"I Thank You" by Sam & Dave

[TeleHawg]

Once again the "band" and I are trying to learn a song from sheet music that doesn't fit the performance. Sam & Dave clearly perform this song in Ebm, and our sheet music is in Am. Not only that, but it's missing the chords for one horn interlude.

Does anyone have accurate chords for this song?

[Wally]

I may need to hear this old song on a decent sereo, but listening to it on youtube and remembering my younger days, I can't hear this song in a minor key. I hear them playing in Eb. They do use the flatted 7th, but that doesn't make the main chord a minor. In the bridge, they use Cm, which is the relative minor for the Eb, on the way to the AB. Everything else tells me it is in Eb(major)....AB and Bb and the IV and V chords.
I hear it in a major key. Maybe someone else will straighten me out if I am incorrect, but that is how I hear it. The very nature of the lyrics almost demands a major key...upbeat, happy, rejoicing....

[TeleHawg]

Originally Posted by Wally

I hear them playing in Eb.

I'm confused about this, too. Cropper's rhythm lick hammers from the flatted to the natural third, which would certainly make the tune major. And yet playing Eb7 against the tonic chord somehow doesn't sound quite right to me either.

I'm driving my wife nuts, playing the MP3 over and over again. I need to have someone with radar ears give it a listen.

Thanks!

[edhead]

I play bass on this in my band, but I always thought it was Eb major.

As for the horn break it goes Cm to C# (major).

[Big Tony]

/ Tony

[TeleHawg]

So am I imagining things, or is there a recurring keyboard figure during the "I thank you" refrain -- something like Ab7 - Gb7 - Eb7?

Also, in the second part of each verse -- "Then you took your love to someone else / I wouldn't know what it meant to be loved to death" -- are there quick jumps to Ab7 under "someone else" and "loved to death"?

Sorry for my bad ears, but you all are right. It's definitely Eb7 -- and the horn part is indeed Cm to C#.

Thanks, everyone.

[edhead]

Originally Posted by TeleHawg

So am I imagining things, or is there a recurring keyboard figure during the "I thank you" refrain -- something like Ab7 - Gb7 - Eb7?

yep, I think it's Eb7 Gb7 Eb7 Ab7

Originally Posted by TeleHawg

Also, in the second part of each verse -- "Then you took your love to someone else / I wouldn't know what it meant to be loved to death" -- are there quick jumps to Ab7 under "someone else" and "loved to death"?

Exactly

Also in the verse you can walk up to the Eb7 with a bass note run of Bb - Db - D - Eb7. Adds a lot.

[tonewoods]

On the single, it's all about that Clavinet...

[pbenn]

Originally Posted by tonewoods

On the single, it's all about that Clavinet...

Yes it is. To my ears the clavinet is playing E flat dom 7, resorting to the plain minor and the 9th form for dressing.

I don't know if you'll agree with me, but I think Steve and Duck are actually *tuned* to E flat.

Duck's first note, a low E flat. He could be doing the octave 2nd string 2nd fret, but my money is on 3rd string 7th fret. It's not quite precise enough to be the 2nd string, I guess.

Steve's guitar part seems to be a roll from the middle 2, past the major 3 to the 5, and to my ears it sound like he's doing it at the 4th fret, 4th string (tuning) or could be done standard tuning from the middle F, 4th string 3rd fret.

There's some precedent for Steve and Duck tuning to E flat: the obvious open E flat bounces in Sam & Dave's "Wrap It Up," the key of "Soul Man," and possibly "Hold On, I'm Comin"" which is in A flat.

Ref: ISBN 0-89724-652-7 WB Authentic Guitar-Tab Edition

[TeleHawg]

All your posts were a big help.

[koen]

I only know the ZZ Top version, didn't realize it was a cover

[pompeii0]

I always thought that Soul Man was in the key of G, and then modulates up to Ab at the end.

[Al Watsky]

The clip Big Tony posted is in E. Most of the lines Cropper is playing are in E mixolydian the mode based on the key of A major. The Mixolydian mode is used for dominant 7th chords.
His lines are based on A major at the interval of a 6th, against the E7 chord.
If the tune is actually in Eb the lines are Ab based.
I like the steps the horns are doin' that takes it over the top. Showmanship.