“Walk on By” by Isaac Hayes

Burt Bacharach and Hal David wrote "Walk On By" for Dionne Warwick, but Isaac Hayes took it somewhere else entirely on Hot Buttered Soul in 1969, five years after her hit. He remakes it as a slow, smoldering soul reading, singing it and playing the Hammond organ himself. The Bar-Kays are credited on the session, along with James Alexander on bass, Willie "Too Big" Hall on drums, Harold Beane on electric guitar, Michael Toles on guitar and Marvell Thomas on keys. Al Bell, Allen Jones and Thomas produced.

Hayes' version made number 30 on the Hot 100 and 13 on the R&B chart, and it remains the proof that a pop standard could be rebuilt from the floor up.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.