Booker T. & the MG's were the house band for the Memphis soul music label Stax Records. Members of the band were Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Al Jackson, and Lewie Steinberg (who was replaced in 1964 by Donald "Duck" Dunn).They recorded with many of the Stax artists, including Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, and Isaac Hayes, but they also recorded their own material between sessions. The band developed this song while they were waiting for rockabilly singer Billy Lee Riley (a Sun artist) to show up for a session. In an interview with National Public Radio (NPR), Booker T. Jones said: "That happened as something of an accident. We used the time to record a Blues which we called 'Behave Yourself,' and I played it on a Hammond M3 organ. Jim Stewart, the owner, was the engineer and he really liked it and wanted to put it out as a record. We all agreed on that and Jim told us that we needed something to record as a B-side, since we couldn't have a one-sided record. One of the tunes I had been playing on piano we tried on the Hammond organ so that the record would have organ on both sides and that turned out to be 'Green Onions.'"
As the guys were calling it a night after recording this song, Jim Stewart asked them to listen to what he'd recorded on one particular take. They listened but weren't as impressed as Jim, who asked: "If we released this as a record, what would you want to call it?" "Green Onions," was Booker T. Jones' reply. "Why 'Green Onions'" Jim asked. Booker T: "Because that is the nastiest thing I can think of and it's something you throw away."
The group's guitarist Steve Cropper brought this song to the Memphis radio station WLOK the day after they recorded it. The morning DJ, Rueben Washington, was a friend of Cropper's, and put the song on his turntable to hear off-air. After listening to just part of the song, he cut off the record that was on air and started playing "Green Onions" for his listeners. Says Cropper: "He played it four or five times in a row. We were dancing around the control room and believe it or not, the phone lines lit up. I guess we had the whole town dancing that morning." The response to the song proved Cropper's point that it should be the A-side of the single instead of "Behave Yourself," and subsequent singles were pressed with the sides flipped.
Booker T. & the MG's were the house band for the Memphis soul music label Stax Records. Members of the band were Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Al Jackson, and Lewie Steinberg (who was replaced in 1964 by Donald "Duck" Dunn).They recorded with many of the Stax artists, including Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, and Isaac Hayes, but they also recorded their own material between sessions. The band developed this song while they were waiting for rockabilly singer Billy Lee Riley (a Sun artist) to show up for a session. In an interview with National Public Radio (NPR), Booker T. Jones said: "That happened as something of an accident. We used the time to record a Blues which we called 'Behave Yourself,' and I played it on a Hammond M3 organ. Jim Stewart, the owner, was the engineer and he really liked it and wanted to put it out as a record. We all agreed on that and Jim told us that we needed something to record as a B-side, since we couldn't have a one-sided record. One of the tunes I had been playing on piano we tried on the Hammond organ so that the record would have organ on both sides and that turned out to be 'Green Onions.'"
As the guys were calling it a night after recording this song, Jim Stewart asked them to listen to what he'd recorded on one particular take. They listened but weren't as impressed as Jim, who asked: "If we released this as a record, what would you want to call it?" "Green Onions," was Booker T. Jones' reply. "Why 'Green Onions'" Jim asked. Booker T: "Because that is the nastiest thing I can think of and it's something you throw away."
The group's guitarist Steve Cropper brought this song to the Memphis radio station WLOK the day after they recorded it. The morning DJ, Rueben Washington, was a friend of Cropper's, and put the song on his turntable to hear off-air. After listening to just part of the song, he cut off the record that was on air and started playing "Green Onions" for his listeners. Says Cropper: "He played it four or five times in a row. We were dancing around the control room and believe it or not, the phone lines lit up. I guess we had the whole town dancing that morning." The response to the song proved Cropper's point that it should be the A-side of the single instead of "Behave Yourself," and subsequent singles were pressed with the sides flipped.
Booker T. & the MG's were the house band for the Memphis soul music label Stax Records. Members of the band were Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Al Jackson, and Lewie Steinberg (who was replaced in 1964 by Donald "Duck" Dunn).They recorded with many of the Stax artists, including Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, and Isaac Hayes, but they also recorded their own material between sessions. The band developed this song while they were waiting for rockabilly singer Billy Lee Riley (a Sun artist) to show up for a session. In an interview with National Public Radio (NPR), Booker T. Jones said: "That happened as something of an accident. We used the time to record a Blues which we called 'Behave Yourself,' and I played it on a Hammond M3 organ. Jim Stewart, the owner, was the engineer and he really liked it and wanted to put it out as a record. We all agreed on that and Jim told us that we needed something to record as a B-side, since we couldn't have a one-sided record. One of the tunes I had been playing on piano we tried on the Hammond organ so that the record would have organ on both sides and that turned out to be 'Green Onions.'"
As the guys were calling it a night after recording this song, Jim Stewart asked them to listen to what he'd recorded on one particular take. They listened but weren't as impressed as Jim, who asked: "If we released this as a record, what would you want to call it?" "Green Onions," was Booker T. Jones' reply. "Why 'Green Onions'" Jim asked. Booker T: "Because that is the nastiest thing I can think of and it's something you throw away."
The group's guitarist Steve Cropper brought this song to the Memphis radio station WLOK the day after they recorded it. The morning DJ, Rueben Washington, was a friend of Cropper's, and put the song on his turntable to hear off-air. After listening to just part of the song, he cut off the record that was on air and started playing "Green Onions" for his listeners. Says Cropper: "He played it four or five times in a row. We were dancing around the control room and believe it or not, the phone lines lit up. I guess we had the whole town dancing that morning." The response to the song proved Cropper's point that it should be the A-side of the single instead of "Behave Yourself," and subsequent singles were pressed with the sides flipped.