Horns: If I Can't Have You

Etta James & Harvey Fuqua: If I Can't Have You

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I've been scarce from SMM for the last couple of weeks (and probably will continue to be for the rest of the month), but I couldn't let this week's theme go by without throwing this one up. "If I Can't Have You" is not only my favorite Etta James song, it's among my favorite songs by anyone, ever. This song makes you happy, makes you dopey, makes you want to go up to your woman and give her a kiss or a pinch. And the sax that comes in during the chorus makes you want to do it in the most lascivious way possible: shoulders rollin', legs struttin'.

Harvey Fuqua's delivery in particular really makes the song. Every time I hear this tune I imagine Bill Cosby lip syncing—"I just don't—I just don't—I just don't want to be bothered with nobody..."—this is like the song that never made it to one of those classic Cosby Show episodes where the family lip syncs an r&b classic.