Wishing You Love, Peace, and Soul

May 4, 2017 12:17 PM

"At any African-American gathering, it was like it was official, you had to close it out; there was a prayer, then there was a Soul Train line. You gotta give it up to Jesus, and then Don Cornelius." -Cedric The Entertainer

Soul Train; The Hippest Trip In America
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey (21 comments total)

Oh, I love Soul Train! Thanks for posting this. It has really helped my day. Wish there could be a show like it now.
posted by S'Tella Fabula at 1:26 PM on May 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

I agree that watching that was an hour well spent on this otherwise pretty dark day. Thanks for sharing it.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 1:31 PM on May 4, 2017

Oh my God! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
posted by kaymac at 2:10 PM on May 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

My memory recalls Don's signature sign off as "Peace, Love, and Togetherness." Did he periodically change his sign offs or am I simply remembering it incorrectly?
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 2:29 PM on May 4, 2017

Looking forward to watching this--thanks!

May I add: Every Appearance James Brown Ever Made On Soul Train. So Nice, So Nice!
posted by MonkeyToes at 2:35 PM on May 4, 2017

I have this vague memory of a white author -- for some reason I'm thinking Art Spiegelman? -- telling a story about how his crazy father would watch Soul Train obsessively because he thought at any moment Don Cornelius would give a secret signal for black people to instigate race riots.

Anyone remember who that was?
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 3:02 PM on May 4, 2017 [3 favorites]

Here's my opportunity to describe my brush with Don Cornelius greatness! Maybe 15 or 16 years ago, when I was an associate at a large Chicago law firm, I was called down to the office of one of the name partners to talk with him about one of his client's deals. Totally unrelated to that, just as I walked into the partner's office, his client Don Cornelius called him. I of course sat in quiet thrall while they spoke on speaker phone for about five minutes. What a voice! He was mesmerizing, just talking about residuals or whatever.
posted by JimInLoganSquare at 3:43 PM on May 4, 2017 [5 favorites]

Here's a youtube channel where funky jams are paired with soul train vids. ☮️
posted by nikoniko at 3:44 PM on May 4, 2017

Here's a youtube channel where funky jams are paired with soul train vids

I'm still trying to figure out whether this actually happened, or somebody mashed it together after the fact. Either, it's funky ELO
posted by philip-random at 3:48 PM on May 4, 2017

This looks great, I was only able to watch the first couple of minutes (still working) and was getting excited about watching it when I get home. Then I got to, "We're living in a time right now where we have an African American President of the United States of America." Que the sadness, I don't think that will stop stinging any time soon. Don Cornelius. Don Francisco. Those are the Dons for the people! Can't wait to watch the whole thing.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 3:55 PM on May 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

InsertNiftyNameHere: as I recall, Sammy Davis, Jr. used to say "peace, love and togetherness" signing off appearances.
posted by zorseshoes at 5:49 PM on May 4, 2017

"I was never the worst dancer..."
posted by ovvl at 6:21 PM on May 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

Lord, I loved Soul Train.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:42 PM on May 4, 2017 [2 favorites]

There's just something so joyful and welcoming about that everybody-take-a-turn-to-do-some-moves format.
posted by straight at 8:41 PM on May 4, 2017 [1 favorite]

I said something similar in Don Cornelius's obit thread but Soul Train on syndicated cable on WGN gave me a window into a world that my all-white small-town, didn't-have-MTV never could have; it wasn't my world, and honestly it never would or could be, but it was somewhere else that seemed pretty fucking awesome.

Also here's the full Frederick Douglass Afro Sheen commercial that's shown, and it's glorious. [Warning: you may end up watching many minutes of Afro Sheen commercials if you follow this link.]
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:03 PM on May 4, 2017 [4 favorites]

Some more in-depth on Don and the show in this 2008 Chicago Reader article (with a lot of the original Chicago dancers showing up in the comments).
posted by progosk at 11:52 PM on May 4, 2017

Never saw it or even heard of it before today but totally fascinating! Those amazing dancers!
posted by greenhornet at 2:30 AM on May 5, 2017

damn, I loved "Soul Train". Never missed it. But it came on at such an awkward time in my area: 11:00am on Saturday. No VCRs back then so I had to make very detailed plans to watch it. One time, while I was working as a busser in a diner, I tuned the TV to ST. We found out who was and who wasn't a racist POS. Some people, including all my sibs couldn't figure out why a white kid wanted to watch a bunch of young $(&^^#^$$ on TV.
posted by james33 at 5:30 AM on May 5, 2017 [2 favorites]

Yeah, always felt like I had to watch it surreptitiously, on the down low, as it were. Made it all the more exciting to discover things like Newcleus, Jam On It, and Jam On Revenge (the wikki-wikki song). So weird to me and my frame of reference, but so great.
posted by Bron at 8:19 AM on May 5, 2017

Previously on MeFi: The One and Only Damita Jo Freeman
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 9:03 AM on May 5, 2017 [1 favorite]

as I recall, Sammy Davis, Jr. used to say "peace, love and togetherness" signing off appearances.
posted by zorseshoes at 7:49 PM on May 4

Ah, thanks very much. I've learned my memory is not to be trusted.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 6:02 PM on May 5, 2017