Otis Redding & Carla Thomas, Tramp | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 182nd edition of Throwback Vibez (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Tramp” by Otis Redding & Carla Thomas. 

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 182^nd edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Tramp” performed by Otis Redding and Carla Thomas.

“Tramp / What you call me?/ Tramp / You didn’t / You don’t wear continental clothes or Stetson hats / Well, I tell you one doggone thing / It makes me feel good to know one thing / I know I’m a lover.” What an exchange between Carla Thomas (1942 – ) and the late, great Otis Redding (1941 – 1967).  The chemistry exuded in their 1967 duet, “Tramp”, is awesome. “Tramp” is the third track from their collaborative album, King & Queen. Lowell Fulson and Jimmy McCracklin wrote “Tramp.” Originally released by Fulson in 1966, the Redding/Thomas version is a cover 🤯.  Even if this duo didn’t record it first, their rendition is sublime. Isaac Hayes (!), Booker T. & The MG’s (!), and Jim Stewart produced. A hit on the pop charts, “Tramp” peaked at no. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Throughout “Tramp,” Redding and Thomas go back and forth with one another.  Much of it is spoken word, which makes the song more distinct. Carla ‘eats him up.’ After asserting, “You straight from the Georgia woods,” she adds, “You wear overalls / And big old brogan shoes / And you need a haircut, tramp.” Oh, snap! Redding defends himself: “Woman, you foolin’, I’m a lover / Mama was, grandmama, papa too…” Despite his defense, over the funky backdrop, Thomas continues to insult him: “You haven’t even got a fat bankroll in your pocket / You problem haven’t even got twenty-five cents.” BURN! Redding retorts: “I got six Cadillacs, five Lincolns, four Fords / Six Mercuries, three T-Birds, Mustang.”  It doesn’t stop there, which is the charm of this three-minute gem.  Carla is unimpressed as that tramp Otis needs some work to win her affection! Thomas and Redding kill it on this funked-up 1960s soul joint anchored by an electrifying, irresistible groove.

Otis Redding & Carla Thomas // King & Queen // Atlantic // 1967

Otis Redding & Carla Thomas, Tramp: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 182 (2024) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Atlantic; OpenClipart-Vectors, Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Speedy McVroom from Pixabay]