The song was a hit for Eddie Floyd and has been covered many times over fifty years. Other "knockin'" songs on today's post include Fats Domino's "I Hear You Knocking" and Little Richard's "Keep a' Knocking" (covering an earlier recording by Lil Hardin).

 The clips can all be enjoyed at The Faculty Lounge.