(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please CLICK HERE)
The Staple Singers - "Let's Do It Again"
Hit Number 1: December 27, 1975
Stay at Number 1: 1 Week
One of the more successful movies in 1975 was Let's Do It Again, a comedy film starring Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby and Jimmie Walker. (a.k.a. the "Dyn-O-Mite" guy) The movie is about blue-collar workers who decide to rig a boxing match in order to raise money for their fraternal lodge. Personally, I've never seen the movie, but considering the cast it had, I would imagine that it was at least a halfway decent film. (Ironically, this is the second Sidney Poitier film that's gotten discussion in this series. The first was To Sir With Love, with the #1 hit from it being the same name as the movie. Just like "Let's Do It Again") So because I haven't seen the movie, I don't know what happens in it, and I don't wanna do much research on the plot just in case sometime down the line I do happen to watch it and it would be spoiled. If the song has any bearing on what happens in a scene in the movie, it makes me think there's one hell of a sex scene, cause "Let's Do It Again" is a big time sex rock song.
The most surprising thing about "Let's Do It Again" is who recorded it though. Curtis Mayfield was the songwriter of it, and if you know anything about Curtis Mayfield, that would also be surprising. Mayfield was known for writing African American influenced gospel music, along with politically conscience music. There's nothing politically conscience or gospel-like about "Let's Do It Again." It's a song that's simply about having sex, laying in bed with the one you love and then wanting to do it all over again. It doesn't seem to have much to do with the general idea of the movie, but maybe that's not saying much with what little knowledge I have of the film. But then think about the artists that are recording this sexual song: The Staple Singers. They've appeared in this blog once already with "I'll Take You There," which was very clearly a gospel song, right in the band's wheelhouse. No one would have ever thought they'd go anywhere near a song like this, but obviously we know that that's not what happened. The whole existence of "Let's Do It Again" is a novelty for Mayfield and the Staple Singers.
In case anyone doesn't remember or just doesn't know, The Staple Singers were a family Christian band made up of three sisters and their father, Roebuck Staples, who went by the nickname "Pops." The sisters were on board with Mayfield to record the song, but Pops wasn't easily convinced. Pops was as devout a Christian as they come, and he was not thrilled about singing the line "Now I like you, lady/So fine with your pretty hair." He thought the Lord would be upset with him singing such sexual lyrics, but Mayfield and his daughters told him that he wasn't leaving the church, he's just singing a song. Eventually Pops did decide that he was being ridiculous, and he agreed to sing the song. But if you were a Staple Singers fan, you were likely big into gospel and the church and the like. So "Let's Do It Again" must've seemed like something that should've been frowned upon. It wasn't lifting the listener up or trying to connect them with God. "Let's Do It Again" doesn't interact with the listener at all. It's strictly a sex song, which is closer to someone like, say, Barry White's style more than anyone who would consider themselves gospel.
Honestly, the movie was probably a big part of why the song was such a major hit, especially since Staple Singers fans likely didn't care for it too much. But the song is just a decent little sex rock tune that I would place under the "background music" theme. Nothing about the song jumps out at me, and the grooves are there, but they don't do much. This is not such a terrible thing, and I find the song to be somewhat relaxing. The line "just give me good loooove" is the climax of the song, and I like the steady buildup the song has to reach that point. There's a string section and some of those "wah wah" sounds you expect to hear in funk/disco songs, but "Let's Do It Again" isn't funk or disco in my opinion. I think it's more easy-listening. It doesn't go hard enough for me to consider it funk or disco, but I appreciate some of the songcraft going on here. "Let's Do It Again" is a solid song.
The Staple Singers didn't hit #1 again, and they never really had any hits again either. So they wouldn't be able to "do that again," but while I find their music to be not that exciting, it's solidly crafted. I can't deny that. That's exactly what I thought of "I'll Take You There," and that's what I think of "Let's Do It Again." They were a family that loved to sing gospel tunes together, and the whole "Let's Do It Again" thing was just like a little novelty at the end of their run of popularity. It's just occurring to me that not a lot of people were able to have pop chart success with gospel tunes, yet the Staple Singers were able to do that. It's more rare than pop-country success. That's actually a pretty outstanding accomplishment when you think about it.
GRADE: 6/10
IN POP CULTURE:
The songwriter of "Let's Do It Again," Curtis Mayfield, was paralyzed from the neck down in 1990 after stage-lighting scaffolding fell on him during an outdoor concert. But he redid the song in 1994 with the band the Repercussions, and he sang the Pops part of the song while laying down in the studio. The song was included on the album All Men Are Brothers: A Tribute to Curtis Mayfield. Here's the audio for that version:
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