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Turn On Your Love Light

"Turn On Your Love Light"
Turn On Your Love Light single cover.jpg
Single by Bobby Bland
B-side "You're The One (That I Need)"
Released 1961 (1961)
Format 7" 45 rpm record
Recorded Houston, Texas, 1961
Genre Rhythm and blues
Length 2:30
Label Duke (344)
Writer(s) Joseph Wade Scott, Deadric Malone aka Don Robey
Bobby Bland singles chronology
"Don't Cry No More"
(1961)
"Turn On Your Love Light"
(1961)
"Ain't That Loving You"
(1962)

"Turn On Your Love Light" is a rhythm and blues song recorded by Bobby Bland in 1961. It was both an important R&B and pop chart hit for Bland and has become one of his most identifiable songs. A variety of artists have recorded it, including the Grateful Dead, who made it part of their concert repertoire.

"Turn On Your Love Light" was written by band leader and arranger Joe Scott (with an additional credit given to Duke Records owner/producer Don Robey aka Deadric Malone). Scott's brass arrangement "upped the excitement ante" with "the groove picking up momentum as the horns and percussion talk to each other" and Bland's vocal "riding on top". Backing Bland are probably Joe Scott and Melvin Jackson (trumpets), Pluma Davis (trombone), Johnny Board and Jimmy Beck (saxophones), Rayfield Davers (baritone saxophone), Teddy Reynolds (piano), Wayne Bennett (guitar), Hamp Simmons (bass), and John "Jabo" Starks (drums).

"Turn On Your Love Light" was one of Bobby Bland's most popular singles. It entered the Billboard R&B chart on December 4, 1961, eventually reaching number two during a stay of fifteen weeks. It was also a Top 40 hit, reaching number 28, one of Bland's highest showings in the pop chart. In 1999, the song received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award and is included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame list of the "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll".

In 1964, Van Morrison's band Them often performed "Turn On Your Love Light" live at the Maritime Hotel in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A fan's recording of one of these performances brought Them to the attention of Dick Rowe and led to a recording contract with Decca Records. It is included on their 1966 album, Them Again.


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