Isley Brothers "That Lady" 1973

[areyoureadytojump]

Those Swifter Jet commercials feature this song.

Went to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100.

[Deleted]

Love it! Such a feel good song! It was actually a re-recording of a song they put out a decade earlier.

It also peaked at #2 on Billboard's Hot Soul Singles chart.

1973 version



1964 version

[Soulsista]

Classic.

[Deleted]

#85 on Pitchfork's 200 Best Songs of the 1970's

As they fought to stay relevant in a new decade, ’60s R&B groups updated their sounds in mostly predictable ways. They got a little funkier, cribbed moves from disco, dressed flashier, and crossed their fingers that nobody would notice their matching suits fitting tighter than they used to. The Isley Brothers, however, weren't content to merely keep with the times. Looking to pave their own path, the group underwent perhaps the most audacious reinvention of any of the major soul acts of their era. They retooled their lineup so they were no longer a vocal trio but rather a six-piece funk-rock band—hence the title of their 1973 album, 3 + 3 .

The new lineup never sounded more jolting than on lead single “That Lady.” It put the spotlight not on Ronald Isley’s velvety falsetto, but rather to freshman member Ernie Isley’s unbridled electric guitar. Fused with the track’s racing Latin rhythm, that frenzied guitar scurries from one warped, synthesized tone to the next; the effect plays like an eight-track tape that got tangled in the deck and lit on fire from all the friction. “That Lady” was a do-over for the Isleys, who'd first recorded an unassuming doo-wop version in 1964 (an eternity ago given the rate music was evolving). It’s poetic, then, that the Beastie Boys and later Kendrick Lamar both sampled the track—in a sense, it was already a remix of itself. And it’s easy to see what those younger artists heard in it. After all these decades, that guitar sounds as wild as ever. –Evan Rytlewski

[🇯🇲 lucy88 🇯🇲]

Jan 27, 2013 23:10:04 GMT -5 Soulsista said:

Classic.

Love it.

[Deleted]

An absolute classic on their discography. Probably my favorite from them.

[Sounds from the Other Side]

This song is so good. I absolutely love it.

[disman00911]

One of the Isley Brothers' best songs.  I first heard it when it was used as a commercial over a decade ago (forgot what the product was).

[🇯🇲 lucy88 🇯🇲]

#346 on Billboard's 500 Greatest Pop Songs

You Know What It Is: The Isleys’ incredulous questioning of a bewitching female, with the passion elicited properly expressible only via awestruck harmonies and liquid-funk guitar riffing.

Come Together: “That Lady” was originally recorded as the significantly less explosive “Who’s That Lady?” in 1964, before an expanded band lineup — and some inspiration from tourmate Jimi Hendrix in the decade between — inspired the Isleys to take it interstellar in the early ’70s.

The Sun Always Shines on T.V.: Children of the ’90s may still best recall “That Lady” from a Salon ad campaign, in which a well-shampooed woman fields the chorus inquiry from passing men, women, children and even dogs.