Songfacts®:

• This instrumental was a track from Billy Preston's sixth album, I Wrote a Simple Song, his first for A&M Records. Preston thought it had the potential to be a hit single, but A&M was less certain and issued it as the B-side of "I Wrote a Simple Song." However, the track took off after a radio DJ flipped the single over and "Outa-Space" went on to sell more than a million copies, topping the R&B chart and reaching #2 on the Hot 100 in the summer of 1972. Meanwhile, "I Wrote a Simple Song," staggered to #77 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart, proving that Preston had been right all along.
• The song won the 1972 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.
• Preston made "Outa-Space" by using a clavinet, which is a type of electro-mechanical keyboard instrument, and a wah-wah pedal. He then improvised a groove with his backing band before subsequently adding organ and hand claps. The song was called "Outa-Space" because Preston thought it had a spacey sound to it. >>>

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• This was used in several movies, including the 1973 TV movie Go Ask Alice, starring William Shatner, the 1986 teen comedy One Crazy Summer, starring John Cusack, the 1999 comedy Muppets From Space, the 2001 action-comedy Rush Hour 2, starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, and the 2013 biopic The Look of Love, starring Steve Coogan as British entrepreneur Paul Raymond.
• The Beatles thought quite highly of Billy Preston and had him play on some of their tracks, notably "Get Back." After the band split, George Harrison kept working with Preston, using him on his 1970 solo album All Things Must Pass. When Harrison embarked on his only solo tour in 1974, Preston was in his band, but a big enough star in his own right to get some of his own songs in the set, including "Outa-Space."