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The Staple Singers — Respect Yourself
Album: Be Altitude: Respect Yourself
Avg rating:
7.6

Your rating:
Total ratings: 1412









Released: 1972
Length: 4:47
Plays (last 30 days): 2
If you disrespect anybody that you run in to
How in the world do you think anybody's s'posed to respect you
If you don't give a heck 'bout the man with the bible in his hand, y'all
Just get out the way, and let the gentleman do his thing
You the kind of gentleman that want everything your way, yeah
Take the sheet off your face, boy, it's a brand new day

Respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself
If you don't respect yourself
Ain't nobody gonna give a good cahoot, na na na na
Respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself

If you're walking 'round think'n that the world owes you something 'cause you're here
You goin' out the world backwards like you did when you first come here yeah
Keep talkin' bout the president, won't stop air pollution
Put your hand on your mouth when you cough, that'll help the solution
Oh, you cuss around women and you don't even know their names, no
Then you're dumb enough to think that'll make you a big ol' man

Respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself
If you don't respect yourself
Ain't nobody gonna give a good cahoot, na na na na
Respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself

Respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself, respect yourself
Respect yourself, yeah yeah respect yourself, respect yourself yeah, respect yourself
You oughta you oughta respect yourself yeah, respect yourself
Comments (108)add comment
The magnificent Mavis still truckin.
Bless you girlfriend.
 WonderLizard wrote:

Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section

The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section: Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins, David Hood, Jimmy Johnson





just look at that - what talent yet lookin like they haul hay for a living - just sayin - RESPECT
love it but hear it too often here
Just a plain, simple, WOW
 dstehle wrote:

I saw Muddy Waters at Rhodes On The Pawtucket my freshman year of college. Great show and great venue. They don't make buildings like that any more!


that's cool. but...
this is the staples singers...
I saw Muddy Waters at Rhodes On The Pawtucket my freshman year of college. Great show and great venue. They don't make buildings like that any more!

And 2 years later, even more timely. Cover your damn mouth. 😷
"Take the sheet off your face, boy, it's a brand new day"
 zenhead wrote:
How timely this song still is. 
 
Uh huh. Should'a listened in '72. Should listen now.
Thank you Pops, Mavis, Cleotha, and Yvonne.
It got an instant 9 until it kept on going as I guess it must be the album version which I don't recall hearing before. Definitely a 10
This bangs right on the spot

Also found this live version which is groooovy
Still relevant after all these years, perhaps even more...
How timely this song still is. 
Sure miss Pops.
 wolfkiss wrote:
There is no relationship between carrying a bible and deserving respect from oneself, let alone others.

 
Oh, please....
 lshinkawa wrote:
Hmmm. Sounds familiar. One could use Madonna's own words and say her "Respect yourself" is "reductive" when compared to the Staple Singers.

Hmm, not sure I follow your line of reasoning.
This was recorded prior to '72 and if you meant  Express yourself  by Madonna, wasn't that a '90's tune?
Perhaps you actually meant 'redactive" in which case, FIIKWYM.
OR, I am particularly a GOM today. Yep, must be that.

.
One of the best songs ever written.  Easy.
 SmackDaddy wrote:
This song goes right over Trumps head. Not even his hair can catch it.

 
"Put your hand over your mouth when you cough (or TALK), that'll help the solution"
 SmackDaddy wrote:
This song goes right over T***ps head. Not even his hair can catch it.

 
Why even bring him up?
So dang good!  The volume just hit 11....
damn, music did have a different feel in those years... this will ever age and will always bring a smile to whoever listens to it. It´s irresistible, so groovy. How not to like it ?
This song goes right over Trumps head. Not even his hair can catch it.
Hmmm. Sounds familiar. One could use Madonna's own words and say her "Respect yourself" is "reductive" when compared to the Staple Singers.
 clwguy wrote:
One of those things that gets better with age... not that it was bad when it was just young grapes... or maybe it was me who was the young grape {#Eek}

 
made me laugh, nice one clwguy, indeed a nice vintage! {#Cheers}
Only an 8?!? What was I thinking? 9. Minimum.
 {#Bananajam}hayduke2 wrote:
Love The Staples  (no prune juice baby, fine wine ; )

 


Love The Staples  (no prune juice baby, fine wine ; )
 clwguy wrote:
One of those things that gets better with age... not that it was bad when it was just young grapes... or maybe it was me who was the young grape {#Eek}

 
Loved it as a young grape and now as an old prune too.  It's is worthy!
One of those things that gets better with age... not that it was bad when it was just young grapes... or maybe it was me who was the young grape {#Eek}
Yeah, the seventies B-) 
 
 bchartier wrote:
Bruce Willis ruined this for me.
 
