Sensational '70's Tune for Tuesday, March 17th, '09

Chaka Khan's most requested song while with Rufus and solo as well. Charming, simplistic, no strings -- just Chaka singing with the Rufus band, specifically her collaborator, Tony Maiden's guitar. Maiden opens with some lovable chords that he sustains with incremental embellishment throughout, under Chaka's smoldering delivery. They break it down on the fade with additional backing voices providing a launching pad for Chaka's blood-curdling wails. The public loved "Sweet Thing"; it aced the R&B chart early in 1976 and has been remade many times, most notably by Mary J. Blige in 1993 and saxophonist Boney James.