Watch Prince cover Sly & The Family Stone’s ‘Everyday People’ with Larry Graha
In 2019, the Prince estate released Ultimate Rave, a three-disc box set combining CD reissues of two albums Prince released at the turn of the millennium: 1999’s Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic and its remix follow-up Rave In2 the Joy Fantastic. The third disc features live concert footage of Prince with various special guests. Recorded at Paisley Park and televised for New Year’s Eve 1999, it includes a brilliant cover of Sly and The Family Stone’s ‘Everyday People’ featuring original Sly bassist Larry Graham.
Released on Sly and The Family Stone’s 1968 album Stand!, ‘Everyday People’ was written by bandleader Sly Stone and sought to highlight the similarities between people regardless of race, gender or ideology. “My own beliefs are in my song / The butcher, the banker, the drummer and then /Makes no difference what group I’m in,” he sings in the opening verse. The original track features the great Billy Preston on organ, who played with the likes of The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, providing the keys for the latter’s 1969 single ‘Get Back’.
‘Everyday People’ was released at the height of the counterculture movement. It made number one in America in February 1969 and held the top spot for four weeks. Interestingly, a few months later, in September 1969, the cartoon Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! made its TV debut. Many have wondered if the show borrowed its name from the line in ‘Everyday People ‘where Sly sings. “And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo”. It’s more likely, however, that Scooby-Doo took its name from Frank Sinatra’s scat single ‘Strangers in The Night’, in which Frank can be heard riffing on the line “doo-be-doobie-do”.
In his footage, Larry Graham whips the audience into a frenzy, unveiling the track with a long, drawn-out introduction. With a snap, everything falls into place, and suddenly the whole room’s moving. Check it out below if you haven’t already.
