Earth, Wind & Fire’s 6th album, That’s The Way of The World, was ostensibly a soundtrack album; when the film bombed, the album was on the verge of fading away, too– until “Shining Star” was released as a single and it became their first (and surprisingly only) #1 Top 10 Hit. The whole band is on fire here; beneath the pop sheen is the heaviest of funk grooves, with particularly tasty guitar & bass work. Let’s climb inside this funk machine & see what it took to create this stellar track.
Earth Wind & Fire – “Shining Star” (Maurice White, Philip Bailey and Larry Dunn) Copyright 1975 (Renewed 2003) EMI April Music Inc.
TRANSCRIPT:
There are only twelve notes in Western music. A total of only twelve potential notes in virtually every song you’ve ever heard. Less than that, really, because the combination of some notes just don’t work together. The combinations are not infinite. And yet, there are millions of songs out there, each with their own unique listening experience. A song is more than just the individual notes that go into it. This is the I’m in Love with that Song podcast, where we explore a different song each episode to discover what makes it tick beyond just the notes. What goes into making a song great? So let’s listen to one of my favorite songs, “Shining Star” by Earth, Wind & Fire.
I’m your host, Brad Page, and we are all musical explorers here. I try not to use words like “dissect” or “analyze” for what we do on this podcast because, well, that’s just too clinical. What we’re doing here is some in-depth listening, trying to get inside of a song and focus on the moments and the performances that make a song really work. This time, we’re listening to one of the great funk tracks of all time, “Shining Star” by Earth, Wind & Fire.
Maurice White started Earth, Wind & Fire in Chicago in 1969. Their sound combined jazz, Latin rhythms, and African beats built on a foundation of solid funk: bass, drums, guitar, keyboards, an incredibly tight horn section, and the contrasting vocals of Maurice White and Philip Bailey. What a band! Earth, Wind & Fire signed to Warner Brothers Records and released their first album in 1971. That same year, they worked with Melvin Van Peebles to create the soundtrack to Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, a classic movie and the first of the so-called blaxploitation films.
In March of 1975, Earth, Wind & Fire released album number six, That’s the Way of the World. And it’s a soundtrack album, too. Sig Shore, the director of the classic film Super Fly, was working on a new film about a band trying to make it in the cutthroat music business. The movie starred Harvey Keitel as a record producer, and Earth, Wind & Fire not only created the music for the film, they were cast in the movie as the band known only as “The Group.” The movie, called That’s the Way of the World, was a flop, but the soundtrack album by Earth, Wind & Fire was a hit, featuring three classic Earth, Wind & Fire songs: “That’s the Way of the World”, “Reasons”, and “Shining Star”.
The track features Verdine White on bass, Fred White on drums, Al McKay and Johnny Graham on guitars, Larry Dunn on keyboards, and Andrew Woolfolk, George Bohanon, and Oscar Brashear on horns. Maurice White and Philip Bailey trade off on the lead vocals. The song was produced by Maurice White and Charles Stepney. Stepney was a pretty important producer in the ’70s; he worked with everyone from Minnie Riperton and Ramsey Lewis to Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf, and I think he’s pretty important to the sound of these early Earth, Wind & Fire albums.
“Shining Star” was written by Maurice White, Philip Bailey, and Larry Dunn. Maurice had the initial idea for the song while they were recording at the Caribou Ranch studios in Colorado. Outside at night in the Rocky Mountains with that huge sky overhead, he was inspired by all those shining stars. The first rough demos of the song sounded like this:
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That’s a pretty cool groove, but once the guitars, the horns, and the percussion come together, then the track really takes off. Let’s start with the intro.
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One of the things I love about funk is the interaction between instruments—the interplay. You can take a bunch of instruments and have them play different parts that may not seem like much on their own, but when you weave them together, you get these amazing grooves and rhythms. The way the instruments intertwine and bounce off of each other. This intro is a great example. You’ve got one guitar playing this:
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While a second guitar plays this:
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The effect on that guitar is a phase shifter. Then, after two measures, the bass comes in.
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Put that together, and you get this:
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When they hit that groove, I am all in. Let’s go back and listen to the two guitar parts here, too. Here’s guitar number one, laying down the rhythm with a classic funk guitar chord:
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Guitar number two is playing single notes, bobbing and weaving around the rhythm laid down by guitar one.
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Now let’s listen to those two parts together.
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Man, I love this stuff. Let’s go back and listen to all the parts together with the whole band rocking. You know, I’m going to say something here that some of you probably just aren’t going to get, and that’s okay, but hear me out: when the whole band comes in, horns and all, and they hit that groove, I think this is just as heavy as any metal band. It’s a different kind of heavy, I guess, but that thick, heavy funk hits just as hard.
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Maurice White sings the first part of the verse.
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Let’s listen to Verdine White’s bass part there.
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Now Philip Bailey takes over the vocals.
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Now we’ve reached the chorus, and there are some shifts in the arrangement. The guitars, which were up front during the verses, move to the back, and the keyboards come forward. The horns shift from playing short stabs to more fluid, longer notes.
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Let’s break down the chorus. Here’s what the horns are playing:
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The vocals are doubled and recorded in stereo.
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I think that part is all Maurice White. Then, Philip Bailey lays down a harmony vocal on top, also doubled and in stereo.
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Here are both parts together.
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After the chorus, they play that jazzy section that was part of the original demo. Then, there’s a hot little guitar solo.
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Let’s check out that guitar solo.
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There’s that pause for dramatic effect, and then they hit us hard with another verse. Again, Maurice and Philip share the vocals.
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There’s a cool little guitar lick here.
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And let’s spend a little time with the bass as it heads into the chorus.
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The music drops out at the end, leaving the vocals almost by themselves. The first two passes have a lot of reverb on them, but the final chorus is completely dry. It’s a stark contrast.
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“Shining Star”, Earth, Wind & Fire. Maurice White was the heart and soul of Earth, Wind & Fire. He grew up in Memphis and played with Booker T. for a while. He moved to Chicago and spent some time as a session drummer at Chess Records. Maurice was also a deeply spiritual man. Earth, Wind & Fire’s albums are rich with mysticism and spirituality; it’s right there in the band’s name. When he sings “You’re a shining star, no matter who you are, shining bright to see what you could truly be,” he means it. His lyrics aren’t just platitudes; he really believed in them, and he wanted to inspire you.
Maurice suffered from Parkinson’s disease in his later years. He died in his sleep on February 4, 2016. He was 74. But his music continues to inspire me. Thanks for checking out this episode, and I hope you’ll join us again here on the I’m in Love with that Song podcast. As always, if you’d like to leave feedback, we really do appreciate it. You can find us on Facebook—just search for the I’m in Love with that Song podcast—or tweet at us @popstafftweets. And we love it when you leave a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever it is you listen to the show. I will be back again in two weeks with another episode. Until then, I hope you find some inspiration in “Shining Star” by Earth, Wind & Fire.
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