Eddie Floyd and the Stax Sound
If you’re a guitarist interested in classic soul, Eddie Floyd is impossible to ignore.
He may be best known for one enormous hit, but Knock On Wood sits right at the heart of the Stax sound — and behind it is a great story involving Eddie Floyd, guitarist Steve Cropper, and one very productive songwriting partnership.
Eddie’s route to Stax began years earlier with the vocal group The Falcons.
The group had some success with songs including You’re So Fine and I Found A Love, and Eddie recruited a young Wilson Pickett into the group. That turned out to be a pretty good decision.
Wilson Pickett would go on to become one of soul’s biggest stars, but when he eventually left The Falcons, Eddie moved in a different direction.
Rather than simply trying to recreate the group’s earlier success, he began concentrating on songwriting. And that brought him to Stax Records.
Eddie Floyd and Steve Cropper
At Stax, Eddie found himself surrounded by some extraordinary musicians and songwriters. The label’s house band, Booker T. & The M.G.’s, provided the musical foundation for countless classic records, with Steve Cropper on guitar.
Eddie and Cropper began writing together. This was quite an environment to be working in.
Otis Redding, Albert King, Sam & Dave, Isaac Hayes and Eddie’s old Falcons colleague Wilson Pickett were all part of the wider Stax musical world.
If you were trying to write a great soul song, you could hardly find a better place to be. Then came the thunderstorm.
Knock On Wood
According to the story, Eddie Floyd and Steve Cropper were writing Knock On Wood during a thunderstorm. The weather helped inspire the song’s famous imagery:
“It’s like thunder, lightning, the way you love me is frightening.”
That’s a great example of something that happens in songwriting all the time. You start with a musical idea, something happens around you, and suddenly the two things become connected.
Knock On Wood was released by Stax in 1966 and became Eddie Floyd’s signature song. It reached number one on the US R&B chart and became a major pop hit too.
The following year, Eddie released his debut solo album, also called Knock On Wood. But what makes the song particularly interesting to a guitarist isn’t just its success. It’s the groove.
The Guitar Lesson Is in the Groove
Steve Cropper’s guitar playing with Booker T. & The M.G.’s is a masterclass in restraint. He wasn’t trying to fill every gap. The guitar works with the bass, drums, keyboards and horns, creating a rhythmic machine where every part has a job.
That’s one of the biggest lessons you can take from Knock On Wood. You don’t need a complicated guitar part to make a record sound exciting. You need timing, dynamics and feel.
When you’re playing soul music, the temptation can be to add too much. Don’t. Listen to what the drummer is doing. Listen to where the bass lands. Listen to the horns.
Then find the small rhythmic spaces where the guitar can make the whole thing move. That’s the Stax approach, and it’s exactly the kind of thing that makes these songs so useful for guitar lessons.
Everyone Wanted to Play Knock On Wood
Eddie Floyd never managed to match the enormous success of Knock On Wood with another solo single, although he continued recording and releasing music for decades.
Meanwhile, the song took on a life of its own. Otis Redding recorded a version soon after Eddie’s original. David Bowie performed it live in the 1970s, and Eric Clapton recorded his own version in the 1980s.
But then came the version that gave the song an entirely new identity.
Amii Stewart Takes it to the Disco
In 1979, Amii Stewart turned Knock On Wood into a disco anthem. Her version was a huge international success and became the biggest-selling version of the song.
It was a fascinating transformation. The original has that tight, earthy Stax groove. Stewart’s version takes the same basic song and pushes it into the Disco era with a much bigger dance floor production.
That’s one of the great things about a song that survives for decades. The composition remains the same, but the arrangement can completely change.
It’s the same reason guitarists should listen to different versions of songs rather than learning only one recording. The song is the starting point. The arrangement is where you make it your own.
Knock On Wood and the Working Band
And then there’s another version that doesn’t always get mentioned in the history books. The working-band version.
Knock On Wood is one of those tunes that has survived because musicians keep bringing it back to life. Soul bands play it. Motown bands play it. Function bands play it. Party bands play it.
And if you’ve ever played in one of those bands, you’ll know exactly what I mean.
There’s something about those opening moments when the groove kicks in and everyone on the dance floor knows the song.
That’s the real test of a great repertoire tune. It doesn’t need explaining. People recognise it. They know what to do with it. And it still works.
Eddie Floyd’s Legacy
Eddie Floyd continued recording and performing long after his biggest hit, releasing albums well into the 21st century. Down by the Sea, released in 2013, was his 17th studio album.
He also remained connected to the Stax story and the generation of musicians who helped define Southern soul.
But ultimately, one song towers above everything else. Knock On Wood has survived through Eddie Floyd’s original, countless covers, different generations and completely different musical styles.
And that’s a pretty good definition of a great song.
For guitarists, there’s another lesson here. You don’t necessarily need hundreds of complicated tunes in your repertoire. Sometimes you need the right tunes. The ones with a great groove. The ones that audiences recognise. The ones that musicians enjoy playing. And the ones that still work decades after they were recorded. Knock On Wood is all of those things.
In my opinion, though, it’s the working band playing it every weekend that’s had the biggest impact. But maybe I’m biased…
Eddie Floyd Tunes | Related Pages
Knock On Wood | Chords + TAB
You can learn how to play Knock On Wood by Eddie Floyd using chords, lyrics, chord analysis, a chord chart, TAB, and backing tracks.
| A6 | A6 | A6 | A6 |
I don’t want to lose, this good thing, that I got…
Eddie Floyd on the web
