The Staple Singers, Touch a Hand (Make a Friend) | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 165th edition of Throwback Vibez (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Touch a Hand (Make a Friend)” by The Staple Singers.  

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 165th edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2024), we recollect and reflect on “Touch a Hand (Make a Friend)” performed by The Staple Singers.

Question: “Can you feel it in your bones?” That’s what the legendary Mavis Staples and The Staple Singers sing on “Touch a Hand (Make a Friend)”. She continues, “Oh, a change is comin’ on / From every walk of life / People are seeing the light.” Amen 🙏! “Touch a Hand (Make a Friend)” is the fourth track from the Chicago soul/gospel collective’s 1973 album, Be What You Are. “Touch a Hand (Make a Friend)” gave the Rock and Roll / Gospel Music Hall of Famers another top 40 hit, peaking at no. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100. The groovy classic was written by Homer Banks, Raymond Jackson, and Carl Hampton.  Al Bell produced.

“Can’t you feel it in your heart now? / A new thing is taking shape / Reach out, touch a hand / Yo, make a friend if you can.” Ooh wee! The musical accompaniment is everything when it comes to “Touch a Hand (Make a Friend).” It is lushly arranged featuring sophisticated orchestral touches (winds and strings). As expected, the rhythm section is tight – ‘in the pocket.’ Do you know what else is ‘everything?’ The vocals!  Mavis Staples sounds top-notch on lead.  Meanwhile, the harmonized background vocals by The Staple Singers are elite.  “Touch” thrives thanks to tuneful melodies, particularly the feel-good, uplifting chorus:

“Reach out, touch a hand
Make a friend if you can
Reach out, touch a hand
Make a friend if you can.”

The songwriting is thoughtful and positive – it’s all good vibes with “Touch a Hand (Make a Friend).” “Every day folk are waking up / To the need for one another / We’re on our way / Making the world a better place.”  Sadly, more than 50 years after the release of the awesome “Touch a Hand (Make a Friend)”, we still have a long, long way to go.  We need to heed the words of this classic more than ever!

The Staple Singers // Be What You Are // Stax / Fantasy, Inc. // 1973

The Staple Singers, Touch a Hand (Make a Friend): Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 165 (2024) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Stax / Fantasy, Inc.; OpenClipart-Vectors, Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Speedy McVroom from Pixabay]