R. B. Greaves - "Take A Letter Maria"

[williamcarter1993]

Damn, he came in, caught his wife cheating, and had no reaction except to get up and get gone. Damn, one stone cold dude.

[DAS603]

1969 was the year this was recorded, great memories!

[wfarrar69]

VinylNostalgia:great song.i heard this in 1983 when i bought two bags of 45s at a yard sale for$2.25.and this was in them.like the song since then.thanks for posting this one here.

[mrmjb1960]

Vinyl,another great rip..You never cease to amaze me with impeccable transfers of Classic Vinyl 45 and Lp Tracks! Keep up the great work!

[1Phoebus]

@Vinyl...I was impressed by the style of song...just R.B and his guitar and vocal without the overdubs which came later. I was "pro" R.B since I had just purchased a Martin and we both raved about the full sound of these great guitars...so I liked the song from a "sound" standpoint and the story...^/^

[1Phoebus]

This brings back memories...I worked in a recording studio in Hollywood during this era...I set up a demo session for a solo artist who came in with his Martin D-35 and guess what the Demo was..."Take a Letter Maria"...R. B. was a very gracious person...called me up later as he was looking for guys for a traveling band. thx for posting this song ^/^

[VinylNostalgia]

@1Phoebus - That's too cool. Could you tell at the time that this song was destined to be such a huge hit? I use to be able to pick which songs would become big hits after listening to them only a couple of times. Thanks for your memories.

[ShadowsGathered]

Boy, does THIS bring back some memories... good ones.

[dssssada]

The combination of an upbeat tone and what one would expect would be emotional lyrics can still send chills down my spine.

The imagery of a man catching his wife cheating and instead of having any kind of emotional reaction he just calmly packs some clothes and leaves is the stuff you usually only find in horror movies about serial killers.

[HeartoftheDragonColo]

@dssssada Well he does have Maria to help him feel better

[Alexn1067]

@dssssada ironically though, that would be the best way to react to such a scenario.

[dssssada]

@Alexn1067 That's what's so disturbing and inhuman about many psychopathic criminals. The abilities to reason and draw logical conclusions are not compromised, but the expected accounting for emotions is completely absent.

This is what made Spock such a fascinating character on Star Trek. His thought process was somewhat familiar but lacked one element that many take for granted.

[addycaroline23]

I only heard this song for the first time a couple days ago. Been listening to it ever since! Love it so much!

[duckkillerclydeclyde]

who hasn't wanted to bang their secretary? hahahaha

[glascm09]

Very nice tune. Nice memories! Thank You:--)

[Syzygy60]

that emlem looks like the coasters

3 cool cats



[jiffy017]

You tube is great and most of us know who are uploading in good faith. Cheers

[DaveWollenberg]

R.B. hit #2 in Billboard, 11-22-69. God bless ya, for postin' it. Thanx!

[robphilll22]

I thought it was sung by a man of latin origin.

[kperk014]

Great song! I think this was the first hit recorded in "the swampers'" Muscle Shoals Sound Studios at 3614 Jackson Hwy in Sheffield, Al.

[allholy14]

A great find in You Tube!!

[MrCojak86]

thank god for muscle shoals!!!!

[KingBrooklynman]

I thought about being the one dislike on this page, but I didn't have the heart. I don't want to get an angry letter.

[HotBroodish]

I havent heard this in years. very cool. keep it alive.

[MANHATTANBEEFMAN]

I'm 28 - but I love the classics!

[toecutter2112]

total excellence,aw days gone by, this post is greatness!!!

[chairjockey1]

My peers and I were mostly 13 when this came out, and I am sure they all remember it with as much fondness as I do! Thanx for the post!

[ToddInLN52254]

the peppy horns on this version were the courtesy of Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass.

[kperk014]

@ToddInLN52254 Actually not. It was a musician in Muscle Shoals named Mel Lastie on trumpet.

