Strawberry Letter 23
| "Strawberry Letter 23" | |
|---|---|
Song by Shuggie Otis | |
| from the album Freedom Flight | |
| Released | 1971 |
| Label | Epic |
| Songwriter(s) | Shuggie Otis |
| "Strawberry Letter 23" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
Single by the Brothers Johnson | ||||
| from the album Right on Time | ||||
| B-side | "Dancin' and Prancin'" | |||
| Released | July 12, 1977 | |||
| Format | 7", 12" | |||
| Length | 3:39 (single edit) 4:59 (album version) 5:04 (12" single version) | |||
| Label | A&M | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Shuggie Otis | |||
| Producer(s) | Quincy Jones | |||
the Brothers Johnson singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Strawberry Letter 23" is a 1971 song written and composed by Shuggie Otis from his album Freedom Flight. It is best known by the 1977 cover version recorded by the Brothers Johnson and produced by Quincy Jones.
Contents
1 History
2 Chart performance
2.1 Weekly charts
2.2 Year-end charts
3 Legacy
3.1 Soundtrack appearances
3.2 Sampling
3.3 Interpolations
4 Tevin Campbell version
4.1 Track Listings
4.2 Chart positions
5 Other covers
6 References
History
George Johnson, of the Brothers Johnson, was dating one of Otis's cousins when he came across the 1971 album Freedom Flight. The group recorded "Strawberry Letter 23" for their 1977 album Right on Time, which was produced by Quincy Jones, and the album went platinum. Their rendition hit the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number five and reached number one on the Soul Singles chart in 1977.[1] Studio guitar player Lee Ritenour recreated Otis's original guitar solo for the Brothers Johnson cover. The 12" single was pressed on red strawberry-scented vinyl. The 7" single was originally released in a strawberry-scented sleeve. The song's chorus says "Strawberry Letter 22" instead of the titular song mentioned above. This is because the premise of the song is that a couple are exchanging love letters in musical form. The singer is creating "Strawberry Letter 23", as a reply to the song he has received from his lover, and he refers to her previous message as "Strawberry Letter 22" throughout, when replying.
Chart performance
|
| Chart (1977-78) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia KMR [2] | 25 |
| Canada RPM | 8 |
| New Zealand [3] | 3 |
| UK | 35 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [4] | 5 |
| U.S. Billboard R&B | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary[5] | 38 |
| U.S. Cash Box Top 100 | 8 |
Year-end charts
| Chart (1977) | Rank |
|---|---|
| Canada [6] | 85 |
| New Zealand [7] | 47 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [8] | 54 |
| U.S. Cash Box | 64 |
Legacy
Pitchfork chose the Brothers Johnson version as the 134th best song of the 1970s.[9]
Soundtrack appearances
- The song is heard very briefly in the Quentin Tarantino film Pulp Fiction as Jules and Vincent walk down the hallway of an apartment building.
- The song is played at length in the Quentin Tarantino film Jackie Brown and is featured on the movie soundtrack album.
- The song can also be heard in the TV series Six Feet Under, Season 5, Episode 9.
- The song is featured in Nip/Tuck, Season 3, Episode #2.
- The song was used in a commercial for Kellogg's Special K Red Berries cereal.
- A version of this song, by Yuna, was used in an H&M department store commercial.
- The Shuggie Otis version can be heard on the film Munich.
Sampling
The track, specifically its main melody, has been used many times in music sampling.
Silk's "Baby It's You," from their 1992 debut album Lose Control, sampled the song's backing track.
DJ Quik uses a sample from the Brothers Johnson version in his song "Safe & Sound" off the same title track album in 1995.- The St. Lunatics also sampled this song heavily on their first independently released 1996 single "Gimme What U Got."
- The song is sampled in Messy Marv's & Mitchy Slick's track On The One featuring Yukmouth off their 2007 album Messy Slick.
- It was sampled in 2012 by singer Xavier Naidoo and rapper Kool Savas for the track "X.A.V.A.S".
Negativland also sampled it in "White Rabbit and a Dog Named Gidget" from their album Helter Stupid.
- In Girl Talk's "Oh No" for the album All Day.
- The guitar solo is sampled in Justice's track called "Canon" from 2012.
Das EFX sampled the song in their song "Whut Goes Around."- The song is mentioned in the lyrics of "St. Exquisite's Confessions" by Of Montreal on the album Skeletal Lamping.
- The song is mentioned in the lyrics of "Too Many Rappers," by Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys.
- The melody is sampled in the opening of the track "Loving You" by Paul Hardcastle's group First Light (band).
