![]() The core rhythm for the tune, the springboard for the whole soundtrack, we'd cut in under two hours." Then I got our drummer to play 16-note sequences on the hi-hat and we had it. I remembered a guitar line I had in a tune I'd never used, got it off the shelf and had our guitarist play it exactly the same, but with a wah-wah. They tested me by giving me the opening scene – footage of Shaft coming out of the subway – to take away and see how I got on. "As this was my first such undertaking, at the initial meeting I had with the producer and director in New York you could see the anxiety on their faces. Hayes recorded the rhythm parts on the theme first, scored the entire rest of the film, then returned to the theme song. Director Gordon Parks also had a hand in composing the theme, describing the character of John Shaft (the "black private dick/who's a sex machine/to all the chicks") to Hayes and explaining that the song had to familiarize the audience with him. Hayes, who also had no acting experience, never got the chance to audition, but kept his end of the deal anyway. In 2000, Hayes told National Public Radio that he had only agreed to write and record the Shaft score after the film's producer, Joel Freeman, promised him an audition for the lead role, which was taken by a then-unknown Richard Roundtree. One for Best Instrumental Arrangement for "Theme from Shaft" and another for Best Original Score Written For A Motion Picture Or A Television Special for Shaft. In 1972 at the 14th Annual Grammy Awards, Isaac Hayes won 2 Grammy Awards. In 2004 the original finished at #38 in AFI's 100 Years.100 Songs survey of top songs in American cinema. Since then, the song has appeared in numerous television shows, commercials, and other movies, including the 2000 sequel Shaft, for which Hayes re-recorded the song. The following year, "Theme from Shaft" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, with Hayes becoming the first African American to win that honor – or any Academy Award in a non-acting category – as well as the first recipient of the award who both wrote and performed the winning song. The song is considered by some to be one of the first disco songs. ![]() The song was also well received by adult audiences, reaching number six on Billboard's Easy Listening chart. ![]() "Theme from Shaft" went to number two on the Billboard Soul Singles chart (behind " Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" by Marvin Gaye) and to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in November 1971. The theme was released as a single (shortened and edited from the longer album version) two months after the movie's soundtrack by Stax Records' Enterprise label. " Theme from Shaft", written and recorded by Isaac Hayes in 1971, is the soul and funk-styled theme song to the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film Shaft. ![]() Isaac Hayes – "Theme from Shaft" (single version) on YouTube " Never Can Say Goodbye" / " I Can't Help It" 1971, Stax Recording Studios, Memphis, Tennessee ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |