Strawberry Letter 23 (1977)

Performer: The Brothers Johnson                          Writer: Shuggie Otis
Highest US Chart Position: #5                               Label: A&M Records
Musicians: George & Louis Johnson, Lee Ritenour, Dave Grusin and Harvey Mason

This song is vividly etched in my mind because it was a favorite of my high school sweetheart. At her house they had one of those giant console stereos that sat in the living room and she and her sisters used to play the 45s on it all the time, this one getting heavy rotation at the time. The core of The Brothers Johnson consisted of George on guitar and vocals and his brother Louis on bass and vocals. They had initially formed a band with their cousin in Los Angeles but eventually worked as a backing band for various performers like Bobby Womack, The Supremes and Billy Preston. It was while working with Quincy Jones, however, that they really began to demonstrate their talents as performers in their own right, and he was impressed enough that he produced their first album in 1976. That album spawned their biggest hit, “I’ll Be Good to You,” which went all the way to number three in the charts. But was their follow up album, Right on Time, also produced by Jones, that contained the song they are best known for, “Strawberry Letter 23.” The single was paired with “Dancin’ and Prancin’” on the B-side, a straight-up funk number pulled from their first album.

The genesis of the tune is a fascinating one. It was actually written by guitar great Shuggie Otis, son of the rhythm and blues bandleader Johnny Otis. He had recorded the number for his 1971 album Freedom Fight, and it probably would have been destined for obscurity had George Johnson not come across the album while dating one of Otis’s cousins. He liked the song and, while staying true to the melody and lyrics, the brothers brought the rhythm and musical backing up to date and turned it into a dance/soul number that shot up the charts peaking at number five on September 24, 1977. Attempts at interpreting the lyrics are as nonsensical as the lyrics themselves. It’s a love song, sure, but the words are merely a poetic exercise in synesthesia, beginning with the narrator hearing a kiss, as well as experiencing a variety of colors in physical ways. Like John Lennon’s “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” the meaning is beside the point, and in that sense the lyrics are terrific. The oft-mentioned explanation for the title, that Otis received love letters from his girlfriend on strawberry scented stationary, has been flatly denied by him as well. It’s simply another use of synesthesia, with the letter being given the sensuous characteristics of the fruit itself.

The song begins with Dave Grusin’s piano and the George Johnson’s guitar on the downbeat, a dotted half note note followed by a quarter note and two half notes while Ian Underwood plays the distinctive chorus melody on the keyboards. Then the song settles into a medium groove with Louis Johnson’s bass line being supported by pizzicato guitar effects, and ending with Louis’s walk up into the verse. The walk up, this time by the rest of the band, is repeated at the end of each line of the verse and supplemented by Ralph MacDonald’s percussion. The vocals are terrific, with a soft, breathy delivery that perfectly reflects the dream-like imagery of the lyrics and is supported by a chorus of background singers. The bridge section eases back the instruments to minimal support, but then slowly builds into the next verse. The second bridge ends in a series of background vocals that lead to the memorable guitar break, with Lee Ritenour and George Johnson playing a harmony pattern than shifts along with the chord progression, and accompanied by Harvey Mason’s intricate high-hat work. This leads to sort of a half-verse at the end and then the fadeout. “Strawberry Letter 23” is simply a great example of non-disco, seventies soul at the height of the disco era.