Green Onions

The song emerged from an impromptu jam after rockabilly singer Billy Lee Riley’s session ended early. Stax co-founder Jim Stewart, at the console instead of his usual bank job, simply hit record. Booker T. Jones reportedly said the tune sounded “as funky as green onions smell,” and the name stuck. It was first released as a B-side to “Behave Yourself” before a Memphis DJ flipped it into the hit. No lyrics reproduced (instrumental).

Because the quartet was racially mixed and Southern segregation was still a legal and social reality, the band deliberately omitted an actual band photo from the album cover — using a shot of green onions instead, specifically to avoid drawing attention to the group’s racial makeup.

In high school, a teenage Booker T. Jones formed the Booker T. Washington Combo with pianist David Porter (later a major Stax songwriter) and Maurice White — who would go on to found Earth, Wind & Fire, in this catalogue via “Let’s Groove” and “September.”