Zed's dead, baby.
Oh yea!!!  {#Notworthy}
 just git out the way boy, and let the gentleman do his thing wolfkiss wrote:
There is no relationship between carrying a bible and deserving respect from oneself, let alone others.
 


Well , I  , for one , do give a good cahoot .
So there . 
There is no relationship between carrying a bible and deserving respect from oneself, let alone others.

 bchartier wrote:
Bruce Willis ruined this for me.
  
 
daveshel4 wrote:


I was just thinking the same thing.  Damn him.
 
Not to add to your pain, but I think this is pretty sacrilegious: his version is on a "Best of Motown in the 80s" anthology: 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/20th-century-masters-the-millennium/id3575567
You also have to ding Bruce for being in so many dumb action movies where he bellows "NOOOO!" at least once. I think that line's in his contract. 

 

I have a Bruce Willis cover of this on a 45. Almost as good.


 bchartier wrote:
Bruce Willis ruined this for me.
 

I was just thinking the same thing.  Damn him.
 WonderLizard wrote:
The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section: Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins, David Hood, Jimmy Johnson
 Drive-By Truckers founder Patterson Hood is David's son, the song continues...

 cc_rider wrote:

Buncha white dudes, if you can believe it. From North Alabama to Motown, those cats have quite a story.

 
Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section

The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section: Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins, David Hood, Jimmy Johnson


 tompoll wrote:
We get to see Mavis in a small place here in Seattle in late October. Should be wonderful!
 
Coolness!  I think wilco is in order now, since JT produced Mavis' new LP!!

We get to see Mavis in a small place here in Seattle in late October. Should be wonderful!
 cc_rider wrote:
'twas a joke. Referencing another RP thread.
 
Sorry!  I sit corrected. . .


 vandal wrote:

Slap yourself!

This isn't a "Christian" song. . . its an R&B icon. . .

{#Devil_pimp}

  'twas a joke. Referencing another RP thread.


 sandpebble wrote:
Much better than the Office Depot Singers!
{#Drunk}...........................................sorry
 
It's OK. I laughed.

 bchartier wrote:
Bruce Willis ruined this for me.
 
Who?

 RParadise wrote:
Except they were never with Motown.  They were in Memphis, with Stax.  That's the Muscle Shoals studio band backing this track.
 
Buncha white dudes, if you can believe it. From North Alabama to Motown, those cats have quite a story.

 morgsy67 wrote:
OH MY GAWD!!! Another Christian song on RP!!!!
 
Slap yourself!

This isn't a "Christian" song. . . its an R&B icon. . .

{#Devil_pimp}


Respect!
Much better than the Office Depot Singers!
{#Drunk}...........................................sorry
And backing them STRONG, if I may say!

 
RParadise wrote:


Except they were never with Motown.  They were in Memphis, with Stax.  That's the Muscle Shoals studio band backing this track.
 


 bchartier wrote:
Bruce Willis ruined this for me.
 
           Huh?
Bruce Willis ruined this for me.
 Shesdifferent wrote:

Yeah! Love that your playing this! Motown forever! Good choice!
 

Except they were never with Motown.  They were in Memphis, with Stax.  That's the Muscle Shoals studio band backing this track.
 cstetler wrote:
We love the Staple Singers here at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music!!  Come Visit!!!

I have visited, and your house ROCKS!  Got a 50th anniversary CD set of Stax tunes, too, with over a dozen killer tunes.  Great slice of history next door to Beale Street and the Gibson factory/museum. 
 oilydwarf wrote:
Love it!!!
 
Yikes! My favourite self esteem anthem.

 redeyespy wrote:
The real deal.
 
Yeah! Love that your playing this! Motown forever! Good choice!
I've always thought that this would make a good pairing with ZZ Top's "Thank You"—there's something similar about the groove of the two of them to me.
 jadedragon wrote:
I am ancient...... remember listening to this on a transistor radio...
 
Holy smokes! Your profile says you were born in 1901. You are ancient.

Two Staples Singers songs within 10 hours of one another? Did one of them die?
We love the Staple Singers here at the Stax Museum of American Soul Music!!  Come Visit!!!
Weird - second Staple Singers song of the day.  And it's two songs after the second TV on the Radio song for the day.
Love it!!!
I am ancient...... remember listening to this on a transistor radio...
Rock the Fricken House.............
what a horrible song...

