Released on November 8th, 1968
The Background:
Even at the height of her career Dusty Springfield was never the biggest pop star in the world. She was a part of the British Invasion, but she was easily overshadowed by the men in that movement. She was heavily inspired, both in sound and style, by the girl groups and R&B ladies of the era, but she could never reach their levels. Don’t get me wrong, she wasn’t Bebe Rexha, she was insanely famous. Yet, she never had a number-one hit, and she never had a massive moment. There was never a point in which Dusty Springfield was the center of pop music. In fact, they were a couple of years in which she was basically performing at venues that were one rung above local bars.
I always find that kind of star to be fascinating. Dusty Springfield was more successful and famous than 99 percent of musicians but she could never be Aretha Franklin or Diana Ross or the Beatles. This is most evident in the fact that her most famous song was one that Franklin passed on.
Written by the songwriting team of John Hurley and Ronnie Wilikins the duo had been commissioned to write a song for Franklin and knowing that Franklin herself was the daughter of a preacher they thought she would love the track. She didn’t. Franklin found the song telling a story about a young woman sneaking off to bang the son of a preacher to be crass.
Dusty Springfield’s producers got a hold of the demo and they felt differently. They passed the track to Springfield and she loved it. Springfield had already loved Aretha Franklin and getting to sing a track that was catered to her talents was a dream come true for Springfield.
The Song (and Why I Love It):
You can tell Son-of-a-Preacher Man was written for Aretha Franklin. You can also understand why should pass on it. Aretha Franklin was a very salacious pop diva but she was never explicit about that fact. Her records radiated a need and desire and impulse for sex, but she was always closer to Mick Jaggar as opposed to Dinah Washington, but all of that was in her voice.
Maybe it was the respectability politics of the 1950s and 1960s, or maybe it was her own upbringing in the church, but Franklin never went into anything that could be considered scandalous.
Dusty Springfield would, and she would do it with a smile. What I always loved about Springfield’s track is that she isn’t a bombastic singer, she is much more like Diana Ross, she relies on her charm and personality.
On Son-of-a-Preacher Man she deployed these skills for all their worth. Son-of-a-Preacher Man is a story song about the past. The narrator is reflecting on her time having done such a scandalous activity.
“Then he'd look into my eyes
Lord knows, to my surprise
The only one who could ever reach me
Was the son of a preacher man”
Springfield sings the song with a little touch of humor that I think really makes it better. The song is about a woman later in her life reflecting on the crazy things she did as a teenager and it wouldn’t work if it was sung with complete sincerity.
The way Springfield sings the track you get the feeling that she both looks back fondly at her time with this man, but also maybe thinks it was a little embarrassing.
It feels real and it feels relatable. It’s a fourth-date story. It’s a story you tell your own child when they are adults. It’s a story your sister makes fun of you for.
This song is the perfect example of a singer elevating a song, and not just because they have a beautiful voice, but because they knew how to get the song to be as great as it could be.
The Legacy:
This was kind of the end of the road for Dusty Springfield, outside of a brief comeback single in the 80’s courtesy of the Pet Shop Boys. She just didn’t have the fanbase of Aretha Franklin or even Dionne Warwick. It’s too bad, in the following years we would see big hits from the Carpenters and Anne Murray along with the rise of the singer-songwriters like Carole King, James Taylor, and Joni Mitchell. I could have seen a world where Springfield turned it down and made a hit in the style of “Superstar” or a more melodramatic “It’s Too Late”.
Son-of-a-Preacher Man is Springfield’s most iconic and most acclaimed song. It is the one that she is known for, and while I do love this song, it’s not my favorite song from Dusty Springfield. We’ll get to that later.
Instead, let’s end this entry with a couple of great covers.
Aretha Franklin eventually either softened on this song or realized that she had made a mistake in not sucking it up and recording it. Either way, she did a pretty solid cover. It’s about what you expect, but Aretha Franklin was a great singer and it’s a great composition.
Let’s go ahead and honor the late and truly great Tina Turner. While she was not the son of a preacher man, she was raised by religious grandparents and both religion and sexual desire are a big part of her musical output so it makes sense that she would absolutely slay a cover.