The Dark End of the Street

"Dark End of the Street" redirects here. For other uses, see The Dark End of the Street (disambiguation).

"The Dark End of the Street" is a 1967 soul song, written by songwriters Dan Penn and Chips Moman and first recorded by James Carr. It became his trademark song, reaching number 10 on Billboard Magazine's R&B Chart, and crossing over to number 77 on the Billboard Hot 100.

"The Dark End of the Street"
Single by James Carr
from the album You Got My Mind Messed Up[1]
B-side	"Lovable Girl"
Released	December 1966 (1966-12)[2]
Genre	Soul[3] deep soul[4]
Length	2:20
Label	Goldwax
Songwriter(s)	Dan Penn Chips Moman
Producer(s)	Quinton Claunch Rudolph Russell
James Carr singles chronology
"Pouring Water on a Drowning Man" (1966) "The Dark End of the Street" (1966) "Let It Happen" (1967)

History and original recording

The song was co-written by Penn, a professional songwriter and producer, and Moman, a former session guitarist at Gold Star Studio in Los Angeles and also the owner of American Sound Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. The song itself was ultimately recorded across town at Royal Studios, home of HI Records.

In the summer of 1966, while a DJ convention was being held in Memphis, Penn and Moman were cheating while playing cards with Florida DJ Don Schroeder,^[5] and decided to write the song while on a break. Penn said of the song “We were always wanting to come up with the best cheatin’ song. Ever.”^[6] The duo went to the hotel room of Quinton Claunch, another Muscle Shoals alumnus, and founder of Hi Records, to write. Claunch told them "Boys, you can use my room on one condition, which is that you give me that song for James Carr. They said I had a deal, and they kept their word.” The song, lyrics and all, was written in about 30 minutes.^[7]

Chart performance

Chart (1967)	Peak position
US Billboard Hot 100[8]	77
US Billboard Top Selling R&B Singles[9]	10

Influences

Van Morrison's song "Bright Side of the Road" includes the lyrics "From the dark end of the street, to the bright side of the road," which some people believe was influenced by Penn and Moman's song.^[10]

Cover versions

Many artists have recorded versions of the song, but none charted as highly as Carr's version.^[11] In 1970, Aretha Franklin released a version on her album This Girl's in Love with You;^[12] this interpretation was praised by musicologist Craig Werner as adding "something absolutely original", with Franklin implying a further final step in the song's story, a determination of the illicit couple to stand together.^[13]