"Slip Away" is a song written by William Armstrong, Marcus Daniel, and Wilbur Terrell and performed by

Clarence Carter Clarence George Carter (born January 14, 1936) is an American singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. His most successful songs include " Slip Away", " Back Door Santa" (both released 1968), " Patches" (1970) and "Strokin" (1986). Ea ...

, featured on the 1968 album ''This Is Clarence Carter''.

Original version

Composition

In its musical structure and theme (of

infidelity Infidelity (synonyms include cheating, straying, adultery, being unfaithful, two-timing, or having an affair) is a violation of a couple's emotional and/or sexual exclusivity that commonly results in feelings of anger, sexual jealousy, and ri ...

), "Slip Away" would seem based on the template of "Steal Away", the 1964 self-penned Jimmy Hughes hit which had been the first single recorded at

FAME Studios FAME (Florence Alabama Music Enterprises) Studios is a recording studio located at 603 East Avalon Avenue in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, an area of northern Alabama known as the Shoals. Though small and distant from the main recording locations of th ...

. The official songwriting credit for "Slip Away" lists three musicians from Clarence Carter's touring band: keyboardist William Armstrong, bassist Marcus Daniel, and drummer Wilbur Terrell. Marcus Daniel, Carter's sideman since 1962, had previously co-written - with Carter and Wilbur Terrell - " Tell Daddy" which, after becoming Carter's inaugural R&B hit at the start of 1967, would - as "

Tell Mama Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) is a national project which records and measures anti-Muslim incidents in the United Kingdom. It is modelled on the Jewish Community Security Trust (CST) and like the CST it also provides support for v ...

" - be recorded by

Etta James Jamesetta Hawkins (January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012), known professionally as Etta James, was an American singer who performed in various genres, including gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, rock and roll, and soul. Starting her career in 1954, ...

that summer to become an R&B Top Ten R&B hit and

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "conte ...

crossover. Daniel would nevertheless recall that in 1967 he had been feeling uneasy about his musical career:(Marcus Miller 2008 quote:)"I got down on my knees and asked God to allow me to do better" - as a songwriter and musician - "and stay with the band, and within twenty minutes I sat up in bed with both the melody and the lyrics of 'Slip Away' in my mind." Commenting on the arguable incongruity of a divinely inspired song being focused on infidelity, Marcus Daniel would state: "I wrote about what I knew":"back then...I was a bad womanizer, which...shames to this day": in 1988 Daniel would leave his musical career behind, serving as pastor of the Piney Groves Missionary Baptist Church in

Mathews, Alabama Mathews is an unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Alabama, United States, located east-southeast of Montgomery. Mathews had a post office until it closed on November 19, 2011; it still has its own ZIP code, 36052. It was named for Re ...

until his 10 May 2021 passing. Clarence Carter would in 2009 have a somewhat contrasting recollection of the song's genesis: "My bass player had written some lyrics...and he and I sat down and really put 'Slip Away' together."

Recording/ release

"Slip Away", arranged and produced by

Rick Hall Roe Erister "Rick" Hall (January 31, 1932 – January 2, 2018) was an American record producer, songwriter, and musician who became known as the owner of FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. As the "Father of Muscle Shoals Music", he was ...

, was recorded at FAME Studios in a mid-1967 recording session whose players, besides vocalist Clarence Carter himself on guitar, included visiting American Sound Studio (Memphis) session regulars

Spooner Oldham Dewey Lindon "Spooner" Oldham (born June 14, 1943) is an American songwriter and session musician. An organist, he recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, at FAME Studios as part of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section on such hit R&B songs as Percy ...

on keyboards and

Tommy Cogbill Thomas Clark Cogbill (April 8, 1932 – December 7, 1982) was an American bassist, guitarist and record producer known for his work in R&B, soul and country music. Life and career Cogbill was born in Johnson Grove, Tennessee. He was a high ...

whose

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gu ...

riffs on the track would become iconic in the canon of

Southern soul Southern soul is a type of soul music that emerged from the Southern United States. The music originated from a combination of styles, including blues (both 12 bar and jump), country, early R&B, and a strong gospel influence that emanated fr ...

