I remember watching “Soul Train” when I was a little kid. I didn’t know anything about race or anything like that, but I noticed that everyone on the show was having a good time in a way that other people on tv weren’t.
In my fourth-through-sixth multi-age class, there was exactly one African-American (he was the only non-white kid of any kind, in fact) out of about 60 kids. One day in gym class when we were running in circles around the gym, he apparently hauled off and punched another kid in the face. I almost can’t even imagine him doing it, he was very even-tempered. Our gym teacher sat us down and told us that the other kid had said “Soul Train, Joe” to him and that’s why he’d thrown the punch, so the teacher was giving both of them some mild form of detention. I don’t remember what else the gym teacher said, but it was something surprisingly thoughtful about not acting like assholes and also not hitting other people when they acted like assholes.
Anyway, those are some of my main memories of “Soul Train”. Don Cornelius died today. These are my all-time favorite clips from the show.
Share your favorite clips and whatever else in the thread.
Update. I remember watching this one too.
lamh35
Doug J, I don’t know if ur married or single, straight or gay, but we might just as well get married right now….LOL!
Like i said in the previous thread, it almost like family has died. Every Saturday morning in the NOLA, we watched the local Popeye’s children’s show and then right afterwards Soul Train!
2 things at every Black wedding/reception…a preacher and a Soul Train line!
Stevie Wonder – Soul Train
jeff
I always knew it was a weekend wasted when American Bandstand came on. When Soul Train started, I settled in and learned a bit. I hated the 80s, but god bless Don Cornelius. (I always thought “Don” was a title or honorific.)
DougJarvus Green-Ellis
@lamh35:
What was the Popeye’s children show like?
Popeye’s is about the coolest fast food chain, the chicken is actually good.
lamh35
I can honestly tell u that the first time I ever heard or saw Elton John or David Bowie was on Soul Train. To this day “Bennie and the Jets” is my fav Elton John song. And “Fame” is one of my fav Bowie songs too.
JordanRules
Soul Train was such a common part of the black American experience that there is some familial finality with his death even though the show ended a while ago because he WAS Soul Train.
The documentary on the show is good; it was fascinating what he was able to build, the accomplishments and his strategy behind them..
Rest in Power Mr. Cornelius
People all over the world…
lamh35
@DougJarvus Green-Ellis:
It was sponsered by Al Copeland Popeyes is a NOLA original. When I watched it, there was the local host named Sally Ann Roberts (her sister is Robin Roberts and she’s still hosting local news) with a studio of children and they talk to the children and ask them what school they went to and they showed local acts and then showed Popeye’s cartoons and other cartoons and then at the end all the kids would get a chicken box…lol, basically a 2 piece and a biscuit…!
Hear it is. It was called Popeye’s and Pals.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dldJhFCMBUA
General Stuck
I do remember sometimes watching Soul Train, but in those years my motor was set on go about all the time, and I didn’t sit still much for teevee watching.
Southern Beale
God, my sister and I LOVED that show, two white kids in the Jersey suburbs what can I say. It was appointment television for us. We’d run around the house going “Sooooooooooul train!” like how they did it on the show. We loved the dancing and the clothes people wore. So much better than Bandstand.
Those were the days.
WyldPirate
Grew up watching Soul Train every Saturday, too. Great music and loved the sound of the “Soulllll Trainnnnn!” with the animation of the train grinding to a halt.
RIP Mr. Corneilius. Think I’ll crank up some Spinners and Four Tops and raise a glass in your honor….
lamh35
The other thing about Soul Train is that many of the most iconic dances of our times have roots in Soul Train.
Michael Jackson first saw the moonwalk on Soul Train and actually got the dancers to actually teach him the dance and the rest as they say was history.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvtdUpodfiw
scav
and if I can sneak in an additional, if very probably less shared sorrow, RIP Wislawa Szymborska. Poetry I actually got.
ETA: Although I found my way in through nonrequired reading as how could one resist such a title?
lamh35
The best way I can describe it is in the words of Cedric the Entertainer.
