The Hues Corporation was a pop and soul trio of the 70s, best known for the… Read Full Bio ↴The Hues Corporation was a pop and soul trio of the 70s, best known for their 1974 infectious hit "Rock The Boat". The song, a U.S. #1 single and million-seller that's still a radio staple, is considered one of the earliest disco songs. Some authorities proclaim it to be the first disco song to hit #1, while others grant that distinction to "Love's Theme" by the Love Unlimited Orchestra, a chart-topper from earlier in 1974. The Hues Corporation has played on into the new millennium, although facing many challenges.

The group formed in 1969 in Los Angeles, California, Before making it big in the music industry, the group appeared in the popular 1972 blaxploitation film Blacula, which starred actor William Marshall and brought the group in contact with songwriter Waldo Holmes. Holmes would go on to pen "Rock the Boat". The Hues Corporation's four other singles to reach the Billboard Hot 100 were "Freedom For The Stallion" (1973, #63), "Rockin' Soul" (1974, #18), "Love Corporation" (1975, #62), and "I Caught Your Act" (1977, #92).

The group's name was a pun on the Hughes Corporation, with the "hue" being the group's African-American heritage. Interestingly, they initially wanted to call themselves 'Children Of Howard Hughes', but that didn't pan out. The band's members were Bernard "St. Clair" Lee, Flemming Williams, and Ann Kelley.

Despite their initial success, the group disbanded in 1978. But with renewed interest in disco music throughout the 90s, the group reunited for tour dates and special events. This included the popular PBS special Get Down Tonight: The Disco Explosion. Bernard "St. Clair" Lee sadly passed away on March 8th, 2011.

Rockin' Soul
Hues Corporation Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

''Cause when the train of thought gets off the track
The engineer, naturally, starts pullin'' back
''Cause we gotta have a chance to do our dance
And we''ll never go wrong when we''re singin'' our song

So if you want to get to where you let the feeling roll
Get down to your rockin'' soul
Rock down on the inside
If you want to get to where you let the feeling roll
Get down to your rockin'' soul

My heart''s on my sleeve for the whole world to see
''Cause in my life there''s only you and me
You''re my firm foundation, the love I need
Please stand right beside of the soul you feed

''Cause we gotta have a chance to do our dance
Yeah, we gotta have a chance to do our dance
And we''ll never go wrong when we''re singin'' our song

So if you want to get to where you let the feeling roll
Get down to your rockin'' soul

If you want to get to where you let the feeling roll
Get down to your rockin'' soul
Rock on from the inside
Get down to your rockin'' soul
Roll it from the outside
Get down to your rockin'' soul
Got to get on down, got to get on down
Get down to your rockin'' soul
Got to pad your feet when you feel the beat
Get down to your rockin'' soul
Rock on from the outside, children
Get down to your rockin'' soul
Roll it from the inside, baby

Get down to your rockin'' soul
Got to get on down, got to get on down ....

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Hues Corporation's song "Rockin' Soul" encourage listeners to let go of their inhibitions and "get down to [their] rockin' soul," which can be achieved through music and dance. The song highlights the importance of a deep connection between two individuals and how love provides the foundation for one's own identity. The lyrics urge listeners to never give up on love and to continue dancing and singing, even when their train of thought gets derailed.

The upbeat tempo and catchy lyrics of "Rockin' Soul" reflect the disco era of the 1970s, during which the song was released. The Hues Corporation, known for their hit song "Rock the Boat," was a popular disco group during this time period. The song's message of love and the importance of staying true to oneself resonated with audiences at the time and continues to be appreciated by listeners today.

Line by Line Meaning

If you want to get to where you let the feeling roll
If you want to fully express and experience your emotions without barriers or limitations

Get down to your rockin' soul
Connect with your innermost self and let your true essence shine through

Rock down on the inside
Embrace your innermost self

Each day I feel so much closer to you
With every passing day, my love for you grows deeper

But we both got to keep the lovin' comin' on through
We need to continue expressing our love for each other

'Cause when the train of thought gets off the track
When our thinking becomes clouded or confused

The engineer, naturally, starts pullin' back
Our logical mind tries to regain control and slow down our emotions

'Cause we gotta have a chance to do our dance
We need the opportunity to express ourselves freely and without inhibition

And we'll never go wrong when we're singin' our song
We will always be true to ourselves when we express ourselves honestly and authentically

My heart's on my sleeve for the whole world to see
I wear my emotions openly and transparently

'Cause in my life there's only you and me
You are the center of my world and the focus of my affection