: other session players included drummer Roger Hawkins and - in one of his first session jobs -

Duane Allman Howard Duane Allman (November 20, 1946 – October 29, 1971) was an American rock guitarist, session musician, and the founder and original leader of the The Allman Brothers Band, Allman Brothers Band, for which he was inducted into the Roc ...

on slide guitar. Despite the track's credentials, Rick Hall decided against releasing "Slip Away": that the track would eventually serve as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

of the April 1968 single release "Funky Fever" was according to Carter his own suggestion, made in the hopes that "Slip Away" would prove to be a "flip hit".''Tampa Tribune'' 6 August 1983 "Carter Moves Into the '80s With the Blues" by David Okamoto p.11

Impact

As Clarence Carter had hoped, it would indeed transpire that as "Funky Fever" ended its comparatively unimpressive chart run - reaching #49 on the U.S. R&B chart and #88 on the U.S. pop chart- in June 1968, "Slip Away" would "breakout" as a "flip hit" in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

, becoming Carter's first

hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for the week ending 17 August 1968 on its way to a #6 peak in October, which is the month it reached its R&B chart peak of #2 (behind James Brown's "

Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud" is a funk song performed by James Brown, and written with his bandleader Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis in 1968. It was released as a two-part single which held the number-one spot on the R&B singles chart for ...

", "Slip Away" already having been

certified gold Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

for sales of one million units in September.''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

s year-end charts would rank "Slip Away" as the #44 biggest Pop hit of 1968, and as the #2 R&B hit of 1968 (again, behind James Brown's "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud". ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimension ...

'', the music industry journal for Canada, would rank "Slip Away" as high as #12 on its national 100 single survey/

Other charting versions

* Dottsy released a version of the song as a single in 1979 which reached #22 on the U.S. country chart and #27 on the Canadian country chart. *

Gregg Allman Gregory LeNoir Allman (December 8, 1947 – May 27, 2017) was an American musician, singer and songwriter. He was known for performing in the Allman Brothers Band. Allman grew up with an interest in rhythm and blues music, and the Allman Br ...

released a version of the song as a single in 1988 which reached #17 on the U.S. rock chart. It was featured on his album '' Just Before the Bullets Fly''.

Other versions

Hank Ballard Hank Ballard (born John Henry Kendricks; November 18, 1927 – March 2, 2003) was an American singer and songwriter, the lead vocalist of The Midnighters and one of the first rock and roll artists to emerge in the early 1950s. He played an int ...

released a version of the song on his 1968 album ''You Can't Keep a Good Man Down''. *

Eddie Floyd Edward Lee Floyd (born June 25, 1937) is an American R&B and soul singer and songwriter, best known for his work on the Stax record label in the 1960s and 1970s, including the No. 1 R&B hit song " Knock on Wood". Biography Floyd was born in ...

released a version of the song on his 1968 album ''I've Never Found a Girl''. * Don Bryant released a version of the song on his 1969 album ''Precious Soul''. *

Tyrone Davis Tyrone Davis (born Tyrone D. Fettson or Tyrone D. Branch, October 3, 1937 – February 9, 2005) was an American blues and soul singer with a long list of hit records over more than 20 years. Davis had three number 1 hits on the ''Billboard'' ...

released a version of the song on his 1969 album ''Can I Change My Mind''. *

Barbara Lewis Barbara Ann Lewis (born February 9, 1943) is an American singer and songwriter whose smooth style influenced rhythm and blues. Career Lewis was born in Salem, Michigan, United States. She was writing and recording by her teens with record ...

released a version of the song on her 1970 album ''The Many Grooves of Barbara Lewis''. * O. B. McLinton remade "Slip Away" for his 1972 album release ''O. B. McClinton Country''. * Travis Wammack remade "Slip Away" for his 1972 self-title album: the B-side to the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 single "Whatever Turns You On" (#95), the track was - like the Clarence Carter original - produced by Rick Hall at FAME Studios. *

