Funky Football 45 without Gimmicks!

This track can be found on the “Singles Mixer Vol. 2” podcast.

I’m psyched to present today’s 45: “Funky Football” by the esteemed Harvey Scales and his hard working Seven Sounds.  Born in the south then relocated north to the cold country known as Wisconsin, Scales began putting out records as a member of the Seven Sounds but his strength and personality were much too large to be seen as just a member of the group so the names on the label changed but the music remained the same, KILLER. 

Football was going through some momentous changes with the AFL-NFL merger taking place in 1970 so the idea of a dance being named after a sport doesn’t seem that outrageous (does any dance name really sound that weird?  The Ali Shuffle would be a good compliment to this post!)  Plus, the dance seems logical enough “everyone get in a huddle…wave your hands…do the quarterback.”  Man I’d love to see that Soul Train.  Interestingly, both 1970 and 1971 were pretty poor showings for both the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears both posting losing records, maybe that’s who Harvey was referring to when he warned “gonna put you on the bench.” 

Scales made his way up the musical pecking order starting from the small Wisconsin Cuca label to later working with Johnny Taylor (the Seven Sounds as backing band) at Casablanca where he wrote the (first RIAA certified) platinum record “Disco Lady.”  In between there and here Scales touched down at the Stax, Cadet and Magic Touch labels making lots of great records.

Scales is currently still performing and evidently without losing a step; reviews from his show in Chicago last month reported he was performing at Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers levels.

Hope you enjoy as much as I do!

-George / Snack Attack