Dusty Springfield - Son of a Preacher Man

Being good isn't always easy.

Album: Dusty in Memphis [fifth album]
Recorded: Memphis, Tennessee
Genre: Soul, Blue Eyed Soul, Gospel
Album Release: March 31st 1969
Single Release:November 8th 1968
Length: 2:25
Producer: Jerry Wexler, Arif Mardin & Tom Dowd
Vocalist: Dusty Springfield [age 29]
Label: Atlantic Records [USA], Philips Records [UK]

Official Audio


Live on The Ed Sullivan Show from 1968 [miming]


Live from the Royal Albert Hall in 1979

Charts, Streams & Sales

Australia (singles): #6
Holland (singles): #4
UK (singles): #9 [x2 platinum]
USA (singles): #10
Spotify: 601,000,000 +
YouTube Music: 57,000,000 +
NME Greatest Singles of All Time (2002): #43

Credits

Bass, drums, horns, piano [x2]

Details

• The song is a memory told from a girls point of view. A preacher would often visit her parents home and while the adults were talking about grown-up matters like religion, the preachers son would take her for a walk and the two would "enjoy" each others company.
  
  The singer recalls these memories fondly. Springfield was 29 at the time of the songs release and her sultry voice is that of a woman grown. The song would have a different tone if it was sung in the present tense. Youthful innonence would replace wry experience and it would seem as if the preachers son is taking advantage of the girl. In the song, it's clear the singer enjoyed taking happy walks and was a willing participant.
  
  During the sixties, attitudes were changing but regardless, to the older generation at least, it would have been considered proper for a young lady to be coy and the boy gentlemanly. Sex was reserved for marriage, and open talk of such debauchery would not be fit for broadcast. Even though the song never explicity references sex it's difficult to interpret lyrics such as "learning from each others knowing" as anything but. Songs would often use euphemisms in the place of coitus, one of the most common being references to cake and other sweet treats.
  
  Additionally, and to compounding effect, the song also takes a cheeky swipe at religion. While the preacher preaches the preachers son fornicates with the locals. In 1965, 89% of British people identified as Christian and many were told not to take the Lord's name in vain. So when a popular song did exactly that "Lord knows he was" it would have caused a few raised eyebrows among the elders as well as giggling titters from their grandkids.
  
  'Son of a Preacher Man' has a gospel feel and is basically a church song about having sex, but just like the priest hiding his Playboy in the Bible, everything is out of sight but never far away. The whole thing is delivered with a nod and a wink. It describes behaviour the preacher, who represents religion and authority, would have disapproved of and when taken in the context of Dusty Springfield's lesbianism, develops a whole other layer of meaning.
  
  Springfield was also partaking in behaviour that was disapproved of, kept just out of sight but never far away. Though homosexuality for women wasn't illegal in the UK, as it was for men, it was still taboo, and if made public, could have marked the end of Springfield's career.
  
  
• The song was written for Aretha Franklin who initially turned it down because her father was a preacher and she didn't want to disrespect him. Franklin would record a version in 1969.
  
  
  

Artwork