Separate Ways

Separate Ways may refer to:

Separate Ways (Elvis Presley song)

Separate Ways is a song written by Red West and Richard Mainegra and recorded by Elvis Presley on March 27, 1972. The song was released as a single with "Always On My Mind" as the B-side. It reached gold status in the US for sales of over half a million copies. It was listed as a double sided hit reaching #16 on Billboard magazine's Hot Country Singles chart in November 1972. In the UK Always On My Mind was the hit song and Separate Ways was the B-side.

Song information

Richard Mainegra had the following to say about the song. "It's a big understatement to say getting an Elvis cut was the highlight of my career. At the time, I was only 22 and right out of Slidell into the music business. I was very excited to be doing what I'd always wanted to do. I'd only had about three songs cut so far --- the Yellow Pages, Gary Puckett, and Pat Boone. I had stars in my eyes, but I wasn't prepared for what was about to happen.

Red West, who co-wrote the song, was one of the 'Memphis Mafia' --- Elvis' bodyguards and buddies. At the time, he was heading the publishing company I happened to stumble into a year earlier. One day I had a melody going that Red really liked, so he began writing lyrics to it. Before long, he had a look of real excitement in his eyes as if he knew we had something special going. We started leaning the story line toward Elvis' break-up with Priscilla and how it affected their daughter. He told me when it was finished Elvis was going to cut the song. I let that go in one ear and out the other. I thought, 'No way!' First of all, why would Elvis want to sing about his personal life that was already being dragged through the media every day? And, secondly, there was no way little ole 'small town, green me' was going to get a song cut by the one artist every songwriter in the world wanted to sing their song!

Separate Ways (Elvis Presley album)

Separate Ways is a compilation album by Elvis Presley from 1973. Released on the RCA Camden label exactly one month after another compilation, Burning Love and Hits from His Movies, Volume 2, Separate Ways was the second and final attempt by RCA to repackage older Elvis recordings by pairing them with a recent hit single, in this case "Separate Ways" and its flipside "Always On My Mind". The remainder of the album — which was not promoted as a compilation on the front cover — consisted of a mixture of previously released recordings from Presley film soundtracks of the 1960s, plus one song, "Old Shep", dating back to 1956. The album was reissued by Pickwick/Camden utilizing the original catalogue number CAS-2611. The only apparent difference is the cover indicates Pickwick at the bottom center front, where as the original issue indicated RCA. The contents of the re-issue are exactly the same as the original issue.

Separate Ways peaked on the Billboard chart at number 46 and the Country Album chart at number 12 on its release and has since gone on to sell over 3 million copies world-wide. It was certified gold on March 27, 1992, and platinum on January 6, 2004, by the RIAA.

Booker T. & the M.G.'s

Booker T. & the M.G.'s is an instrumental R&B/funk band that was influential in shaping the sound of Southern soul and Memphis soul. The original members of the group were Booker T. Jones (organ, piano), Steve Cropper (guitar), Lewie Steinberg (bass), and Al Jackson, Jr. (drums). In the 1960s, as members of the house band of Stax Records, they played on hundreds of recordings by artists such as Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Bill Withers, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Johnnie Taylor and Albert King. They also released instrumental records under their own name, of which the best known is the 1962 hit single "Green Onions". As originators of the unique Stax sound, the group was one of the most prolific, respected, and imitated of its era. By the mid-1960s, bands on both sides of the Atlantic were trying to sound like Booker T. & the M.G.'s.

In 1965, Steinberg was replaced by Donald "Duck" Dunn, who played with the group until his death in 2012. Al Jackson, Jr. was murdered in 1975, after which Dunn, Cropper and Jones reunited on numerous occasions using various drummers, including Willie Hall, Anton Fig, Steve Jordan and Steve Potts.

The MG's (album)

The MG's is a 1973 album recorded by the MG's for Stax Records. Both frontman Booker T. Jones and guitarist Steve Cropper were estranged from Stax by 1973. Remaining members Donald "Duck" Dunn and Al Jackson, Jr. recruited Bobby Manuel to replace Cropper and Carson Whitsett to replace Jones.

Billed as "The MG's" since Jones was not involved with the project, the group released two singles, "Sugar Cane" and "Neck Bone". The singles and the album were not commercially successful, but were critically well received. By 1975, Jones and Cropper agreed to reform the original lineup with Jackson and Dunn, but just days before their scheduled reunion, Jackson was murdered at his home in Memphis, Tennessee.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Donald "Duck" Dunn, Al Jackson, Jr., Bobby Manuel, Carson Whitsett; except where indicated