Wilson Pickett - You Left The Water Running

Listen: Wilson Pickett - You Left The Water Running

This song was a bit of a soul standard in the mid and late sixties. It was written by Rick Hall (producer and founder of FAME Studios), Dan Penn (FAME's in-house songwriter), and Oscar Franck (who's only other credit I can dig up is an obscure Mavis Staples song). Apparently, none other than Otis Redding recorded the studio's demo for the song in July 1966. Barbara Lynn took it to #42 on the R&B charts later that year.

Wilson Pickett cut this version at FAME and released in on his 1967 Atlantic LP The Wicked Pickett. The big hit from that record was "Mustang Sally," which shares that inimitable Muscle Shoals groove with our song.

Whether it's Pickett, Redding, Lynn, Sam and Dave, or Maurice and Mac on the microphone, the song is a fitting tribute to a fountain memorializing a man who built an aqueduct.

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