“I was in the restroom when Isaac called out, ‘Come on, David, get out of there.’ I yelled back, ‘Hey man, hold on, I’m coming!’ Before I even buttoned my pants, it hit me”: How a classic Stax soul anthem was written on the fly

In the late ’60s, during a golden age for soul music, a formidable songwriting partnership was formed by Isaac Hayes and David Porter. And in the creation of one of their greatest hits, a moment of inspiration came to Porter while he was taking a leak.

The song was Hold On, I’m Comin’, recorded by vocal duo Sam & Dave and released on the Stax label in 1966.

Porter tells the story of the song in his new autobiography The Soul Man: Life Of Songwriter David Porter.

He begins by recalling how he and Isaac Hayes worked together during long nights in an around the city of Memphis, Tennessee.

“We would start our nights off at the clubs in Memphis,” he writes. “Isaac and I attended those clubs to get inspiration by listening to some of the new sounds being played by the young talents on stage.

“It would be after our time at the clubs that we would find our way back to the studio at Stax to work on our next songs. The time spent at the studio would stretch from late at night to the early morning on some nights.”

As Porter remembers it, he and Hayes arrived at the studio at approximately 1:20 a.m. on the night they wrote Hold On, I’m Comin’.

“Before we got started, I told Isaac that I needed to use the restroom really quick and would be back to start. Now, any guy would know that if all you are doing is relieving yourself, it should only take you at most ninety seconds in the bathroom to do so.

“Well, I was nearing my ninety-second mark in the restroom, but not too far over, when Isaac called out: ‘Come on, David, get on out of there.’

“I could hear him well, as the small restroom acted as an echo chamber. Not thinking about it, I yelled back, ‘Hey man, hold on, I’m coming!’”

He adds: “Before I even buttoned my pants, it hit me. I ran back into the studio, where Isaac was anxiously awaiting my return, ready to get started.

“I explained. Hearing myself say the words ‘Hold on, I’m coming’ became the next hit song title to me. All we had to do was build a song around it.”

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Porter’s idea for the lyric was to create a story in which a heroic figure comes to the rescue of a woman in danger. He recalls that Hayes immediately approved the idea and also quickly suggested that he had “the perfect horn riff” for this song.

Hayes had already made a recording of this riff with The Memphis Horns, the duo of Andrew Love on tenor saxophone and Wayne Jackson on trumpet.

“Hearing that horn line, it was perfect,” Porter recalls. “It was the signature sound that this song needed. I could already hear the melody playing in my head for the song. So, that horn line Isaac had done would become the main line that you would hear for Hold On, I’m Comin’.”

Porter says the whole song was written in 20 minutes.

The recording featured Sam & Dave backed by members of Stax house bands The Mar-Keys and Booker T. & the M.G.’s – including drummer Al Jackson Jr., bassist Duck Dunn and guitarist Steve Cropper.

Porter instructed Jackson to create a beat similar to that in singer Lee Dorsey’s version of Get Out Of My Life, Woman, a song written by New Orleans music legend Allen Toussaint and later interpreted by a number of artists including bluesman Freddie King and heavy rock pioneers Iron Butterfly.

Porter says of Al Jackson Jr.: “The man was a genius when it came to creating the right beat and drum rhythm. All you had to do was give him a direction or idea, and he would return a piece of musical gold.”

Porter also praises the qualities of the two vocalists.

He writes: “During the recording of the song, I would be on the same side of the baffle with Sam & Dave. These guys were tremendous talents in their own right. Once they got the melody of the song, they put their own energy into the melody.

“The two artists would play off of each other’s energy. They had great chemistry together, there was no denying that.”

Hold On, I’m Comin’ was released in early 1966 and reached No 21 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Over time it has attained classic status – and in the catalogue of famous songs written by David Porter and Isaac Hayes, it’s matched only by Soul Man, another hit for Sam & Dave in 1967.

The Soul Man: Life Of Songwriter David Porter is out now