Legendary soul duo Sam & Dave changed the face of R&B with their 1966 masterpiece Hold On I’m Coming.
by Paul Cashmere
This year marks the 60th anniversary of one of the bedrock albums of the soul genre, Sam & Dave’s Hold On I’m Coming. Released in 1966, this debut album for the Atlantic Records distributed Stax label solidified the partnership of Samuel Moore and Dave Prater, introducing a visceral, gospel infused iteration of R&B to the mainstream charts. Recorded at the historic Stax Recording Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, the record became a monumental crossover success, setting a new benchmark for the emerging soul music genre.
The significance of Hold On I’m Coming cannot be overstated, as it represents the convergence of the most formidable talents at Stax Records. For Sam & Dave, it was the opening salvo in a legendary run of Stax years where only Aretha Franklin enjoyed more consistent R&B chart success, including 10 consecutive top 20 singles. The album reached number one on the Billboard R&B Albums chart and peaked at number 45 on the Billboard Top LPs chart, establishing the duo, later nicknamed “Double Dynamite”, as one of the era’s greatest live and recording acts.
The album’s sonic foundation rests upon the impeccable backing of Booker T. & the M.G.’s and the Mar-Key Horns, who standardise the Memphis Sound. Stax engineer and founder Jim Stewart captured these performances live in single takes, utilizing a tiled men’s restroom with a speaker and microphone to generate the unique reverb and echo utilised on Stax recordings. The writing partnership of Isaac Hayes and David Porter provided the core material, most famously the title track. According to lead guitarist Steve Cropper, the song originated when Hayes grew impatient with Porter, who was in the bathroom. Porter supposedly replied, “Hold on, I’m comin’,” and the sexual overtone was immediately recognized, with the song completed within an hour. Despite initial objections from radio stations over the suggestive title, resulting in quick re-recordings to “Hold On, I’m A-Comin'”, the original title track spent 20 weeks on the R&B charts, peaking at number one.
Historically, Hold On I’m Coming provided the roadmap for soul music’s acceptance by white pop audiences, a trend that culminated later with their massive hit “Soul Man”. This 1966 release, however, was the crucial catalogue cornerstone. It established the duality of vocals where Sam Moore took lead on the first verse, with Dave Prater providing the response role and second verse, at Hayes and Porter’s suggestion. The album’s other major single, the Hayes/Porter composition “You Don’t Know Like I Know”, also hit number seven on the R&B charts in 1966, further demonstrating the duo’s standardise appeal.
In addressing the full story of Sam & Dave, the triumphant music sits alongside a notoriously tumultuous partnership. Despite their unprecedented success, Samuel Moore, who passed away in 2025, confirmed that the duo did not speak to each other offstage for almost 13 years throughout the 1970s. During this period, they would often break up, show up separately to gigs, require separate dressing rooms, and communicate only through intermediaries. While Dave Prater, who died in a car crash in 1988, attributed the rift to Moore’s frustration with performing the same catalog, Moore cited personal issues and Prater’s drug use as contributing factors.
Six decades on, Hold On I’m Coming endures not just through these seminal recordings, but through its extensive cover history. From Aretha Franklin, Tom Jones, and Elvis Costello to Australian soul singer Guy Sebastian, who recorded a tribute version in Memphis in 2007 with original Stax musicians including Steve Cropper and Donald “Duck” Dunn, the music lives on. Sam & Dave were inductees into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, solidifying Hold On I’m Coming as one of the genre’s most influential and culturally significant albums.
Track listing
Except where otherwise noted, all tracks written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter.
Side one
“Hold On, I’m Comin'” – 2:36
“If You Got the Loving” (Steve Cropper, Hayes, Porter) – 2:33
“I Take What I Want” (Hayes, Mabon “Teenie” Hodges, Porter) – 2:33
“Ease Me” – 2:25
“I Got Everything I Need” (Cropper, Eddie Floyd, Alvertis Isbell) – 2:56
“Don’t Make It So Hard on Me” (Floyd, Willia Dean “Deanie” Parker) – 2:45
Side two
“It’s a Wonder” – 2:53
“Don’t Help Me Out” – 3:09
“Just Me” (Randall Catron, Mary Frierson, Parker) – 2:40
“You Got It Made” – 2:33
“You Don’t Know Like I Know” – 2:40
“Blame Me (Don’t Blame My Heart)” (Cropper, Isbell) – 2:22
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