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"Tramp" is a soul blues song with funk elements, written by West Coast blues artists Lowell Fulson and Jimmy McCracklin. First recorded by Fulson in 1967, it was his highest-charting single since "Reconsider Baby" in 1954.[1] It reached #56 in Canada.[2] The song was covered by Otis Redding in a duet with Carla Thomas, and this version reached No. 2 on Billboard R&B chart.

Background and release

Jules Bihari, the owner of Fulson`s label, Kent Records, disliked the song at first: "Oh, he hated `Tramp`, Jules [Bihari] did.", Fulson recalled.[3] However, when Bihari previewed the song for two influential disc jockeys, the response was "Hush! Man, get me my copy, quick. You sitting on a gold mine, talking about you want to hear some blues. You better get that record out."[3] Fulson elaborated:

And they [Kent] did, they followed his [Bugs Scruggs] advice because he was a disc jockey. And so they took them some copies, and they just had a few pressed up, hadn`t even thought about putting it out. But after I got with Bugs and Paw-Paw [Birmingham, Alabama, DJ], we laughed and joked and the next thing that I know that thing was making plenty of noise. And then Otis Redding jumped all over it, which I didn`t mind a bit. But I said, "I wished you had given me another week." He took it right on to the pop field, you know.[3]

When Kent released it as a single, "Tramp" became a hit, peaking at number five in the Billboard R&B chart.[1] The song was also Fulson`s most popular single in the broader, pop-oriented Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it reached number 52.[1]

As one of Fulson`s best-known songs, "Tramp" appears on numerous compilations, including the popular 1967 Kent album, also titled Tramp.[3] For the album cover, Fulson, who normally wore suits, posed dressed up as a railroad yard hobo:

Them kids sat up all night making them jeans, sewing rags and things on `em. They tried to make me look as ragged as they could. I had a Dobbs hat. So I said, now, if they paying attention to my hat, they know I ain`t a bum `cause I couldn`t buy this hat ... So I talked `em out of [wearing a Moms Mabley-type] hat; I wore my hat.[3]

Lyrics

The song is partly narrative, with the singer ignoring the criticism of his unsophisticated appearance:

Tramp

You can call me that

I don`t wear continental clothes stetson hats ...

Call me country right from the woods

I`ll answer when you call me

That is baby if it makes you feel good

But I`m just a lover ...

Loving`s all I know to do

Critical reception

Fulson`s "Tramp" has been described as a "comfortably laid-back but groovin` soul-blues workout" and "a loping funk-injected workout [which restored] the guitarist to R&B stardom", by AllMusic reviewers.[4][5] The entertainment magazine LA Weekly called it "a near-perfect slice of barbecued funk".[6]

Otis Redding and Carla Thomas version

Otis Redding recorded "Tramp" as a duet with Carla Thomas for Stax Records. The song was first included on the joint album by Redding and Thomas, King & Queen (1967). Described as "playful" by Dahl, it was released as a single only months after Fulson`s. Credited to "Otis and Carla", the duo`s version outsold Fulson`s original[5] and peaked at number two on Billboard`s Top Selling R&B singles and number 26 on the Hot 100 charts.[1]

In Dynamic Duets: The Best Pop Collaborations from 1955 to 1999, author Bob Leszczak describes their rendition:

Otis and Carla gave "Tramp" their own stamp. They exchange quite a bit of dialogue between them in the song, with Carla putting Otis down because he doesn`t wear fine clothes and is in dire need of a haircut ... She`s obviously a gold digger and laments that he couldn`t afford to buy her fine furs and cool cars. She repeatedly calls him a "tramp" from the Georgia woods ... Otis Redding was born, like "Tramp" says, in the Georgia woods in 1941.[9]

Leszczak points out that the Otis and Carla single peaked higher in the UK, where it reached number 18 on the UK Singles Chart[9] (Fulson`s single did not appear in the UK charts). He also notes "the song`s beat likely influenced `You Haven`t Done Nothin`` by Stevie Wonder seven years later".[9]

Charts

Other renditions

• In 1968, Fulson`s "Tramp" was used as the basis for "The Champ", an organ riff-driven instrumental by a group of session musicians dubbed the Mohawks.[6] The piece has been "widely sampled in rap for this riff and for its breakbeat rhythm".[16]
• In 1986, Salt-n-Pepa sampled the Otis and Carla rendition of the song, but kept the original title.[17] Selected as number six in the list of "Vibe`s 10 Greatest Otis Redding-sampled Songs", their rendition is described as "the perfect vehicle for the female hip-hop pioneers’ brazen diss of the cheating opposite sex".[17] The duo`s song reached number 31 on Billboard`s Hot Black Singles chart.[1]
• In 1991, DJ Muggs "made `Tramp` the principal building block of `How I Could Just Kill a Man,` the grimy fuck-it-all gun blast that announced the arrival of Cypress Hill", according to LA Weekly`s Josh Kun.[6] He added, "The song was the highlight of Cypress Hill`s 1991 debut album, which sounded like nothing else in hip-hop, east or west."[6]
• American blues rock band ZZ Top covered the song on their 2003 album Mescalero.
• In 2010, Steve Miller released a version of this song on his album Bingo!, credited to the Steve Miller Band, with vocals by Sonny Charles.