From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Footsteps in the Dark

1977 song performed by The Isley Brothers

Summary

1977 song performed by The Isley Brothers

Field	Value
name	Footsteps in the Dark
cover	Footsteps in the Dark by The Isley Brothers UK vinyl single.png
type	song
artist	The Isley Brothers
album	Go for Your Guns
A-side	"Groove with You"
released	1977
recorded	Bearsville Studios, Bearsville, New York
genre
length	5:07
label	T-Neck
writer
producer	The Isley Brothers

| A-side = "Groove with You"

"Footsteps in the Dark" is a 1977 slow jam recorded by The Isley Brothers as an album track featured on the group's album Go for Your Guns. It was the B-side to "Groove with You", which reached number 16 on the R&B singles chart. The song is noted for its unique guitar timbre which can be heard on other Isley Brother tracks such as "Voyage to Atlantis", as well as marking Ron Isley's growing transition into singing more ballads compared to the band's earlier funk approach.

Since the 1990s, it has been sampled in numerous other songs, predominantly in the R&B and hip hop genres. Most famously, it was used in "It Was a Good Day" by California-based rapper Ice Cube.

Composition

Ernie Isley's playing on this track is heavily influenced by artists such as Jimi Hendrix, whose first recording session was actually with the Isley Brothers in 1964 with the track "Testify".

Ernie Isley not only played guitar but also played drums and wrote the lyrics to "Footsteps in the Dark". The verse of the song is written in the key of D major.

Credits and personnel

Written, composed and arranged by The Isley Brothers Co-produced by The Isley Brothers, Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff

Ronald Isley – lead vocals, backing vocals
Rudolph Isley – backing vocals
O'Kelly Isley, Jr. – backing vocals
Ernie Isley – backing vocals, congas, drums, guitars, 12-string guitar
Marvin Isley – backing vocals, bass guitar
Chris Jasper – backing vocals, tambourine, piano, synthesizer

References

Pareles, Jon. (January 1, 2002). "POP REVIEW; Two Brothers Who Are Carrying On the Family Act". [[The New York Times]].
Lipsitz, George. (2007). "Footsteps in the Dark: The Hidden Histories of Popular Music". [[University of Minnesota Press]].
Sumney, Moses. (November 2, 2012). "Alex Isley Has Her Own Thing". [[LA Weekly]].
Coker, Cheo Hodari. (May 6, 1997). "A Playful Encounter With the Isley Brothers". [[Los Angeles Times]].
Hyden, Steven. (October 25, 2011). "Ice Cube, "It Was A Good Day"". [[The A.V. Club]].
(19 March 2014). "A Conversation with Ernie Isley of The Isley Brothers".
The Isley Brothers. ''Go for Your Guns'' (Album notes). T-Neck / Epic. 1977

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1977-songs funk-ballads the-isley-brothers-songs songs-written-by-chris-jasper songs-about-infidelity songs-about-nights rhythm-and-blues-ballads soul-ballads 1970s-ballads

Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Footsteps in the Dark — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report