Narvel Felts Albert Narvel Felts (born November 11, 1938) is an American country music and rockabilly singer. Known for his soaring tenor and high falsetto, Felts enjoyed his greatest success during the 1970s, most famously 1975's " Reconsider Me". Career ...

released a version of the song on his 1975 album ''Narvel Felts''. *

Juice Newton & Silver Spur ''Juice Newton & Silver Spur'' is the eponymous debut studio album by country-rock trio Juice Newton & Silver Spur. The album contains Newton's first charting single, "Love Is a Word", and the original version of " The Sweetest Thing (I've Ever Kn ...

released a version of the song on their 1976 album ''

After the Dust Settles ''After the Dust Settles'' is the second studio album by Juice Newton & Silver Spur was released by RCA Records in 1976. "If I Ever" was the album's debut and only single. Track listing Personnel *Juice Newton – vocals, acoustic guitar *Ot ...

''. * Billy Price and The Keystone Rhythm Band released a version of the song on their 1979 album ''Is It Over?'' *

Dee Clark Dee Clark (November 7, 1938 – December 7, 1990) was an American soul singer best known for a string of R&B and pop hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including the song "Raindrops", which became a million-seller in the United States in 1 ...

remade "Slip Away" for his 1982 album ''Hey Little Girl''. * Cassell Webb released a version of the song on her 1989 album ''Songs of a Stranger''. *

Dobie Gray Dobie Gray (born Lawrence Darrow Brown; July 26, 1940 – December 6, 2011) was an American singer and songwriter whose musical career spanned soul music, soul, country music, country, pop music, pop, and Musical theatre, musical theater. Hi ...

remade "Slip Away" for his 1997 album release ''Diamond Cuts''. *

Slim Smith Slim Smith (born Keith Smith; 1948 in Kingston, Jamaica – 1972) was a ska, rocksteady and reggae singer. In their book ''Reggae: The Rough Guide'' (1997), Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton described Smith as "the greatest vocalist to emerg ...

released a version of the song on his 2000 compilation album ''A Unique Technique - Classic Rocksteady and Reggae 1968-72''. * Carla Olson & The Textones released a version of the song on their 2008 compilation album ''Detroit '85 Live & Unreleased''. * Armand Schaubroeck Steals released a version of the song on their 2014 album ''God Made the Blues to Kill Me!''

In popular culture

*The song was featured on the soundtrack for the 1991 film '' The Commitments''. *Carter's version was featured on the soundtrack of the 2000 film ''

Wonder Boys ''Wonder Boys'' is a 1995 novel by the American writer Michael Chabon. It was adapted into a film with the same title in 2000. Plot summary Pittsburgh professor and author Grady Tripp is working on an unwieldy 2,611-page manuscript that is mea ...

''. *Carter's version was featured on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

of the 2000 film ''

Almost Famous ''Almost Famous'' is a 2000 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Cameron Crowe, and starring Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Kate Hudson, and Patrick Fugit. It tells the story of a teenage journalist writing for '' Rolling St ...

''. *Carter's version was featured in the 2006 ''Cold Case'' episode " Forever Blue". *Carter’s version was featured in the fifth episode of season two of the British TV series ''

Sex Education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, sexual activity, sexual reproduct ...

'' (2020). *Carter's version was featured in the 2021 film ''

Licorice Pizza ''Licorice Pizza'' is a 2021 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. It stars Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman in their film debuts, alongside an ensemble supporting cast including Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Bradley ...

''.

References

1968 songs 1968 singles 1979 singles 1988 singles Gregg Allman songs Hank Ballard songs Eddie Floyd songs Barbara Lewis songs Narvel Felts songs Juice Newton songs Song recordings produced by Willie Mitchell (musician) Song recordings produced by Craig Leon Atlantic Records singles RCA Records singles Clarence Carter songs {{1960s-song-stub