Fascinating story from 45 years ago today, courtesy of Bob Dearborn's The Olde Disc Jockey's Almanac this morning...
February 17, 1966…In Sheffield, Alabama, Percy Sledge recorded "When A Man Loves A Woman." Before the recording session, the song had no title or lyrics. The session proceeded, the instrumental track was laid down, with the expectation that Sledge would eventually reveal the lyric sheet for the vocal takes. But when it came time to record the vocals, Sledge improvised the lyrics with minimal pre-planning using the melody as a guide for rhythm and phrasing. The performance was so convincing that everyone working on the session assumed he had the lyrics written down.