Interpolations
Parts of the song, especially the distinctive, rhythmic melody of the song's verse, have also been imitated or interpolated in other songs:
- The Color Me Badd #1 R&B hit "I Wanna Sex You Up" (1992)
- The OutKast hit "Ms. Jackson" (2001)
- The Westside Connection song "Gangsta Nation" (2003)
- The Beyoncé song "Be With You," from the album Dangerously in Love (2003)
- The Justin Timberlake song "Señorita" (2003)
- The Coheed and Cambria song "The Running Free," from the album Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow (2007)
- The Julian Perretta single "Wonder Why" (2010)
- The Pretty Lights song "Rainbows and Waterfalls" (2017)
Tevin Campbell version
| "Strawberry Letter 23" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
Single by Tevin Campbell | ||||
| from the album T.E.V.I.N. | ||||
| Released | May 14, 1992 | |||
| Format | CD single, Cassette single | |||
| Recorded | 1991 | |||
| Genre | R&B, new jack swing | |||
| Length | 4:07 | |||
| Label | Qwest/Warner Bros. | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Shuggie Otis | |||
| Producer(s) | Quincy Jones | |||
Tevin Campbell singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Strawberry Letter 23" is the fifth single from R&B singer Tevin Campbell's debut studio album T.E.V.I.N.. It peaked at #53 on the Hot 100 and #40 on the R&B charts.[10] The Tevin Campbell version is more up-tempo, with a new jack swing beat, and includes a rap that mentions "the letter 23."
Track Listings
US Promo CD
- Strawberry Letter 23 (Album Edit w/o Rap) 3:48
- Strawberry Letter 23 (Album Version) 4:07
- Strawberry Letter 23 (Single Remix w/Rap) 4:15
- Strawberry Letter 23 (Single Remix w/o Rap) 3:35
US Maxi-CD
- Strawberry Letter 23 (QDIII Mix Without Rap) 3:45
- Strawberry Letter 23 (QDIII Mix With Rap) 4:12
- Strawberry Letter 23 (QDIII Fat Choice Mix) 4:48
- Strawberry Letter 23 (Album Edit Without Rap) 3:24
- Strawberry Letter 23 (Soul Mix With Rap) 4:15
- Strawberry Letter 23 (T.C.'s Choice) 4:04
- Strawberry Letter 23 (Soul Mix Without Rap) 3:35
- Strawberry Letter 23 (Club Mix) 6:28
- Strawberry Letter 23 (Club Dub) 5:58
- Strawberry Letter 23 (Naughty Beats) 4:42
Chart positions
| Chart (1992) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot R&B Singles | 40 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 53 |
Other covers
- An instrumental version was done by Phil Upchurch around the same time as the Brothers Johnson version, which is a more upbeat funky version.
- The short-lived R&B duo Kiara included a cover version of the song on its 1988 album To Change And/Or Make a Difference, which peaked at #23 on the Billboard R&B Albums chart.
Digital Underground did a hip hop version in the early 1990s.- Quincy Jones, who produced the Brothers Johnson's version, covered the song himself, with singer Akon, on the album Q: Soul Bossa Nostra (2010).
- Saxophonist Jessy J covered the song on her album My One and Only One (2015).
- Malaysian singer Yuna recorded the song for a commercial for Swedish fashion retailer H&M starring Ukrainian-Canadian model Daria Werbowy that aired in March 2015.
- In June 2015, Faith No More covered a large portion of the song during an interlude during "Midlife Crisis" at the Pinkpop festival and also at Download Festival.
- On July 22, 2017, Phish covered the song during its "Baker's Dozen[11]" run of shows at Madison Square Garden[12], during the "Strawberry" themed night of that run. The song made its second appearance during the band's Fall 2018 Tour run at the Hampton Coliseum in Virginia.
References
^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 80..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg/12px-Wikisource-logo.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#33aa33;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
^ David Kent's "Australian Chart Book 1970-1992"
^ http://nztop40.co.nz/chart/singles?chart=2770
^ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 -
ISBN 0-89820-089-X
^ Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 35.
^ Bac-lac.gc.ca
^ http://nztop40.co.nz/chart/?chart=3866
^ Musicoutfitters.com
^ "The 200 Best Songs of the 1970s - Page 4 | Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 2016-09-03.
^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 99.
^ https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/18/style/phish-new-york-madison-square-garden-residency.html. Missing or empty|title=(help)
^ http://phish.net/setlists/phish-july-22-2017-madison-square-garden-new-york-ny-usa.html. Missing or empty|title=(help)