You're my firm foundation, the love I need
You provide the emotional support and connection that I need to thrive

Please stand right beside of the soul you feed
Please continue to support and nurture our emotional connection

Got to pad your feet when you feel the beat
Allow yourself to fully experience and respond to the rhythm and energy of the music

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: Wally Holmes

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it

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01Rockin' Soul

Hues Corporation

02How I Wish We Could Do It Again2:58

03We're Keepin' Our Business Together2:47

04Ease On Down The Road (From The Broadway Musical "The Wiz")3:27

05I Got Caught Dancing Again3:19

06Love's There2:58

07Rock The Boat3:05

08I'll Take a Melody3:31

09No End In Sight2:19

10Into My Music3:30

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Most interesting comment from YouTube:

@joelsoumsa

4y↑9

If you want to get to where you let the feeling roll
Get down to your rockin'' soul
Rock down on the inside
If you want to get to where you let the feeling roll
Get down to your rockin'' soul
Each day I feel so much closer to you
But we both got to keep the lovin'' comin'' on through
''Cause when the train of thought gets off the track
The engineer, naturally, starts pullin'' back
''Cause we gotta have a chance to do our dance
And we''ll never go wrong when we''re singin'' our song
So if you want to get to where you let the feeling roll
Get down to your rockin'' soul
Rock down on the inside
If you want to get to where you let the feeling roll
Get down to your rockin'' soul
My heart''s on my sleeve for the whole world to see
''Cause in my life there''s only you and me
You''re my firm foundation, the love I need
Please stand right beside of the soul you feed
''Cause we gotta have a chance to do our dance
Yeah, we gotta have a chance to do our dance
And we''ll never go wrong when we''re singin'' our song
So if you want to get to where you let the feeling roll
Get down to your rockin'' soul
If you want to get to where you let the feeling roll
Get down to your rockin'' soul
Rock on from the inside
Get down to your rockin'' soul
Roll it from the outside
Get down to your rockin'' soul
Got to get on down, got to get on down
Get down to your rockin'' soul
Got to pad your feet when you feel the beat
Get down to your rockin'' soul
Rock on from the outside, children
Get down to your rockin'' soul
Roll it from the inside, baby
Get down to your rockin'' soul
Got to get on down, got to get on down ....
Source : LyricFind
Paroles de Rockin' Soul © O/B/O Capasso

All comments from YouTube:

@edimarrodrigues151

2y↑6

Muita saudade deste tempo. Música muito Bonita, lembra as horas dançante, barraquinhas que tinha aqui no meu bairro...❣👍👍😍😍

@samuelgriffin4223

2y↑6

Wish they had more hits throughout the whole seventies decade love this fabulous group oh so much

@joelsoumsa

4y↑9

@jacquelineandroy5175

2y↑1

Thank you for the lyrics 🥰
💗💞💖💕
🇺🇦🇯🇲🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿✝️

@melodylane989

2y↑3

Amazing song! Full of vigor! I aired it on one of the radio stations I was programming, and it was so well received. Should have become a smash hit!!!!!!!

@jackope3869

2y↑3

Recuerdos de mi niñez año 1977 🥴, hermosos años‼
Por cierto ¿alguien en variante Ómicrom - Covid año 2022? 😎

@tinablanco9863

4y↑2

Que linda está canción trae buenos y lindos recuerdos de mi adolescencia

@cristiansilva5170

29w↑1

excelente interpretacion !!!!!

@mauriciovergara3558

3y↑2

Gracias a esta canción nació en mi el amor por la música anglo...tendría yo por ese entonces 5 años ...recuerdos muy hermosos de mi infancia...

@aidajudithavila5848

2y↑2

Yo igual 😊

@michellewalker686

3y↑2

This song's playing in my head all day!!💃💃🎵🎼🎧😍😍2021

@ianepereira4635

10y↑1

Época das músicas de verdade...músicas sadias e bacanas....amooo

@jeffersonCamaradesousa

Me lembra a cidade de SP kk

@mendesbelchior7927

1y↑1

Cara! essa é boa demais 18-01-2023

@karencarbone2603

44w

The best years of my life. Every day was living high. Working 9 to 5 and waiting for the weekend to go to Disco! I,m 64 now and can,t believe almost 50 years have gone by!❤😊

@ari25m

5y↑1

Ah que tempo bom inesquecível

@kaharold

4y↑2

I Love Their Voices, YOU can Hear the Soul in their Voices Especially Hubert Ann Kelly

@chulleybogle1865

44w↑1

So true!

@dickcraigery

11y↑4

I had utterly forgotten this song....you put me into a time warp!! Thank you!

