Wallace Daniel Pennington (16 November 1941 -) is an American singer, songw… Read Full Bio ↴Wallace Daniel Pennington (16 November 1941 -) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and sometime guitar player who co-wrote many soul hits of the 1960s including "Dark End of the Street" & "Do Right Woman" (with Chips Moman) and "Out of Left Field" & "Cry Like A Baby" (with Spooner Oldham). Penn has also produced hits such as "The Letter" by The Box Tops, amongst others. Though he is considered to be one of the great white soul singers, Penn has a meagre recorded output, preferring the relative anonymity of songwriting & producing.
Penn grew up in Vernon, Alabama and spent much his teens and early twenties in the Quad Cities/Muscle Shoals area. He was a regular at Rick Hall's FAME Studios as a performer, songwriter and producer. It was during his time with FAME that Penn cut his first record, "Crazy Over You" in 1960, and wrote his first hit, "Is a Bluebird Blue?" which was recorded by Conway Twitty in the same year. The success of "I'm Your Puppet," a #6 pop hit for James & Bobby Purify, convinced him that songwriting was a worthwhile (and lucrative) career choice.
In early 1966, Penn moved to Memphis, began writing for Press Publishing Company, and worked with Chips Moman at his American Studios. Their intense and short-lived partnership produced some of the best known and most enduring songs of the genre. Their first collaboration, the enduring classic "Dark End of the Street", was first a hit for James Carr and has been recorded by many others since, notably by Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris and by Linda Ronstandt. A few months later, during the legendary recording sessions that saw Jerry Wexler introduce Aretha Franklin to FAME Studios and her first major success, the pair wrote "Do Right Woman" in the studio for her. In early 1967 Penn produced "The Letter" for The Box Tops. He and long-time friend and collaborator Spooner Oldham also wrote a number of hits for the band, including "Cry Like a Baby"
Penn continued writing & producing hits for numerous artists during the 60s and finally released a record of his own, Nobody's Fool, in 1972. He was coaxed into the studio again in 1993 to record the acclaimed "Do Right Man" which saw him reunited with many of his friends and colleagues from Memphis & Muscle Shoals.
He now lives in Nashville and continues to write with Oldham and other contemporaries such as Donnie Fritts, Gary Nicholson & Norbert Putnam. He and Carson Whitsett have had their collaborations recorded by Irma Thomas and Johnny Adams and often teamed with writers Jonnie Barmett and later, Hoy Lindsey. The Penn/Whitsett/Lindsey team are responsible for Solomon Burke's "Don't Give Up On Me", and Penn produced 2005's Better to Have It by Bobby Purify that featured twelve songs from the team.

The Dark End Of The Street
Dan Penn Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

ct the dark end of the street
That is where we always meet
Hiding in shadows where we don't belong
Living in darkness to hide the wrong
They're gonna find us, they're gonna find us, ooooooh someday
You and me
ct the dark end of the street

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Dan Penn/Spooner Oldham's song The Dark End Of The Street tell the story of two lovers who are forced to meet in secret at the dark end of the street because their love is forbidden. They are hiding in shadows and living in darkness, aware that what they are doing is a sin and that they will eventually be caught, but their love is too strong for them to resist. The singer knows that time will eventually catch up with them and they will have to pay for the love they stole, but for now, they find comfort in each other's arms at the dark end of the street.

The lyrics are powerful and evocative, drawing the listener into the forbidden love affair and capturing the sense of danger and risk that the lovers feel. The repeated refrain of "just you and me" underscores the deep connection between the two characters, even as they are forced to hide their love away. The final verse suggests a hopelessness and resignation, as the singer acknowledges that they will eventually be found out but still finds solace in the forbidden love they share.

Overall, The Dark End Of The Street is a powerful and evocative song that captures the sense of danger and risk inherent in forbidden love affairs. Its lyrics are emotional and moving, and the melody is hauntingly beautiful.

Line by Line Meaning

At the dark end of the street
The place where we clandestinely meet.

That's where we always meet
It's our regular rendezvous point.

Hiding in shadows where we don't belong
Concealing ourselves where we should not be.

Living in darkness to hide our wrong
Existing in obscurity to conceal our misdeeds.

You and me, at the dark end of the street
It's just the two of us at this secret venue.

Just you and me
No one else is involved in this furtive affair.

I know that time is gonna take its toll
The inevitable passage of time will have consequences.

We're gonna pay for the love that we stole
We will bear the price for the affection we surreptitiously obtained.

Ah it's a sin and we know that it's wrong
We are aware that our actions are sinful and inappropriate.

Ah but our love keeps coming on strong
In spite of this, our love only grows stronger.

They're gonna find us
Someone will eventually discover us.