''Soul Limbo'' is the seventh studio album by the American R&B band Booker T. & the M.G.'s, released in 1968 on Stax Records. The album was the first Stax LP issued after the label severed its ties with former distributor

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

in 1968. The title track is perhaps best known in the UK as the theme tune for BBC Television's

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

coverage and later for '' Test Match Special''. It features a marimba solo by Terry Manning and cowbell by

Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, actor, songwriter, and composer. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwri ...

. The song was later covered by the English punk band Snuff. The album also features the group's hit version of the

title theme Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at som ...

from the film ''

Hang 'Em High ''Hang 'Em High'' is a 1968 American DeLuxe Color revisionist Western film directed by Ted Post and written by Leonard Freeman and Mel Goldberg. It stars Clint Eastwood as Jed Cooper, an innocent man who survives a lynching; Inger Stevens as ...

''.Galloway, A. Scott (1994). ''Rock Instrumental Classics Volume 4: Soul'' (p. 14)

D booklet D, or d, is the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''dee'' (pronounced ), plural ''dees''. History The ...

Los Angeles: Rhino Records.

Track listing

;Side one #"

Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy "Be Young, Be Foolish, Be Happy" is a soul song. It was first recorded in 1967 by the Sensational Epics and was originally released on Warner Bros. Records. The song has also been recorded by the Tams, Sonia, and others. The Tams version The Tams ...

" (

J.R. Cobb James Barney Cobb Jr. (February 5, 1944 – May 4, 2019) was an American guitarist and songwriter, most notable for co-writing "Spooky", " Stormy" and "Traces", among others, as a member of the Classics IV, plus "Champagne Jam" and "Do It Or Die" ...

, Ray Whitley) #" La-La (Means I Love You)" ( Thom Bell, William Hart) #"

" (

Dominic Frontiere Dominic Carmen Frontiere (June 17, 1931 – December 21, 2017) was an American composer, arranger, and jazz accordionist. He composed the theme and much of the music for the first season of the television series '' The Outer Limits'', as wel ...

) #" Willow Weep for Me" ( Ann Ronell) #"Over Easy" (Booker T. & the M.G.'s) #"Soul Limbo" (Booker T. & the M.G.'s) Side two #" Eleanor Rigby" ( John Lennon, Paul McCartney) #"Heads or Tails" (Booker T. & the M.G.'s) #"

(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone "(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone" is a song by singer Aretha Franklin. Released from her ''Lady Soul'' album in 1968, the song was successful, debuting at number 31 and peaking at number 5 on the Hot 100 for five weeks, and spending thr ...

" (

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...

, Teddy White) #" Born Under a Bad Sign" ( William Bell, Booker T. Jones) #" Foxy Lady" (

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

)

Personnel

;Booker T. & the M.G.s * Booker T. Jones -

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

clavinet The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tension ...

, piano, guitar *

Steve Cropper Steven Lee Cropper (born October 21, 1941), sometimes known as "The Colonel", is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, which backed artists such as Ot ...

- guitar *

Donald Dunn Donald Dunn may refer to: * Donald "Duck" Dunn (1941–2012), American bass guitarist, session musician, record producer, and songwriter * Donald G. Dunn (1923–2021), decorated U.S. Army veteran of World War II {{hndis, Dunn, Donald ...

- bass guitar *

Al Jackson Jr. Albert J. Jackson Jr. (November 27, 1935 – October 1, 1975) was an American drummer, producer, and songwriter. He was a founding member of Booker T. & the M.G.'s, a group of session musicians who worked for Stax Records and produced their ...

- drums, percussion with: * Terry Manning - marimba on "Soul Limbo" *

- cowbell on "Soul Limbo"

References

Booker T. & the M.G.'s albums 1968 albums Stax Records albums Albums produced by Al Jackson Jr. Albums produced by Donald "Duck" Dunn Albums produced by Steve Cropper Albums produced by Booker T. Jones Sports television theme songs {{1960s-R&B-album-stub