RP at its best is mixing in tasty R&B singles like this. I miss the real deal of free-form commercial radio, like WBCN in Boston back in the mid-70s. Yes, I was a pre-pubescent punk, but I remember it well.
That rocked!! Bruce Willis' version in the 80s wasn't bad either come to think of it.
This song kicks *ss! Something about the phrasing/sound & rhythm of the keyboards reminds me of Donald Fagen. I wonder if they influenced him?
Very interesting...Thanks for that.Ag3nt0rang3 wrote:
You might want to be careful, when invoking Papa Legba.
Gregorama wrote:
AMG says that Pops passed away in December 2000 @age 85. What a loss. RIP Papa Legba!
You might want to be careful, when invoking Papa Legba.
NICE long version..
TheLoneIguana wrote:
Somebody did a cover of the Bruce Willis song? (Kidding, kidding!)
hehe
TheLoneIguana wrote:
Somebody did a cover of the Bruce Willis song? (Kidding, kidding!) I saw Mavis Staples at a show recently. Short set (~1 hr) but still amazing.
Yeah, she played last year at the local Paramount Theater's 91st Anniversary. Short set, but DANG she rocked the place! Git down! c.
morgsy67 wrote:
OH MY GAWD!!! Another Christian song on RP!!!!
Only Christians have self respect? I didn't know that!
Gawd forbid! morgsy67 wrote:
OH MY GAWD!!! Another Christian song on RP!!!!
OH MY GAWD!!! Another Christian song on RP!!!!
"put your hand over your mouth when you cough, that will help the solution" This is one of my all time "get down" songs.
Testify!
Just get out the way and let the gentleman do his thing !
Way .
Hey, that's quite crazy: four songs ago we had Somewhere down the Crazy River, and now this! It reminds me of a tape I compiled more than ten years ago, where both songs follow each other immediately, if my memory doesn't play me tricks....
Somebody did a cover of the Bruce Willis song? (Kidding, kidding!) I saw Mavis Staples at a show recently. Short set (~1 hr) but still amazing.
The real deal.
I feel somewhat naive for not knowing this was the inspiration for Madonna's tune...
Zygomatic wrote:
How 'bout that delta R&B? I need to make a run over to Memphis to the Stax Museum one of these days.
Come on down. It is really well done.
Very powerful message and danceable, too. What more do you want?
From Lyle to the Staple Singers Amen
tom4513 wrote:
This song is the epitomy of
Hell YES!
This song is the epitomy of
i love this song. when mavis comes in towrds the middle gives me goosebumps.
That David Usher guy on the last song should listen to this song. He should "respect himself" a little better not to be going around saying that Jesus was his Girl......
Excessive repetition soon kills even what would otherwise have been very, very good, for me. I won't rate, up or down--but that' my feeling. . . .
rah wrote:
i just love this song... PBS last week was shoing some absolutely fantastic footage of these guys playing the Watt's festival oh, probably 30 years ago. anyone know what eventually happened for these folks?
AMG says that Pops passed away in December 2000 @age 85. What a loss. RIP Papa Legba!
poprocker1 wrote:
reminds me alot of the Madonna song. seems now like Madonna was either ripping this off or paying it homage. i think i like this better :-)
yes. the former. me too (by a wide margin).
How 'bout that delta R&B? I need to make a run over to Memphis to the Stax Museum one of these days.
How can ya not move to this...?
Don't tell my wife, but I'm secretly in love with Mavis Staples...
ChardRemains wrote:
love this song!!!!!
Was just about to post the same thing. Man, this makes me feel good.
love this song!!!!!
rah wrote:
i just love this song... PBS last week was shoing some absolutely fantastic footage of these guys playing the Watt's festival oh, probably 30 years ago. anyone know what eventually happened for these folks?
Last time I saw Mr, Staples was on True Stories By David Byrne, where we acted as a black magic "enchanter"
never heard this before. reminds me alot of the Madonna song. seems now like Madonna was either ripping this off or paying it homage. i think i like this better :-)
defines classy for me
8)
rah wrote:
i just love this song... PBS last week was shoing some absolutely fantastic footage of these guys playing the Watt's festival oh, probably 30 years ago. anyone know what eventually happened for these folks?
Mavis and her sister Yvonne (Yvette?) still perform and have been involved with the newly establish Stax Museum and school Soulsville, USA. I believe they live in Chicago now.
i just love this song... PBS last week was shoing some absolutely fantastic footage of these guys playing the Watt's festival oh, probably 30 years ago. anyone know what eventually happened for these folks?