@samuelgriffin4167

3y↑3

Wish we can bring old school music back on radio again life will be a much better world

@charlesperry6093

1y↑1

It should be a mandatory class in like 7th 8th grade maybe this will help the kids in school especially if they learn the lyrics and understand the whole scene that happened everything that transpired in the '70s they would have definitely have different viewpoint of the world

@hibarnigonzalez9605

6y↑1

Presioso tema de esa epoca me trae lindos recuerdos que voces aquellas lo mejor

@yuryperez7500

The Hues Corporation,...Los primeros que hicieron bailar a toda la Quinta Vergara en el Festival de Viña del Mar de 1978... Una Locura!

@hibarnigonzalez9605

6y↑1

Excelente tema onda Disco muy lindo que voces aquellas que lindos Recuerdos

@scottburton9701

5y↑3

Kinda surprised you don't hear this on the radio anymore-Equally as good as "Rock The Boat".

@jorgegonzalez7551

6y↑1

Grán tema,lo escuchaba desde pequeño...gracias por el aporte!!1

@user-cw3pc8qr9p

I love it ♥️👍

@mjdace5041

34w

I remember listening to this 🎵 song when it came out in October 1974 . Listening to my favorite AM 📻 radio station 🚉 that was Music Radio 77 WABC AM. It was a monstrous song at the time.

@stevenquinn4641

7y↑5

Love it seems like yesterday The music made troubles seem less than what they were Thanks for this

@tremayne3

9y↑8

Great bass in this great tune by the Hues Corp.

@Riker787

9y↑2

same as Rock the Boat :)

@62chucky

9y↑1

+Mark Nicol 2 hit wonders...lol

@rodney10000

8y↑2

+Pete Mago Yes it is!!!

@TheAmberDuke

1y↑2

See. This is why I purchase all my music. So I can make my own extended playlists. I can listen to The Hues Corporation or the Chi-lites anytime I want.

@albertosara6545

3y↑2

the best music and the best time...

@jawadehud

11y↑1

musica muy agradable

@vanderleibueno9721

8y↑1

EU NÃO ENTENDO PORQUE ROCK THE BOAT TEM MAIS FAMA, MAIS STATUS SE ESTA MÚSICA DELES É MUITO MAIS BONITA. É SÓ PRESTAR ATENÇÃO E COMPARAR, OUÇAM O SOM, A LETRA JÁ DIZ TUDO, É DA ALMA. MARAVILHOSA.
ABRAÇO A TODOS OS AMIGOS

@miriamoreira62

São lindas as duas.

@raquelcabral4741

Concordo. Deus abencoe

@antoniopallanniti2346

4y↑1

Me gusta hues corporation son buenos barbaros

@rubendaj

9y↑10

Disco music have a special and magic sound, you just have to hear the violins, the lost sound of trumpets and the descending bass electric guitar

@bsjcs3827

5y↑2

Merci à YouTube de nous garder de telles vidéos....Je retrouve ma jeunesse 😁😅😎😍😘

@joelsoumsa

4y↑1

Brigitte Schmit Effectivement Brigitte, c’est super..... Je savoure autant que vous 👏👏👍

@elizetediasdossantos383

Que lindo

@Multi1628

9y↑1

Their appearance at the Blue Room in New Orleans at the Fairmont Roosevelt was fun - anyone recall the reason for the headband on the one dude? Thank you for posting another iconic dance classic!! DAVEDJ

@chachomordaz7431

DAVID WOLF The headband on the head is a kung-fu style thing on the era. I am a mexican, but i know about these things, you know? I used to be an archivist in wholesale records stores, way back in 1980.

@disneydjmike1890

6y↑1

first hit by Hues Corp. #18 Pop, #9 Disco & #6 R&B charts 1974

@SchindlerJr1

5y↑7

Great Song; I actually like it a bit more than Rock The Boat.
The group's name was a pun on the Howard Hughes Corporation, with the 'Hue' (a synonym of 'color'), being a nod to the group members' African heritage.
The original choice for the group's name was The Children of Howard Hughes, which their record label turned down.
After the success of "Rock the Boat," the Hues Corporation's followup hit single "Rockin' Soul" (1974) made it to the #18 position on Billboards Hot 100 chart.. (US)
Hubert Ann Kelley (born April 24, 1947) is the group's only surviving member that sang on these two songs..