“Any African American gathering, it was official you had to close it out with a prayer and a Soul Train line. You gotta give it up to Jesus, and then Don Cornelius.”
Seriously. I could go on and on…lol
DougJarvus Green-Ellis
@lamh35:
Great quote!
Schlemizel
I’m a bit older, I remember when American Bandstand was the source of all teen pop culture. By the the time Soul Tran came along I was past wanting to learn the new steps. But I watched it a few times & recognized that it was exactly the same touchstone and classroom as AB. I could easily see it as even more important icon in the AA community which had traditionally been denied that sort of outlet and outreach. Sad that whatever life brought to him Mr. C couldn’t take it any more.
gogol's wife
Love, peace, and soul. RIP Don Cornelius.
JordanRules
@lamh35: Yessss!! Love it.
Omnes Omnibus
Not the best video, but this news dropped a bomb on me.
My apologies for the terrible joke. RIP Don Cornelius.
Comrade Mary
RIP Mr. Cornelius.
And — wow. I had forgotten people actually sang live on Soul Train, unlike so many other shows. And once upon a time, a five minute song could be a top 40 hit.
Ogliberal
Sooooooulllll train was tne bookend to Saturday morning cartoons (when they actually had them and whose lineup i eagerly anticipatwd in the TV Guide Fall Preview). It was never a black show to me – just one of a collection of shows – Solid Gold, Bandstand, etc – that gave me access to artists pre-mtv. Expected Don to live forever – like Dick Clark appears to be doing even with a stroke in the mix – and not go like this. Recent health/ family issues.
lamh35
@Omnes Omnibus: And Charlie Wilson is STILL churning out R&B hits!
JGabriel
Shouldn’t be forgetting the first popular rap song: Sugar Hill Gang on Soul Train — Rapper’s Delight.
Edited to Add: For the purists, here’s the the original 15 minute version with lyrics.
.
gbear
I find it just unbearably sad that someone would take their own life at 75 years old. What a shame.
Raven
@lamh35: John Lennon sang on the studio version.
AA+ Bonds
http://gawker.com/5881303/video-evidence-that-james-okeefe-was-a-theater-geek-in-high-school-complete-with-jazz-hands
Omnes Omnibus
Line Dance and the O’Jays.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
RIP
Fwiffo
I was pretty young. It came on after Saturday morning cartoons, and had that unforgettable animated intro with the train, but then it was a bunch of grown-ups dancing, which wasn’t animated, so I would abandon the TV for my Hot Wheels or whatever.
Polar Bear Squares
Don Cornelius used to pick which dancers and monitor their clothing and dance style. He wanted them to have fun but he didn’t want them to be too sexual in their movements. He wanted to portray a nice wholesome image. That’s the reason he wasn’t a big fan of hip-hop. He didn’t get it. He wanted America to see young black people could get together, have fun, dance, party and nothing bad would happen. He was onna mission to make sure people knew we were normal.
I dug that.
sloan
I love this song, and the Soul Train clip of Tower Of Power So Very Hard To Go is one of my faves.
burnspbesq
When you try to list people outside the formal boundaries of the civil rights movement who had the biggest positive impact on the cause of understanding and tolerance, Don Cornelius pretty much has to be at the top of the list.
There are others who made big contributions. For example, when Dean Smith sent Charlie Scott out on the floor for the first time in a Tarheel uniform, segregation in North Carolina was dead (although it took a while to stop breathing).
But Don Cornelius was everywhere, every Saturday.
I wish Don’s family and friends nothing but peace, love, and soul.
Roxie
Can’t get much better than the Queen of Soul
gene108
@Fwiffo:
I did that until I hit puberty.
Then I started to notice the good looking ladies that were dancing and started paying attention.
AA+ Bonds
Soul Train started with a cartoon which confused me as a young child because it came on after a block of cartoons
AA+ Bonds
And that’s my story about Soul Train
Roxie
I’m sorry for posting twice but I had to share this great jam by Sly and the Family Stone.. FunkOn!
