Storming Side of Chicago Soul from Mamie Galore

This is one of my favorite 45s of all time and one look at the label should give you an idea why! Co-written by Chicago titan Jerry Butler, produced by the legendary Monk Higgins who would chart that year with his own quirky instrumental Who-Dun-It? on the same label.

Born Mamie Louise Davis, she cut her teeth as a singer in the backing band for Ike and Tina for a year then jumped on board the Little Milton train, singing with him for a few years before ending up in Chicago.  It was here she changed her name on her first record, also on St. Lawrence, the bond/spy-craze inspired “Special Agent 34-24-38″ making it her own special, sexy calling card.  Though it may feel like a sort of gimmick record it still holds water and is worth picking up!

Her second record, the one we are psyched about here today, “It Ain’t Necessary” was a much bigger deal locally.  A beautifully balanced side, it’s a raucous number, bringing the smooth tambourine driven soul that you’d expect out of a lot of the northern soul records. Mamie, drawing on her years pushing the limits on the road with R&B outfits like Ike, Tina and Little Milton adds an unmistakable and absolutely beautiful hard edge to the song making the lyrics “you don’t have to climb/ no mountain/it ain’t necessary” feel absolutely triumphant with the lyric-less refrain of “woo hoo” bordering on the ecstatic.

This is a record that is an absolute mover, both emotionally and on the dance floor.  After all of her wonderful St. Lawrence sides she had some duets with Dee Irwin on Imperial, same back ups on some blues and jazz records and writing credits mostly working alongside Monk Higgins. As the 70’s dawn, as far as I can tell her recorded work unfortunately slowed though the gifts of these late 60’s sides are really more than we could ever ask!

Until next time,

-George / Snack Attack

Originally published August 29th, 2011, slightly updated Feb 1st, 2020