| "Theme fromShaft" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 One of side-A labels of the US single | ||||
| Single byIsaac Hayes | ||||
| from the albumShaft | ||||
| B-side | "Cafe Regio's" | |||
| Released | September 30, 1971 | |||
| Recorded | 1971 | |||
| Studio | Stax Recording Studios,Memphis, Tennessee | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 3:15 (single edit) 4:34 (album version) | |||
| Label | Enterprise ENA-9038 | |||
| Songwriter | Isaac Hayes | |||
| Producer | Isaac Hayes | |||
| Isaac Hayes singles chronology | ||||
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| Lyric video | ||||
| Isaac Hayes – "Theme fromShaft" (single version) onYouTube | ||||
"Theme fromShaft", written and recorded byIsaac Hayes in 1971, is thesoul andfunk-styledtheme song to theMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer filmShaft.[1] The theme was released as a single (shortened and edited from the longer album version) two months after themovie's soundtrack byStax Records' Enterprise label. "Theme fromShaft" went to no. 2 on theBillboard Soul Singles chart (behind "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" byMarvin Gaye) and tonumber one on theBillboard Hot 100[2] in the United States in November 1971, and no. 1 in Canada in December.[3] The song was also well received by adult audiences, reaching number six onBillboard'sEasy Listening chart[4] and no. 4 in Canada.[5] The song is considered by some to be one of the firstdisco singles.[6][7]
The following year, "Theme fromShaft" won theAcademy Award for Best Original Song,[1] with Hayes becoming the firstAfrican 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. Since then, the song has appeared in numerous television shows, commercials, and other movies, including the2000 sequelShaft, for which Hayes re-recorded the song.[8][9] In 2004, the original finished at number 38 inAFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top songs in American cinema.
In 1972, at the14th Annual Grammy Awards, Isaac Hayes won two Grammys, one for Best Instrumental Arrangement for "Theme fromShaft" and one for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special forShaft.[10]
In 1999, the 1971 recording was inducted into theGrammy Hall of Fame.[11]
In 2000, Hayes toldNational Public Radio that he had only agreed to write and record theShaft score after the film's producer, Joel Freeman, promised him an audition for the lead role, which was taken by a then-unknownRichard Roundtree. Hayes, who also had no acting experience, never got the chance to audition, but kept his end of the deal anyway.[12] DirectorGordon Parks also had a hand in composing the theme, describing the character ofJohn Shaft (the "blackprivate 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 recorded the rhythm parts on the theme first, scored the entire rest of the film, then returned to the theme song.[12]
Hayes toldMojo in 1995:
"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. 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. 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 awah-wah. Then I got our drummer to play 16-note sequences on thehi-hat and we had it. The core rhythm for the tune, the springboard for the whole soundtrack, we'd cut in under two hours."[13]
The openingsixteenth-note hi-hat ride pattern, played byWillie Hall, was drawn from abreak onOtis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness", aStax record on which Hayes had played.[12] GuitaristCharles Pitts'wah-wah effect was common in 1970s funk; the riff had originally been written for an unfinished Stax song. The synthesized keyboard is played by Hayes. Even on the edited single version, the intro lasts for more than one and a half minutes before any vocals are heard. Thearrangement was by Hayes andJohnny Allen.
The lyrics describe John Shaft's coolness, courage and sex appeal and Hayes' lead vocals are punctuated by a trio of female backup singers. At one famous moment, Hayes calls Shaft "a bad mother—;" before the backup singers (one of whom isTony Orlando and Dawn'sTelma Hopkins) interruptthe implied profanity with the line "Shut yo' mouth!" Hayes immediately defends himself by replying "I'm talking about Shaft", with the back-up vocalists replying, "We can dig it." Other well-known passages include "You're damn right!" also uttered by Hayes, and "He's a complicated man/but no one understands him/but his woman/John Shaft."
The song was considered very racy for its time. As late as 1990, censors at theFox Network thought it too risqué to be sung onThe Simpsons (until it was pointed out that the song had been played on television before).[14]
The song was not intended to be a single, but the success of the film and the popularity of the track in nightclubs led to a45 record of the theme being released onEnterprise Records two months after the soundtrack. Within two months, it hit No. 1 on theBillboard Hot 100 and stayed there a second week.[8] It peaked at No. 4 in theUK Singles Chart.[1] The song had an enormous influence on thedisco andsoul music of the decade.[12]
In 1972, Hayes performed "Theme fromShaft" as part of theAcademy Awards ceremony in his signaturechain mail vest, but accepted theAcademy Award for Best Original Song later that night wearing a tuxedo.[8] He dedicated his historic win to his grandmother, Rushia Wade, who joined him onstage as he accepted the award.[15] Following the Academy Awards, Hayes, the Rev.Jesse Jackson and the Stax staff dedicated the win to the black community at anOperation PUSH rally.[15] "When it hit so big I was in severe disbelief ..." he later reflected. "Then when it won an Academy Award — it won Best Song, but the album was also nominated forBest Soundtrack — I was in a state of shock. This was after the Academy tried to disqualify it, too, saying, because I can'twrite music, it wasn't my composition.Quincy Jones got in there and argued my case; saying that, even if I didn't physically write it down, they were my ideas."[13]
Later that year, Hayes performed "Theme fromShaft" live at theWattstax concert in Los Angeles.[16] Film footage of this performance was recorded forMel Stuart's documentary film of the concert, but was cut before the film's release due to legal complications with MGM, who would not allow Hayes to perform hisShaft songs in any other film until 1976. A 2003 remastered version of theWattstax film reinstates Hayes' performance of "Theme fromShaft".[16]
WhenJohn Singleton directed an updated version ofShaft in 2000, starringSamuel L. Jackson, Hayes re-recorded the theme for the new film.
A version byEddy and the Soul Band was a No. 13 hit in the UK Singles Chart in 1985.[1]
Based onShaft byErnest Tidyman | |
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