Tramp (Lowell Fulson song)

"Tramp" is a soul blues song written by West Coast blues artists Lowell Fulson and Jimmy McCracklin. First recorded by Fulson in 1967, it is described as "a loping funk-injected workout [which restored] the guitarist to R&B stardom", by AllMusic writer Bill Dahl.[1] In the song's narrative, the singer ignores the criticism of his unsophisticated appearance:

Tramp
You can call me that
I don't wear continental clothes stetson hats ...
Call me country right from the woods
I'll answer when you call me
That is baby if it makes you feel good
But I'm just a lover ...
Loving's all I know to do

"Tramp"
Single by Lowell Fulson
from the album Tramp
B-side	"Pico"
Released	January 1967 (1967-01)
Recorded	1966
Genre	Soul blues
Length	3:04
Label	Kent
Songwriter(s)	Lowell Fulson, Jimmy McCracklin
Lowell Fulson singles chronology
"Black Nights" (1967) "Tramp" (1967) "Make a Little Love" (1967)

Despite label owner Jules Bihari's initial dislike, the song was released as a single by Kent Records in 1967. It became a hit, peaking at number five in the Billboard R&B chart.[2] The song was also Fulson's most popular single in the broader, pop-oriented Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it reached number 52.[2]

Fulson recalled Bihari's initial reaction: "Oh, he hated 'Tramp', Jules [Bihari] did."[3] However, when he previewed the song for two influential disc jockeys, the response was "Hush! Man, get me my copy, quick. You sitting on a gold mine, talking about you want to hear some blues. You better get that record out."[3] Fulson elaborated:

And they [Kent] did, they followed his [Bugs Scruggs] advice because he was a disc jockey. And so they took them some copies, and they just had a few pressed up, hadn't even thought about putting it out. But after I got with Bugs and Paw-Paw [Birmingham, Alabama, DJ], we laughed and joked and the next thing that I know that thing was making plenty of noise. And then Otis Redding jumped all over it, which I didn't mind a bit. But I said, "I wished you had given me another week." He took it right on to the pop field, you know.[3]

As one of Fulson's best-known songs, "Tramp" appears on numerous compilations, including the popular 1967 Kent album, also titled Tramp.[3] For the album cover, Fulson, who normally wore suits, posed dressed up as a railroad yard hobo:

Them kids sat up all night making them jeans, sewing rags and things on 'em. They tried to make me look as ragged as they could. I had a Dobbs hat. So I said, now, if they paying attention to my hat, they know I ain't a bum 'cause I couldn't buy this hat ... So I talked 'em out of [wearing a Moms Mabley-type] hat; I wore my hat.[3]

Otis and Carla

"Tramp"
Single by Otis Redding & Carla Thomas
from the album King & Queen
B-side	"Tell It Like It Is"
Released	1967 (1967)
Recorded	1967
Genre	Soul
Length	3:03
Label	Stax
Songwriter(s)	Lowell Fulson, Jimmy McCracklin
Producer(s)	Jim Stewart

Otis Redding recorded "Tramp" as a duet with Carla Thomas for Stax Records. The song was first included on the joint album by Redding and Thomas, King & Queen (1967). Described as "playful" by Dahl, it was released as a single only months after Fulson's. Credited to "Otis and Carla", the duo's version outsold Fulson's original[1] and peaked at number two on Billboard's R&B and number 26 on the Hot 100 charts.[2]

In Dynamic Duets: The Best Pop Collaborations from 1955 to 1999, author Bob Leszczak describes their rendition:

Otis and Carla gave "Tramp" their own stamp. They exchange quite a bit of dialogue between them in the song, with Carla putting Otis down because he doesn't wear fine clothes and is in dire need of a haircut ... She's obviously a gold digger and laments that he couldn't afford to buy her fine furs and cool cars. She repeatedly calls him a "tramp" from the Georgia woods ... Otis Redding was born, like "Tramp" says, in the Georgia woods in 1941.[4]

Leszczak points out that the Otis and Carla single peaked higher in the UK, where it reached number eighteen on the UK Singles Chart[4] (Fulson's single didn't appear in the UK charts). He also notes "the song's beat likely influenced 'You Haven't Done Nothin'' by Stevie Wonder seven years later".[4]

Sampling

• Fulson's original was sampled in the 1990 song "Rampage" by EPMD (featuring LL Cool J), the 1991 song "Let, Let Me In" by De La Soul and the 1992 song "7" by Prince.
• Salt-n-Pepa sampled the Otis and Carla rendition of the song in 1985 and kept the original title.[5]
• "The Champ", a 1968 reggae instrumental by the Mohawks based on "Tramp",[6] later went on to become one of the most sampled records in hip hop music history.

References

1. Dahl, Bill (1996). "Lowell Fulson". In Erlewine, Michael (ed.). All music guide to the blues : The experts' guide to the best blues recordings. All Music Guide to the Blues. San Francisco: Miller Freeman Books. p. 90. ISBN 0-87930-424-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)=
2. Whitburn, Joel (1988). Top R&B Singles 1942–1988. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research. pp. 161, . ISBN 0-89820-068-7.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
3. Aldin, Mary Katherine; Humphrey, Mark (2000). Obrecht, Jas (ed.). Rollin' and Tumblin': The Postwar Blues Guitarists. San Francisco: Backbeat Books. pp. 68, 71. ISBN 978-0-87930-613-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
4. Leszczak, Bob (2016). Dynamic Duets: The Best Pop Collaborations from 1955 to 1999. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 99. ISBN 978-1442271500.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
5. "VIBE'S 10 GREATEST OTIS REDDING-SAMPLED SONGS: "Tramp"--Salt-N-Pepa (1986) / "Tramp" (1967)". Vibe. July 22, 2011. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
6. Kun, Josh (March 27, 2003). "Side Tripping: Lowell Fulson's". LA Weekly. Retrieved June 22, 2017. 'Tramp' was such a near-perfect slice of barbecued funk when it was released in 1967 that Otis Redding and Carla Thomas covered it just four months later.