Song:What'll I Do For Satisfaction
Album:The Complete Stax/Volt Singles 1959-1968
When you listen to this 1968 nugget from the Stax Records archive, you will think the singer is black and from the south. But Johnny Daye is a white guy from Pittsburgh. He recorded a few singles in the 60s that didn't catch on. Because of his stage antics, Daye was known as the white James Brown. After recording a 1965 single for a local label, he signed with Johnny Nash's Jomada label and he recorded a couple of unsuccessful singles. He recorded a 1966 single for Cameo-Parkway. Otis Redding saw Daye perform and took him to Memphis to record at Stax. He recorded two singles including What'll I Do For Satisfaction. Neither was successful. Of course Booker T & The MGs and the Memphis Horns played on the record. MGs guitarist Steve Cropper produced the record and wrote the song with Stax staff songwriter Joseph Shamwell. Shamwell is from Washington and Eddie Floyd brought him to Memphis to work at Stax. After Stax closed in the 70s, he moved to Jackson, MS and worked as a staff songwriter for Malaco Records. He is also known as the DJ Soul Ranger. Of course as we all know, Otis Redding died in a plane crash in Dec. 1967 and his death ended Johnny Daye's time at Stax. Steve Cropper says that Redding really liked Daye and if Redding had lived, he would have continued to work with him. Janet Jackson covered What'll I Do on her 1993 album Janet. It was released as a double sided single with Whoops Now in 1995 but was not a hit. The only place you can get Johnny Daye's recording of What'll I Do For Satisfaction is on this 9CD box set of Stax/Volt singles. This box is a must for soul fans. I guess Johnny Daye quit the music business and got a day job. But he resurfaced on the 2007 blues album by bassist Robert Peckman called Strirrin' Up Bees. Peckman was in the 70s disco group Q. Here's a video for What'll I Do For Satisfaction by Johnny Daye.
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