You can’t always measure a song’s impact by chart positron and record sales. Many unforgettable songs have a life and impact far beyond their moment in the Top 40. Thats certainly the case with Arthur Alexander’s influential R&B classic “You Better Move On.”
Alexander was 18 and working as a hotel belIhop when he fell in with a crowd of young, ambitious white musicians in the Muscle Shoals area of North Alabama around 1958.
The group included Rick Hall, David Briggs, Norbert Putnam, Donnie Fritts, Spooner Oldham and Dan Penn—all of whom would go on to make major marks in R&B and pop as producers, songwriters and musicians. But in 1958, they were strictly unknown wannabes.
Arthur Alexander proved to be the catalyst that galvanized them and launched the Muscle Shoals scene. He didn’t meet most people’s idea of a star at the time. He was tall, built like an athlete, and shy. Although he was black, he liked country music just as much as R&B. He sang and wrote songs but didn’t play an instrument. Nonetheless, Alexander had an undeniable talent that drew the young white musicians to him.
“A lot of people ask me,” Alexander told writer/musician Ben Sandmel years later, “’How can you write these beautiful songs when you don’t play an instrument?’ They really find itsur-prising. All I can teil them is that it’s a gift; it is a gift from God.
I hear a melody and lyrics in my head, and once they get in there, they just won’t go away.” ‘.
In the summer of 1961, Alexander was haunted by the idea for a new song. The inspiration was his wife, Ann, and the rivairy that Arthur had had with another man in trying to win her love. A moody declaration of true love and undying determination, “You Better Move On” had a special feel that was betweeri sunshine and shadow, between R&B and country. He would pour that special country-soul feel into many of his best songs.
Aspiring record producer Rick Hall immediately recognized the song’s potential but getting it on tape took some time. First, Muscle Shoals tobacco warehouse was cc verted into a serviceable studio, with burlap and egg cartons used to deaden the room.
Then Hall put Alexander and the locaf musians through take after take for weeks until he was satisfied that they had caught the song’s magie. In October 1961, it was fin-ished, along with an upbeat dance tune, “A Shot of Rhythm and Blues,” for the B-side.
Released in late 1961 on the Dot label, the record eventual-ly peaked at No. 24 on the pop charts—an unbelievable break-through for the Muscle Shoals crowd and the start of the buzz for their musical prowess. Though Hall had only a small royalty percentage in the record, it sold well enough to earn him $10,000, with which he built a proper studio in Muscle Shoals where classic hits by Aretha Frank!in, Wiison Pickett, Percy Siedge and many others would soon be recorded.
As for Alexander, he placed two more hits on the pop charts that year—“Anna (Go to Him)” (No. 68), which he wrote, and “Where Have You Been All My Life” (Nó, 58), Although they didn’t burn up the charts, when released in England, his records quickly became cult favorites—especjally with British Invasion artists. The Beatles included several of his songs in their early set lists and recorded “Anna” on their first LP. The Rolling Stones | recorded “You Better Move On for their 1965 album Decembér’s Children, spreading | the song to an enormous worldwide audience.
Although he continued to write and | record excellent country-soul nuggets for several labels, Alexander’s career ground to a halt in the ‘70s because of bad management and promotion. For 15 years, he dropped out of music altogether—an unjust development for an artist whose songs were recorded not only by the Beatles and the Stones but also by Bob Dylan, Ike & Tina Turner and the Bee Gees. Yet in 1993, at age 52, he reemerged with a strong comeback album, Lonely Just Like Me, which deservedly brought him some of the best press of his career. Sadly, he died of sudden heart and kid-ney failure less than three months after the album’s release. Still, his reputation is assured; nothing can erase the indelible stamp he left with enduring songs like “Anna,” “Every Day I Have to Cry” and “You Better Move On.”
