I'll Take You There

Album: Be Altitude: Respect Yourself (1972)
Charted: 30 1
Play Video
  • Oh mmm
    I know a place
    Ah, ain't nobody cryin'
    Ain't nobody worried
    Ain't no smilin' faces
    Mmm, no no
    Lyin' to the races

    Help me, come on, come on
    Somebody, help me now (I'll take you there)
    Help me, y'all (I'll take you there)
    Help me now (I'll take you there)

    Oh! Mmm (I'll take you there)
    Oh! Oh! Mercy! (I'll take you there)
    Oh, let me take you there (I'll take you there)
    Oh, oh! Let me take you there! (I'll take you there)

    Play it Larry
    Play your, play your piano now, alright
    Alright, do it, do it
    Come on now
    Play on it, play on it
    Meet Daddy now, Daddy, Daddy
    Daddy, play your

    Ooh, Lord, alright now
    Baby, little lady
    Easy now, help me out
    Come on, little lady
    Alright
    Dom-dom-dom, dom-dom, dom-dom-dom
    Sock it, sock it

    Ah, oh, I know a place, y'all (I'll take you there)
    Ain't nobody cryin' (I'll take you there), no
    Ain't nobody worried (I'll take you there)

    No smilin' faces (I'll take you there)
    Uh-uh, lyin' to the races, oh, oh, no (I'll take you there)
    Oh (I'll take you there)
    Oh, oh (I'll take you there)

    Mercy now! (I'll take you there)
    I'm callin', callin', comin' for mercy (I'll take you there)
    Mercy mercy! (I'll take you there)

    Let me (I'll take you there)
    Oh oh! I'll take you there (I'll take you there)
    Oh oh, I wanna take you there (I'll take you there)
    Just take me by my hand and let me, let me (I'll take you there)
    Let me, let me, let me lead, lead the way
    Oh (I'll take you there)

    Let me take you there (I'll take you there)
    Let me take you there (I'll take you there)
    Ain't no smilin' faces (I'll take you there)

    Up in here lyin' to the races (I'll take you there)
    You oughta, you got to, got to, got to let me
    Let me (I'll take you there)
    Take you, take you, take you over there (I'll take you there)

    Oh, oh, oh, alright (I'll take you there)
    Oh, alright (I'll take you there)
    Oh, oh (I'll take you there)

    Oh, yeah (I'll take you there)
    Oh, yeah (I'll take you there)
    Let me lead the way (I'll take you there)
    Let me, let me, let me, lead the way (I'll take you there) Writer/s: Alvertis Isbell
    Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 17

  • George Kiebala from IllinoisFinally, the accurate lyrics. There are so many incorrect lyrics online for this song. Thanks for getting it right!!
  • Anonymous from UsaLiz Cherry, you live in a fantasy. Like, yeah, you are doing perfect there. Take plank out ya eye before you put down someone else. ALL politicians lie. Period. Yours too.
  • Michael from Santa Rosa, RoselandWhy no one makes this good of tunes anymore
  • Liz Cherry from South AfricaReally, Hunt! In South Africa I always see American politicians smiling and making promises that they don't live up to. Don't see politicians like that anywhere else. That's what I think it means, Hunt
  • Hunt Whitescarver from Richmond, VaWhat does “Lyin to the races” mean?
  • Mark L Chapman from North Fork, Long Island NyEddie Hinton played the guitar solo on "I'll Take You There"..
  • Valarie Thomas from Kansas City MissouriIt's been one of my favorite songs since I was a child living in Kentucky!
  • Kevin K. from St. LouisThis song was used to great effect in the film Children of a Lesser God, and is in fact how I got turned on to The Staple Singers in the first place, though it took years for me to figure out what the song was even called, and where/who it came from--remember, it was the mid- to late-80s and information wasn't so easy to come by. Well worth it though-- such a great song, and such a great group. Good movie, too.
  • Kimy from Winnetka, CaliforniaI'd like to make a correction to a portion of the lyrics posted here. After meticulously going over and over this portion of this song, I determined that where the lyrics written here of
    "Play your, play your piano now
    All right Ah do it do it
    Come on now
    Play on it, play on it
    Daddy daddy daddy
    Ooh, Lord
    All right now
    Baby, easy now
    Now, come on, little lady
    All right
    Dum-dum-dum-dum
    Sock it, sock it"

    I'm pretty sure the following are the actual lyrics:
    Play it Lar-ry..Play yore. Play yore pi-an-a, naw. Al-right! Ahl-right...Do it. Do it. Cha-mon, naw, Play on it. Play on it.
    Daddy, naw. Daddy, Daddy. Daddy! Play yore..Uhm!... Ooo! Lord! Al-right, naw.
    David...Little David. I need ya here, help me out. Come on, Little David. Al-right! Do-um, do-um, do-um, doom. Doin' sumthin' Soul!

    I love that part of the song. Mavis is really having fun with the music and the band!
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn September 9th 1972, a video of the Staples Singers performing "I'll Take You There" was aired on the ABC-TV program 'American Bandstand'...
    A month earlier on July 15th was its last day on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; it had entered the chart on April 2nd, 1972 at position #63 and on May 28th it peaked at #1 {for 1 week} and spent a total of 15 weeks on the Top 100...
    And on April 30th, 1972 it also reached #1 {for 4 weeks} on Billboard's R&B singles chart...
    At the time the video was aired on 'Bandstand' their next release, "This World", was peaking at #38 on the Top 100 chart...
    R.I.P. Roebuck 'Pops' Staples {1914 – 2000}.
  • Gary from New York, NyThe recollection that the Muscle Shoals session guys derived some inspiration for the feel of "I'll Take You There" from having heard tracks from the Wailers' "Catch A Fire" on the Traffic tour bus must be based on someone's hazy memory, for a number of reasons. First, according to the Traffic tour archive, Hood and Hawkins didn't hit the road with Winwood, Capaldi et al until January of 1972, several months after "I'll Take You There" was released. And the sessions for "Catch A Fire" didn't start until May of '72. But Jimmy Johnson bringing records Reggae records back from Jamaica is certainly plausible.
  • Oldpink from New Castle, InThey used this superb song recently in the movie "Secretariat."
    Great moment in the movie, too.
  • Camille from Toronto, OhSimply amazing. Will always put you in the right frame of mind.
  • Ron from New Harmony, UtCheck this out...listen to this song via the grooveshark link above. After the song ends, there is a man's voice saying, "In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism." I did a Google search on this phrase and found out it was then Vice President Spiro T. Agnew from a speech made in San Diego in 1970. He was referring to the media. Curious that this would be at the end of this song. I wonder why the Staples felt it should be at the end of their record. Perhaps Agnew was one of the "smiling faces lying to the races". According to Wikipedia, Agnew was governor of Maryland in 1968, the year Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. "...during the riots that followed...Agnew angered many African American leaders by lecturing them about their constituents in stating, 'I call upon you to publicly repudiate all black racists. This, so far, you have been unwilling to do' ".
  • Guy from Woodinville, WaThis got a white boy into gospel back in '72 big time! Halelujah, Mavis Staple!
  • Howard from St. Louis Park, MnWhat an uplifting song from the summer of 1972. It moved The Staple Singers from gospel to a more mainstream R & B sound. Ain't nobody worrying about that.
  • Phil from San Jose, CaThey do a version of "The Weight" with The Band on The Last Waltz that is nothing short of moving.
    This song is great but to add Pops Staples and his girls is a song (and video) that honestly brings a tear's to my eye's.
    It wasn't live but a studio track, was an assembly of talent from an era long gone! I am glad a session like this is on video for our current generations to see what real music is suppose to be like!!!
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