A "Little" Bit Of Accidental Lightning

"Little" Johnny Taylor - Zig Zag Lightning

I was a late adopter of the iPod, but I've got one now and most of my CD collection is on it. My favourite thing about them is the way they file things, with everything so neatly alphabetised. My obsessive-compulsive side loves that. However, I haven't quite got the hang of using it, and often I find myself just pushing play on the thing, which means it will start at the beginning and play from the top of the list of the thousands of artists stored within. Curiously in my case, it's not a band beginning with the letter A. Apparently, speech marks come before A in the alphabet, so the first song on my iPod is always ‘Zig Zag Lightning’ by “Little” Johnny Taylor. It’s just as well for my impatient fumbling fingers that I think it’s a great song - a quick-tempo Northern Soul tune that I find just toe-tappingly-tastic! Quick sharp horn blasts and man, this guy has some voice!

“Little” Johnny Taylor was born in Arkansas, USA in 1943 and passed away in 2002. “Little” as his friends may or may not have called him, is regularly confused with his close namesake, and presumably taller, contemporary, Johnnie Taylor. To be honest “Little” is only on my iPod because this track is on the excellent 2-disc compilation, ‘The In Crowd - The Story Of Northern Soul’. However, based on this evidence his ‘Greatest Hits’ might well be earning a place on my Christmas list.

Maybe I could alter “Little” Johnny Taylor in iTunes and he could just become Little Johnny Taylor? But that would mean ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead would be first up, and that's a totally different kettle of fish. No, I like it the way it is, with me happily accidentally playing this song all the time.

“Little” Johnny Taylor biography
Buy “Little” Johnny Taylor’s Greatest Hits from Amazon
Buy 'The In Crowd – The Story Of Northern Soul' from Amazon

Dave.