"Wrap It Up" by The Fabulous Thunderbirds

Yeah, that’s right, Dialophiles… tonight the Dial beams an overlooked gem from the Texas blues rock genre right to your speakers. Get ready to rock and maybe boogie a little too, with The Fabulous Thunderbirds and “Wrap It Up”!

“I’ve been watching you for days now baby… I just love your sexy ways now baby…”

A cover of an obscure 1968 B-side by soul legends Sam & Dave, and penned by R&B icons Isaac Hayes and David Porter, the T’birds remake went on to peak at US #50. The second single pulled from their blockbuster 1986 Tuff Enuff LP, “Wrap It Up” followed on the heels of their biggest hit, the US #10 title track.

The song’s memorable lyrics portray a man’s jubilant declaration of passion for his woman, as if he has found a perfect item in a department store after shopping all day. Now that’s he’s found her love after searching for so long, he tells his lady… just like he might tell a salesperson after finding that unique gift… “Wrap it up, I’ll take it.”

“Well no more will I shop around now baby… I know I got the best thing in town now baby…”

Hailing from Austin, Texas, the group, at the time of the Tuff Enuff LP, comprised of lead vocalist Kim Wilson, Jimmie Vaughan on guitar (yep, Stevie Ray’s brother), Preston Hubbard on bass, and drummer Fran Cristina.

The awesomely fun music video features many bodacious beauties, receiving the flirtatious advances of Wilson and the guys, and subsequently playing hard to get, or at least displaying apathy to their romantic intentions. However, while watching the last thirty seconds of the video again, it occurs to me that when the lovelies lip sync to Kim’s repeated “Wrap… wrap… wrap-wrap-wrap-wrap it up” adlib, they may be invoking a strong double meaning to the title phrase. As the girls pull the guys behind closed doors, and invite them into showers and so on… perhaps the song carries a safe sex message?

This makes perfect sense given the growing climate of sexual responsibility in the 1980s, even though I suspect that interpretation wasn’t intended or probably didn’t exist at all when Mssrs Hayes and Porter authored the tune 18 years prior.

“You’ve got tricks you ain’t never used… give it, give it, to me, it won’t be abused.”

So do yourself a favor, and check out this tasty jam from one of the leading blues-rock outfits of the '80s. I guarantee you’ll be humming it for days afterwards… and with a groove this sweet, it’s completely understandable!

“Wrap it up… I’ll take it. Wrap it up… I’ll take it.”