‘The Snake’: Deciphering northern soul’s most divisive anthem
From post-punk to hyperpop, every musical movement has its defining anthem: the one song that captures the spirit and sound of the movement flawlessly.
On the flip side of that debate, though, every scene has a handful of tracks which completely divide opinions. Within the northern soul scene of the early 1970s, Al Wilson’s ‘The Snake’ split dancefloors in two.
Emerging from the tail-end of the 1960s, with its roots in the amphetamine-fueled all-nighters of the mod subculture, northern soul was among the most unexpected yet enduring musical movements the UK had ever witnessed. Built upon an all-encompassing adoration for obscure and forgotten American soul records, the scene saw young people across the north of England packing out dancefloors and nightclubs weekly to hear those distinctive dance beats.
It was down to DJs at venues like The Twisted Wheel, The Torch, and, later, Wigan Casino to supply those sounds, and there began an arms race for who could discover the most obscure floor-fillers. As the scene became more and more popular throughout the 1970s, however, a select few tracks became northern soul standards, routinely making appearances at all-nighters everywhere from Blackpool to Bradford. Some songs became so synonymous with the scene that they inspired reissues, many of which led to chart successes years after they had initially been released.
Inevitably, these previously overlooked soul tunes becoming hit singles didn’t sit right with certain northern soul purists. Before too long, tracks like ‘Out On The Floor’ by Dobie Gray, or Frankie Valli’s ‘The Night’, were branded ‘overplayed’ by those in the scene who were always chasing unknown records from increasingly esoteric soul labels. However, no song in the scene witnessed quite the same level of vitriol as ‘The Snake’ by Al Wilson.
A tale of a woman who takes in an ailing snake, only for it to eventually deliver a fatal bite on the very woman, ‘The Snake’ was first recorded by Oscar Brown Jr in 1963, but it was the Mississippi vocalist Al Wilson who turned the track into a soul smash-hit five years later. His rendition reached number 27 in the Billboard Hot 100 upon its release in 1968, and the song went on to become a regular fixture of the northern soul scene a few years later.
Nevertheless, there are many who will still tell you that ‘The Snake’ isn’t a northern soul song at all. After all, it was a hit single upon its release; it wasn’t an overlooked obscurity which had to be dug out of the vaults by some enterprising young DJs. The key criticism that the ‘Snake’-deniers seemed to hang onto, though, is that the song is still, to this day, far too overplayed in the scene, thus undermining the original ethos of the movement.
On the other hand, it would take a particularly well-disciplined northern soul purist not to dance to the track. Wilson’s incredible vocal prowess and the beating rhythm of the song are capable of getting any room dancing. What’s more, there are no concrete parameters on what can be considered northern soul and what can’t; it is ultimately up for interpretation.
Even if ‘The Snake’ is overplayed (which, as most northern soul fans will tell you, it probably is), the song still typically gets a good reception at soul nights, regardless of whether it is technically of the genre. At a fairly recent soul event in Leeds, for instance, I witnessed the DJ drop the needle on ‘The Snake’, and one attendee rushed over to question the decision. In answer, the DJ simply gestured towards the packed-out dancefloor of people revelling in the sweet tones of Al Wilson.
Ultimately, the debate over ‘The Snake’ will rage on for as long as northern soul continues to command dancefloors. An overplayed facade of a song, or a commanding floorfiller, it all depends on your own particular taste and interpretation of what northern soul means to you. Whatever side of the debate you fall on, it is difficult to think of any other song from the scene to have sparked such divisive debate, while simultaneously uniting people on the dancefloor.
