The Brothers Johnson - Strawberry Letter 23 (1977)

One of my personal favourite songs, I can never get tired of hearing it. And have - ahem - played air guitar to the guitar solo...

Written by Shuggie Otis, although known to most by The Brothers Johnson's version. Otis wrote the song for a girlfriend who used strawberry-scented paper when she wrote letters to him. George Johnson of The Brothers Johnson was dating one of Otis' cousins when he came across Freedom Flight, Otis' 1972 album that featured the song. The group later recorded it for their 1977 album Right On Time, under producer Quincy Jones, and the album went platinum. Strawberry Letter 23, as recorded by The Brothers Johnson in a funkier, more dance-oriented vein than the original Otis version, hit the Hot 100, peaked at number five and reached number one on the U,S. Soul Singles chart in 1977. The famous guitar solo in this song was originally recorded by Shuggie Otis; Lee Ritenour later recreated the solo for Right On Time.

An instrumental version was done by Phil Upchurch around the same time as the Brothers Johnson version, which is a more upbeat funky version. The song has been sampled and covered by numerous acts, such as Kiara in 1988, Tevin Campbell on his debut release, T.E.V.I.N. in 1992; Digital Underground also did a hiphop version in the early 90s. It was as you're no doubt aware also used in Quentin Tarantino's film Jackie Brown.

We won't mention the Akon version. Shame on you, Quincy...

- FVS