Most of the younger set will remember Isaac Hayes for his part of Chef in “South Park” episodes. A few also might have heard his Oscar-winning soundtrack for the film “Shaft.”
But Hayes, who died Sunday at age 65, was so much more. He was a songwriter and producer for the Stax-Volt soul label in Memphis, including the hits “Hold On I’m Comin’,” “When Something is Wrong with My Baby” and “Soul Man” by Sam and Dave. He also was Stax-Volt’s pianist and saxophonist, cutting songs for Otis Redding, Albert King, Rufus Thomas, Eddie Floyd and Wilson Pickett. Hayes later became a successful solo artist of his own.
But one of my favorite Isaac Hayes songs was one he didn’t write. Hayes transformed Jimmy Webb‘s “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” (popularized by Glenn Campbell) into a sorrowful, 18-minute epic. What you’re about to hear is the seven-minute radio edit — still very long but powerful enough to crack the Top 40 of the singles charts.
And with Hayes singing about reaching Albuquerque and Oklahoma, you know part of his journey occurred on Route 66.