Ollie Nightingale
“It's a Sad Thing” (Memphis) 1971
by Wax Poetics
With drums racing in a breathless, Al Jackson-like double time, defiantly extroverted horns, and multi-tracked deep-soul shouting, Ollie Nightingale’s “It’s a Sad Thing” bursts out of the gates sounding like a Sam & Dave barnstormer circa 1968. Willie Mitchell disciple and ubiquitous Memphis arranger Gene “Bowlegs” Miller invokes the sound that made Stax famous, while Nightingale’s sexually frank lyrics hint at the track’s true vintage.