[DancingSpiderman]

@kperk014 BWAhahahah.... it's funny how some random know-it-all decides to offer incorrect info.

"Herb Alpert" ... harrumphhh. Herb Alpert could not even play this lick without going through a bunch of takes to get it right.

[Ozzfest2009]

nothing compares to vinyl

[TheWunn76]

Forgot this song even existed, i loved it when it was on the radio years ago and now I hear it again I still do- it's just so funky you can't help but sing along .... (-:

[polycarpx]

I like this song for its electric piano and the backing vocals.

But I especially like the "sexist" lyrics.

[gdub999tube]

This is in the 1994 Australian movie "Priscilla Queen of the Desert" - I couldn't wait to look it up... Thanks for providing this - what a great song!

[er6789er]

Kids, I had at least 300 45's - they were the cd's of the day - God Bless...

[flathead59]

Was just starting to listen to music about the this time in my life,also had this 45,great,thanks for this...

[epicnehunter]

im only 28 but i remember this song played heavily on my dad's old zenith record player

[regusted]

this is a great version! Is it ripped from the 45?

[VinylNostalgia]

@regusted - Yes it is. The 45 in the video is the one you're hearing.

[ChuckieInMT]

@VinylNostalgia Yes, you're THE SHIT, DUDE!!! Thank you so much -

Wasn't this jus' the other day???

[BigBird1017]

1:13 I'm sure that "all work and no play" cost him a lot more than just a wife...

Mrs. Greaves and the Johnnie Cochran Law Firm probably own all the royalties to this song!

[springerjkreb]

@BigBird1017 Advertising for a Divorce Lawyer? Nawty Nawty. Save it for the Yellow Pages.

[Belgusto1]

Nice!!!

[Ringo84]

Good song, but it's definitely a product of its time - one of the most sexist songs I've ever known. The protagonist finds his wife cheating, has his secretary dictate a letter to the wife, and then immediately starts hitting on his secretary.

[EdiblePlanets]

@Ringo84 I don't think it's "sexist". He and Maria probably really dug each other. They couldn't do anything with the bitchy wife in the way. Now that she is out of the picture, they can get it on, man !!

[slav777sacrament]

@Ringo84 Maria is probably some eager 25 year old with a head full of fairy tale scenarios. I am a woman; women today aren't that much smarter...still having kids when they have better things to do, many women are chasing guys who don't care...lol not all that sexist. of course, why am I babbling. it's just a song. lol. and a great one at that.

[shhshh76]

This is in my top !0 - and I never get tired of listening to it .

[IB127]

Thanks for this video! Great song and I am grateful to be able to save it to my playlist.

[lostchord357]

Great page! Keep up the good work.

[magiclard]

One of my all time faves Northern Disco Movement Classic

[Ironbudokan]

really good song

[LovelessWoman711]

cool

[heavensangelz1]

awesome

[peeterpoon]

Sorry, Vinyl. You both do great work and I know that I speak for a lot of us when I say how grateful I am for the work you do to make so many people happy.

[VinylNostalgia]

Thanks for your kind words. I'm on here today partly due to the help I received from John (Whopfrog) when I first started to upload my 45rpm collection in March 2008. NOW, if only Youtube would cooperate and let us upload our collections without hassling us.

[BarackSays]

It sickens me how hard it is to keep music on Youtube now. A year ago this wasn't an issue. Thanks for the music.

[DonaldRumsfailed]

@peeterpoon I second that, peeterpoon. This is a great thing VinylNostalgia is doing. Thank you very much.

[peeterpoon]

A classic! Whopfrog, do you have Greaves' terrific version of Always Something There To Remind Me?

Thanks, amigo!

[VinylNostalgia]

Whopfrog??????? Your on VinylNostalgia's channel.

I don't have that song by R. B. Greaves but I do have an excellent version of it by the Oxfords. Check it out, they are in my playlist of Louisville and Kentucky artists.