‘I Want to Take You Higher’ is a song by the soul/rock/funk band Sly and the Family Stone, the B-side to their Top 30 hit ‘Stand!’. Unlike most of the other tracks on the Stand! album, ‘I Want to Take You Higher’ is not a message song; instead, it is simply dedicated to music and the feeling one gets from music. Like nearly all of Sly & the Family Stone's songs, Sylvester "Sly Stone" Stewart was credited as the sole songwriter.
This song represents everything Sly & the Family Stone stood for when they were at their best: enlightenment, togetherness, uplift. Like most songs from the '60s with the word "high" in the title, many assumed it was about drugs, but there's no indication that's so. It's the music that will lift you higher.
‘I Want to Take You Higher’ opens with a bluesy guitar riff played by Freddie Stone. The song, one of the most upbeat recordings in the Family Stone canon, is a remake of sorts of ‘Higher’, a song from the band's 1968 Dance to the Music LP. ‘Higher’ itself has its origins in ‘Advice’, a song Sly Stone co-wrote and arranged for Billy Preston's album The Wildest Organ In Town in 1966. ‘Higher’ made the setlist for the band's performance at Woodstock alongside ‘Dance to the Music’ and "Music Lover"; Sly Stone used the song during a memorable interlude, during which he had the Woodstock crowd repeating, at three in the morning, the song's frantic cry of "higher!"
Their breakthrough album was their fourth, Stand! Released in 1969, the lead single, "Everyday People" was their first #1 hit topping the chart in February 1969. "I Want To Take You Higher" was released a few months later and stalled at #60 in June, but after the band played it a Woodstock, it became one of their classics. Even though it was a B-side, ‘I Want to Take You Higher’ became a Top 40 hit (No. 38) of its own in 1970. That same year, Ike & Tina Turner released a cover of the song that became a hit as well, peaking above the original Family Stone recording on the Billboard Hot 100 (at No. 34), and one position below the original on the R&B singles chart.
Label – Epic
Songwriter – Sly Stone
Producer – Sly Stone
SONG LYRICS
Hey, hey, hey, heyBeat is gettin' stronger
Music gettin' longer, too
Music is a-flashin' me
I want to, I want to, I want to take you higher
I wanna take you higher
Baby, baby, baby, light my fire
I wanna take you higher
Boom laka-laka-laka
Boom laka-lak-goon-ka boom
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Beat is nitty-gritty
Sound is in your city, too
Music's still flashin' me
Don't ya, don't ya, don't, don't, don't ya wanna get higher?
Don't ya wanna get higher?
Baby, baby, baby, light my fire (Woo)
I wanna take you higher
Boom laka-laka-laka
Boom laka-lak-goon-ka boom
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Boom laka-laka-laka [repeated]
Higher
Higher
Higher
Higher
Higher (Won't ya light my fire?)
Higher (Woo, yeah)
Higher (Wanna take you higher)
Higher
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Beat is there to make you move
Sound is there to help you groove
Music's still flashin' me
Take your places
I wanna take you higher (Higher [repeated])
Wanna take you higher
Baby, baby, baby, light my fire (Woo)
I wanna take you high, high, high, high, high, high, high, high
Boom laka-laka-laka
Boom laka-lak-goon-ka
Boom laka-laka-laka [repeated]
Higher (Let me take you)
Higher (Do you wanna go)
Higher (With me, me)
Higher (And you, you)
Higher (Won't ya light my fire?)
Higher (Woo, yeah)
Higher (Wanna take you higher)
Higher
Boom laka-laka-laka [repeated]
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Boom laka-laka-laka [repeated]
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Boom laka-laka-laka [repeated]
Higher (Do you feel it?)
Higher (Yeah)
Higher
Higher
Higher (Don't you wanna go higher?)
Higher (Woo)
Higher (I wanna take you higher)
Higher (Yeah, yeah)
Boom laka-laka-laka [repeated]
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Boom laka-laka-laka [repeated]
Higher (Always was a tripper)
Higher (Never was a slipper)
Higher (Hey, uh)
Higher (I wanna take you higher)
Higher (Yeah, yeah)
Higher (I wanna take you higher)
Higher
Higher
Boom laka-laka-laka [repeated]
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Boom laka-laka-laka [repeated]
Everybody higher, higher, higher, higher, higher, higher, higher, higher
Higher