@fidelaphz1398

Que linda canción de los silver Convención del año 1974 me gusta mucho yo tenía 11 años y la escuchaba aquí en Lima donde vivo Elena Lima Perú 2020

@i5705b5705j5705j

9y↑10

A bit too similar to "Boat", but when it's this good, I don't mind it at all. I felt a lot disappointed when the follow-up "Love Corporation" didn't even make the Top 40. That was an awesome tune as well. But everything they released was so good anyway! Thanks for the upload!!

@nelsoncruz8191

6y↑1

Why hasn't anybody made an extended disco version of this song????

@valentinliendoescudero5583

9y↑1

This song listened to a lot of in 1974- 1975 in the radio here in Lima, great hues corporation, the same was with rock boat, greetings.

@abrahambustamante4845

Me recuerda mi juventud en Valparaiso...tiemposque no volveran...sniffff!!!!

@chrismaynard6016

4y↑1

Still got my 7" of this......the hole is OFF CENTRE but still plays......hohoho. Brill.

@samuelgriffin4167

2y↑1

Marking the end of summer heading into fall of 1974 with The Hues Corporation song Rockin Soul follow up to Rock The Boat

@wackytracky2755

2y↑1

Use to think they were singing "Get down to your rotten soul" when I was a kid. I still can't not hear that.

@samuelgriffin4167

Hues Corporation eventually began life musically in 1972 with their debut song There He Is Again prior to the blaxplotation cinema Blacula

@Derwentcub

11y↑4

I much prefer this to 'Rock The Boat' although love both songs. Unfortunately this received hardly any airplay at all in the UK. I first heard it at a nightclub in 1974.

@tinydancer6949

I love both songs but prefer this to "Rock the Boat" also.

@pontiacgrandprix733

6y↑1

That's the shit

@jacquelineandroy5175

2y↑1

My local radio station
brought me here📻
💗💞💖💕
🇺🇦🇯🇲🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿✝️

@MrTL117

12y

@Riker787 Plays pretty good, no major scratches or buckles :)

@samuelgriffin9364

Time has passed us since the year 1974 here we are in 2019 people who were children and babies now grown up as adults saying where did the time go flies by

@swami1

Sounds like it was written by the writers of "Rock the Boat" and recorded during the same session.

@laurabolton9349

10y

I heard an instrumental version of this song in a school video about Cuba. I'll never forget learning that Castro kept the US-inspired Cuban flag as a salute to the USA liberating Cuba from Spain in 1900.

@funktron4

Where did you hear that crazy fantasy about Castro? LMFAO.

@paulinethompson1703

3y↑2

Best of the best we outside 💕

@73soulboy

12y↑2

Top banana tune, just as good as 'Rock The Boat'.Oh yeah "Rock down on the inside". Pax to all from 73soulboy.Xxx.

@kareenmarcia

12y↑3

thanks for posting!

@Calvin375

11y

Well actually they came out in 77 with the song "Uptown Festival" and "Take That To The Bank" in '78 with then lead singer Gerald Brown and in '79 with Howard Hewitt -"Second Time Around" and then on until '83.

@donaldthompson3082

33w

Very very underated gtoup

@samuelgriffin9364

5y↑2

Birth of disco music out of 1974 the days of afros bell bottom pants platform shoes heyday memories the end of 1973 going into 1974 disco was making it's debut up until 1980

@MrTL117

12y↑3

I couldn't believe I found a 45 of this song

@rhondahancock96

8y↑13

better than rock the boat

@rodrickchisala9619

7y↑1

i agree with u.. Rodrick Chisala...kitwe za.

@wedge4hire

5y↑1

You know it!! It's way better! Great track!

@tremayne3

Absolutely !!!

@MCharlerySmith

No way!

@arneliobulanadi5032

3y↑2

Please make a karaoke

@melodysanger103

8y↑1

Happy Birthday to Hubert Ann Kelly (April 24, 1947), and remembering Bernard St. Clair Lee (April 24, 1944 – March 8, 2011) [04/24/2016]

@NicNacPTac01

Also Fleming Williams who committed suicide in 1998 while struggling with a cocaine addiction...S I P.

@dewaynewhite2928

NicNacPTac01 dammmn! didn't know that, wow!

@moehammondmedia

10y

Shalamar debut 77 Hues debut 73. But your point is still a valid one.

@Riker787

12y

@MrTL117 lets hope it plays OK :) no buckles or scratches!

@andresarrieta8082

okey . good-rock.

@samuelgriffin4167

Similar to Rock The Boat

@Rick88888888

Lovely song, but it is most irritating that the actual play duration is only 02:55 after which there is 2 minutes and 21 seconds of useless silence. NOT GOOD if autoplay is switched on!