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Going Back to My Roots

"Going Back to My Roots" is a 1977 song by Lamont Dozier. A cover version of "Going Back to My Roots" by the British-American band Odyssey was the most successful in music charts in particularly European countries, besides reaching number one in South Africa. Cover versions by FPI Project and Linda Clifford have also entered the UK Singles Chart, with FPI Project's version charting in other European markets as well.

Originally an album track discussing genealogy, the song was written for the African-American market and touches on the matters of self-identity, family, and soul fulfillment. It has appeared on assorted compilation albums.

Background

The song was written and first recorded by Lamont Dozier for his 1977 LP Peddlin' Music on the Side. It was produced by Stewart Levine and features additional production from Hugh Masekela and Rik Pekkonen.

It has widely been seen as covering the same subject matter as the bestselling Alex Haley novel Roots that depicts a modern-day African-American tracing his ancestry back, via the slave trade, to a village in The Gambia. This is supported by the extended final section, which moves into Afrobeat and Yoruba chanting. Yet in an interview with Blues & Soul magazine in 1977, Dozier stated otherwise: “The song was inspired by the fact that I have my ‘roots’ in Detroit and when I moved to Los Angeles, a few years ago, I found myself taking trips to Detroit to see my family and so on.”

Richie Havens version

An early cover version was recorded by Richie Havens in 1980. Unusually for folk musician Havens, it incorporated disco influences; this version was later sampled in FPI Project's version of the song and in "Destiny and Tenacity" on the Kleptones' 2010 album Uptime / Downtime.

Odyssey version

New York City disco group Odyssey released a cover version of this song in 1981. It charted at No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart, spending six weeks in the top ten, followed by another remaining six weeks on the chart. It also graced the US Billboard R&B Singles chart at No. 68. In South Africa, "Going Back to My Roots" reached #1.

This version of the song appears on the Ashes to Ashes: Series 2 Original Soundtrack and was also danced to by Patsy Palmer and Anton du Beke on the third series of Strictly Come Dancing.

Charts

FPI Project version

A version was released by FPI Project, a trio consisting of Marco Fratty, Corrado Presti and Roberto Intrallazzi who, according to John Bush of AllMusic introduced Italo house to the world in the early 1990s. Two versions of the song were released; one featuring the vocals of Sharon D. Clarke, the other of Paolo Dini. Both versions sample Richie Havens' version of the song, as well as T99's "Too Nice to Be Real", Honesty 69's "Rich in Paradise", and the Yeah! Woo! loop.

They took the tune first to No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart in 1989 whilst backed with "Rich in Paradise", and in 1999 to No. 96 in its own right. It also charted at No. 5 on the German Singles Chart, No. 5 on the Austrian Singles Chart and No. 10 on the Swiss Singles Chart.

The song appears on the compilation album Deep Heat 5 – Feed the Fever.