Gus
@Polar Bear Squares: Interesting. As a horny teenager I used to watch Soul Train mostly to watch the women dance. If that was toned down, I would have loved to see sexed up. Cornelius seemed like the coolest guy ever. Very sad that he felt compelled to go our that way after a productive life.
AA+ Bonds
This must be why I can’t really remember ever actually watching the show for more than a couple minutes
The 1990s were another country
WyldPirate
@gbear:
It is sad, but sometimes folks just get tired of living.
AA+ Bonds
I guess you had to be there…… and sometime before 1991 or so
MariedeGournay
@AA+ Bonds: God and I thought I was the only one confused by that. Still, first exposure to Stevie Wonder isn’t bad either.
AA+ Bonds
I am pretty stunned at the censorship of posts containing right-to-die information on this blog.
M. Krebs
You can bet your last money;
it’s all gonna be a stone gas, honey.
Vixen Strangely
I remember Soul Train when I was a kid meant there weren’t any more cartoons on Saturday morning so you should go outside and play–although my older cousins taught me the Bump and the Hustle while watching Soul Train, so that was pretty cool. I also thought ST had better music than American Bandstand. Knowing I watched both as a kid makes me feel kind old, now.
Libby
RIP. I loved Soul Train. Much cooler than American Bandstand. Watched it every week as a kid. Just recently discovered one of the weird stations I get on my TV has reruns in the middle of the night. So I’ve been watching it again. It still holds up.
DougJarvus Green-Ellis
@Libby:
I would expect that it still holds up. That sounds like great late night tv.
Mnemosyne
@gbear:
The stories coming out are that he had some pretty serious health problems, so unfortunately this news isn’t a surprise. Sometimes people decide they’d rather choose their own end than die helpless in a hospital bed.
srv
The Soul Train intro is ingrained into my psyche like nothing else.
PEACE Don!
srv
14 minutes of Soultrain line dancing Supermagical mega funkity funk.
Steeplejack
Classic Soul Train from the Steep collection: the O’Jays, “Back Stabbers.”
Bonus: this clip contains the iconic “Soul Train” yell at the very end. Solid.
opie jeanne
This wasn’t the only artist we lost today.
Mike Kelley (another suicide) age 57, artist and musician, Destroy All Monsters
Angelo Dundee, age 90, Muhammed Ali’s trainer.
Dorothea Tanning, age 101, surrealist painter.
and I’m probably forgetting someone. It’s been a rough day for a lot of my artist friends.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
My school was a bit more diverse than yours, Doug. I always switched back and forth depending on whether a featured song was one that I recognized. Then Jeff V. moved into the neighborhood. Watching Soul Train from 1 to 2 on Saturday with Jeff and his two older brothers became de rigeur.
Love, peace and SOUL, Don.
Noam Sane
That show was a big part of my growing-up years, even more so than AB. Not sure why, it was just cooler.
May he rest in peace…but Don Cornelius was possibly the worst interviewer ever shown on TV.
dance around in your bones
Wow, this was a blast from the past. I watched every video and linked video and it just sent me on a nostalgia trip. I remember that brief shining moment when it seemed like all the constrictions and repressions of the 50’s were going to be blown out of the water….and EVERYBODY had LOTS of HAIR! Big Afros, long hair on men and women, everything loose and free.
The bellbottoms, the embroidered peasant blouses, the make-it-yourself-fashion, any damn thing you wanted to do.
The music, OH the music!
I’m glad I actually lived through the 60’s and 70’s. After all the assassinations and riots and police crackdowns on demonstrations and fucking Reagan….FUCKING REAGAN! it all went to hell.
Damn good music, now you kids get off my lawn.
And RIP Don Cornelius. I’m sorry you got so tired of life that you took your own exit, but I guess it was your life to take, so…..requiescat in pace. You gave a lot to make people happy and have fun.