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The band was formed as the house band of Stax Records, providing backing music for a variety of singers such as Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding.

In summer 1962, seventeen-year-old keyboardist Booker T. Jones, twenty-year-old guitarist Steve Cropper, bass player Lewie Steinberg, and Al Jackson Jr., a drummer making his debut with the company, were in the Memphis studio to back up former Sun Records star Billy Lee Riley.

During downtime, the four started playing around with a bluesy little organ ditty reminiscent of Ray Charles.

Jim Stewart, the president of Stax Records, liked what he heard and hit the “ record ” button.

He liked the finished product enough to want to release it, but he told the group that they would also record a B-side to go along with it.

Cropper remembered a riff that Jones had come up with weeks earlier and before long, they had their second song.