Hold On I'm Coming by John Frick

🎶 Another Sofa Lounge Session #31 — yet another detour from the blues highway 🎶
Today’s session takes a soulful turn with Hold On, I'm Comin' by Sam & Dave, a song suggested to me, once again, by Ben and Lijda.
Digging into this tune made me realise just how incredible Sam & Dave’s timing, phrasing, and feel really were. That’s where the magic lives. It’s not my natural singing style, and I’d never want to imitate them, so this is very much my own interpretation of the song. As usual with these sessions, I played or dropped in all the parts myself.
This week’s extra challenge was getting the horn parts together using MIDI keyboards and plugins, a fun puzzle in itself, and a nice way to push the arrangement a bit further.
A bit of background:
Sam & Dave were one of the defining soul duos of the 1960s, closely associated with the Stax Records sound. Their performances were all about call-and-response, gospel-rooted energy, and pure emotional delivery.
Fun fact:
The title Hold On, I’m Comin’ came about during a studio session when songwriter Isaac Hayes was on the phone in the control room. When someone knocked on the door, he called out, “Hold on, I’m coming!” - a throwaway line that instantly sparked the song. Sometimes the best ideas really do arrive by accident.
So here’s my Sofa Lounge take on this soul classic. Hope you enjoy it. 🎸💙
John Frick at Sofa Lounge Studio