An Employee Of Ray's Music Exchange Must Be Present

“Pardon me, but we have a strict policy concerning the handling of the instruments. An employee of Ray’s Music Exchange must be present. Now, may I help you?”

At Dan Aykroyd’s demand, soul and R&B stars James Brown, Cab Calloway, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin were cast in speaking parts in “The Blues Brothers” (1980) to support musical numbers built around them. This caused friction between director John Landis and Universal later in the production, as its costs far exceeded the original budget. Since none of them except Charles had had any hits in recent years, the studio wanted the director to replace them with – or add performances by – younger acts, such as Rose Royce, whose “Car Wash” had made them disco stars after its use in the 1976 film of that name.

“Shake A Tail Feather” was originally recorded in 1963 by the Chicago-based group The Five Du-Tones (yet appears in the original “Hairspray” (1988), which takes place in 1962). It has been covered by many other artists over the years. Ray Charles covered and performed the song during his “The Blues Brothers” scenes in a version that included calls for various 1960s dances, such as the Twist, the Monkey, The Fly, The Swim, The Frug, the Mashed Potato and The Boogaloo to be performed by a crowd gathered outside Ray’s Music Exchange. H/T>