Booker T. and the MGs – “Green Onions” LIVE

from Wikipedia:

Published on May 13, 2012

Booker T And The MGs – Green Onions

Booker T. & the M.G.’s is an instrumental R&B band that was influential in shaping the sound of southern soul and Memphis soul. Original members of the group were Booker T. Jones (organ, piano), Steve Cropper (guitar), Lewie Steinberg (bass), and Al Jackson, Jr. (drums). In the 1960s, as members of the house band of Stax Records, they played on hundreds of recordings by artists such as Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Bill Withers, Sam & Dave, Carla and Rufus Thomas and Johnnie Taylor. They also released instrumental records under their own name, such as the 1962 hit single “Green Onions”.[1] As originators of the unique Stax sound, the group was one of the most prolific, respected, and imitated of their era. By the mid-1960s, bands on both sides of the Atlantic were trying to sound like Booker T. & the M.G.’s.[2][3]

In 1965, Steinberg was replaced by Donald “Duck” Dunn, who has played with the group ever since. Al Jackson, Jr. was murdered in 1975. Since then, the trio of Dunn, Cropper and Jones have reunited on numerous occasions using various drummers, including Willie Hall, Anton Fig, Steve Jordan and Steve Potts.[4]

The band were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.[5]

Having two white members (Cropper and Dunn), Booker T. & the M.G.’s were one of the first racially integrated rock groups, at a time when soul music, and the Memphis music scene in particular, were generally considered the preserve of black culture.

Studio version:

A fun dance compilation:

One Response to “Booker T. and the MGs – “Green Onions” LIVE”

  1. I used to have a borzoi, or Russian Wolfhound, who loved to sing along with his favorite tunes. He was one of a family pack of six, who would join in after he began the song. He absolutely adored “hip Her” by Booker T and the MGs, and would awake from an apparently sound sleep to sing along with it. He also favored waltzes, marches, anything by Richard Rogers, and Wagner. But Booker T was his absolute favorite. After he passed away of cancer, the other hounds, when hearing “Hip Hug Her” would look around expectantly, and finally begin the song rather tentatively themselves. Cam we do this without the maestro?

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