Couples can develop a kind of empathy where they feel what the other if feeling; in this song, Sam & Dave sing about this bond. "When something is wrong with my baby," they sing, then "something is wrong with me." In the second verse, Sam Moore explains that his friends tell him she's no good, but they don't understand that if he leaves her, he'll just feel her pain.
Like most Sam & Dave songs, this was written and produced by the Stax Records team of Dave Porter and Isaac Hayes. Sam & Dave signed to the label in 1965 and had their first hit in 1966 with "Hold On, I'm Comin'." Most of their songs were uptempo, but they slowed it down for "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby" and had modest hit with the song in 1967. Their signature song, "Soul Man," came later that year.
This was recorded at Stax studios in Memphis with the label's house band, Booker T. & the MG's, which was so good they released their own songs as instrumentals and often charted with them, most famously with "Green Onions." Their guitarist, Steve Cropper, co-wrote and produced many of Otis Redding's hits for the label.
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