Snatching It Back – Clarence Carter | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#31) & R&B (#4); 1969
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
In the days before Steal Away made Clarence Carter a well-known soul man, he recorded as one half of Clarence & Calvin. The duo’s first release was I Wanna Dance But I Don’t Know How on the tiny Fairlane label in 1961.
After one more Fairlane side, the two moved on to Duke Records (as The C&C Boys), then to Atco for their final single Step By Step, recorded at FAME in 1965. After Calvin was seriously injured in a car accident the following year, Clarence was on his own.
Tell Daddy (which later inspired Etta James‘ Tell Mama) appeared on FAME’s in-house label and cracked the R&B Top 40 in early 1967. Five singles in to his solo career, Clarence struck gold with Slip Away and follow-up Too Weak To Fight.
Snatching It Back, which he co-wrote, made it three straight R&B Top 3’s for Clarence. He’d come a long way from his days at Alabama State, where he’s learned to transcribe music in Braille.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- Rick Hall
Lyrics Written by:
- Clarence Carter
- George Jackson
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).