" Groove Me" is a song written and recorded by R&B singer King Floyd. Released from his eponymous album in late 1970, it was a crossover hit, spending four non-consecutive weeks at number-one on Billboard Soul chart and peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The song was recorded and produced by Wardell Quezergue at Malaco Records' Jackson, Mississippi recording studios during the same session as another Quezergue-produced song, Jean Knight's "Mr. Big Stuff".
Personnel
No credits are listed for the Malaco studio musicians on the record. According to Rob Bowman's liner notes from the 1999 box set,
The Last Soul Company: Malaco, A Thirty Year Retrospective, the musicians for this session included:
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Jimmy Honeycutt – saxophone
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Bob Cheesman – trumpet
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Wardell Quezergue – organ
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Jerry Puckett – guitar
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Vernie Robbins – bass
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James Stroud – drums
However, during this time at Malaco, horn lines were typically played by saxophonist Hugh Garraway and trumpeter Peary Lomax. Lomax said he played all trumpet parts on this record and on "Mr. Big Stuff."
Origin
According to Rob Bowman, Canadian professor of ethnomusicology, "Groove Me" had been inspired by a young college student who had worked about twenty feet away from Floyd at an east L.A. box
factory. In Floyd's words: "She'd just watch me and smile at me all day. When I went to the water fountain, she would make it her purpose to come up to the water fountain. But, I was so shy. So, I decided one day that I was gonna write this poem and give it to her and I wrote 'Groove Me.' Believe it or not, after I finished it she never came back to work. It blew me away. So, I never gave her the poem. Man, I'd sure like to meet her one day just to thank her!"
Cover versions
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The Blues Brothers covered the song in their hit 1978 album Briefcase Full of Blues, giving the song a Jamaican reggae feel.
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In 1979, Fern Kinney, who sang backing vocals on King Floyd's original version, released a disco version of the song on her album Groove Me, which reached No. 6 on the Billboard dance chart.
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In 2002, Angie Stone covered the song in the soundtrack for the movie Austin Powers in Goldmember.
