Adultery has long been a topic from which songwriters have reaped rich pickings. From Hank Williams’s “Your Cheatin’ Heart” to The Eagles’ “Lyin’ Eyes” and Rihanna’s “Unfaithful”, lyricists have seized listeners’ attention with tales of illicit affairs.
Few songs, however, have captured the guilt and emotional torture that can accompany forbidden love as well as “The Dark End of the Street”. This soul ballad hits the right notes both lyrically and musically, pairing words that paint a vivid picture of its protagonists’ conflicting emotions with an exquisite melody.
Leading soul, country, folk and rock artists have flocked to it in the half-century since it was composed in the mid-1960s by songwriters Lincoln “Chips” Moman and Dan Penn. Moman owned the American Sound Studio in Memphis, working with mainly black artists such as Bobby Womack, Joe Tex and Wilson Pickett. His star rose even higher when he produced Elvis Presley’s much hailed 1969 comeback, From Elvis in Memphis, and Willie Nelson’s unsurpassed version of “Always on My Mind”.
His songwriting partnership with Penn also provided the hit “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man” for Aretha Franklin. They wrote their other best-known song while in Nashville, after a poker session — Moman’s nickname of “Chips” came from his love of the game — at which the subject of cheating at cards arose. This inspired them to compose a “cheating love song” and, like many great songs, “The Dark End of the Street” emerged rapidly in a hotel room in about 30 minutes. The opening verse sets the scene: “At the dark end of the street, that’s where we always meet, hiding in shadows where we don’t belong, living in darkness to hide our wrong.” The lovers’ profound guilt conflicts with their irresistible passion: “It’s a sin and we know it’s wrong, oh but our love keeps coming on strong.”
The song was first recorded in 1966 by James Carr, and his luscious baritone sails sublimely over a simple accompaniment of guitar, bass, drums and piano. Other additions are occasional horn reinforcements and Penn supplying harmony vocals. The result is an absolute soul gem. It became a top-10 hit in 1967 on the Billboard black singles charts, but reached only 77 in the pop equivalent.
Percy Sledgewas among several artists to appreciate immediately the song’s quality, but his 1967 recording merely replays the original. Aretha Franklin’s1970 version, however, typically steps up the emotion. Franklin gives full vent to the song’s pain as she and her backing singers stoke its emotional flames higher, particularly in the bridge where the lovers acknowledge their fate: “They’re gonna find us, they’re gonna find us, they’re gonna find us, oh some day.”
A year earlier The Flying Burrito Brothersgave “The Dark End of the Street” a successful mid-tempo country rock treatment, with Gram Parsons taking the vocal. Fellow country artists Lee Hazlewood and Ann-Margret, however, chose to up the tempo even further and the result was a teeth-grindingly awful duet. Hazlewood growls like a dyspeptic bear while Ann-Margret chirrups away jarringly at the opposite end of the register.
Ry Cooder, a curator of many great American songs, cut an instrumental version in 1972, his slide guitar chiming delightfully with piano accompaniment. Others to follow over the ensuing years included Linda Ronstadt, Richard and Linda Thompson, Deacon Blue, The Commitments film cast, Gregg Allman, Elvis Costelloand Ruby Turner.
Even alternative rock artists could not resist it. Eelsgave a relatively straightforward rendition in 2008, but Frank Blackof The Pixies, on his solo album Honeycomb three years earlier, offered an outstanding interpretation. Black’s distinctive, reedy voice seems an unlikely match, but perhaps he was inspired by recording in the song’s Nashville “home” and the presence of a certain Dan Penn on backing vocals. Over a gently rolling arrangement, Black’s plaintive delivery goes straight to its sad, cheating heart.
Whose version of “The Dark End of the Street” is your favourite? Let us know in the comments below.
‘The Life of a Song: The fascinating stories behind 50 of the world’s best-loved songs’, edited by David Cheal and Jan Dalley, is published by Brewer’s.
Music credits: Ace Records, Atlantic Records, Rhino Atlantic, UMC (Universal Music Catalogue), Light In The Attic, Rhino/Warner Bros., Sandoz, UMC (Universal Music Catalogue), Sony Music UK, Universal-Island Records Ltd., Epic/Legacy, Virgin EMI, RTR, Polydor Associated Labels, Cooking Vinyl
Picture credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images