Paul Flagg "What Did I Do Wrong" (Atlantic 2506)

Paul Flagg "What Did I Do Wrong" (Atlantic 2506)
Paul Flagg "Love Get Off My Shoulders" (Atlantic 2506)

I'm offering up a twofer this time, because I just couldn't pick one side over the other and I'm as excited about today's offering as anything I'vewritten about here to date.

A number of years ago, I took a part time job with a local record dealer, and did so for a couple of reasons. He had just taken over use of a building in which he had previously operated from the back room, and had nobody else to help organize the substantial stock which he had to bring in to fill the store. His soul 45s in particular were in a real state, to put it mildly. Meanwhile, I was trying to save money for a trip overseas and couldn't see myself not spending money on records. So I worked at the store for store credit such that I could continue bringing records home while still saving money to travel. It turns out that I worked for this dealer for about four years, albeit one day a week, and he's now a friend more than just another record dealer. And yes, he's been good to me when it comes to Georgia soul records. But of course I also took that job because I worked at a record store for a little while in college and loved it - not only for the obvious reason of getting records before they hit the sales floor, but also because it's fun just to sit around and talk and learn about records with people.

One Saturday at the store, I was plowing through a pile of 45s, getting them ready to put out in the new arrivals box and I was quickly drawn to one in particular, "Papa-Momma-Romper-Stomper" b/w "Shoo Fly Pie" by Paul "Sir Raggedy" Flagg (Atlantic 2443). The combination of the song titles and the "Sir Raggedy" nickname was just too much to pass up, so I put the 45 on the turntable and was quickly told by my employer that the artist was from Atlanta. I hadn't yet been seriously collecting Georgia records at this point, but luckily knew better than to let this one slip by and started out with some very limited and unfruitful research on Paul Flagg. I had basically given up,but had also picked up his other two singles over the next few months, those being today's selection and "Tell the Truth" b/w "Georgia Pines" (Wand 11214). All three are amazing examples of sheer emotion driven southern soul power, but at least to my ears, today's featured single is the best of the three.

It turns out that Paul was an extremely popular morning radio DJ at WIGO-AM in Atlanta during the mid to late '60s. WIGO was the favored radio station among Atlanta's young black population, by which I mean high school kids and the like. WAOK was probably more influential in the radio market, but accounts from people who were listening to Atlanta radio at the time indicate that WIGO was more popular, which is no real surprise given the names of their radio personalities. In addition to "Sir Raggedy" Flagg, WIGO also featured DJs named Soul Papa the Be-Boppa, Al Freeman the All-Night Demon, The Jivemaster, Skin & Bones Bob Joes and TG the Blue-Eyed Soul Brother. Who wouldn't listen to a radio station with those cats spinning the platters??? Paul Flagg would start his show with his theme song, "Ca' Purange" by Gene Ammons, a song which would eventually be reworked as his "Papa-Mama-Romper-Stomper". As a morning DJ, you have to get to work pretty early and it seems that this was something that Paul was not much a fan of. Whether he really was late every day, or just using this as an excuse to tell new stories on the air, Flagg began his "daily lie", a daily explanation as to why he was late to work, which would apparently got pretty wild. Man, it would be great to hear some air check tapes from Paul Flagg (or any of the WIGO crew for that matter!).

Flagg's local personality turned into a great marketing idea, which is how Flagg wound up in the studio. Both of the Atlantic singles were recorded and produced by Wendell Parker from Shurfine Records with St. John & the Cardinals backing, with the likely addition of Roy Lee Johnson on guitar. Not only is Roy Lee's name listed as co-writer, but he also recorded his amazing "Boogaloo #3" (Josie 965) single with Parker a couple of years earlier. Production on this record wasn't given to Parker though. As you'll see in the above label scan, Tommy Goodwin is listed as producer and co-writer of the B-Side.

Goodwin was the aforementioned TG the Blue-Eyed Soul Brother and the afternoon jock over at WIGO from 1965 to 1972. Goodwin was a colleague, friend and unabashed fan of Flagg. When asked about this record, Goodwin was quick to set the story straight.

"Flagg wrote the songs and Wendell Parker produced them. Giving me label credit was Atlantic Records way of insuring that I would give it lots of air play on my highly rated WIGO afternoon show. This was totally unnecessary because I would have done anything for Paul Flagg, he was my idol. I still think he was the best air personality I ever heard. I had nothing to do the record."

Any of you who might have read Fredric Dannen's "Hit Men" or Nadine Cohodas' "Spinning Blues Into Gold" are anything but surprised to have read that but obviously, you can't blame any of the Atlanta parties involved. That's just the way it was at the time. Flagg later teamed up with Buddy Buie for his final single on Wand before fading back into obscurity. Today, Flagg is still in the Atlanta area, and I'll hopefully be able share much more information about him in the future, assuming I ever get the opportunity to meet the man. And for filling in a lot of significant holes in preparation for this entry to the Georgia Soul blog, I have to acknowledge the significant help provided by Tommy Goodwin, the Blue-Eyed Soul Brother.