The Winstons - Amen, Brother / Color Him Father

Year Released: 1969
Genre: Soul / Funk / Breakbeat

Description:

“Amen, Brother / Color Him Father” by The Winstons is a historic 7″ soul single released in 1969 on Metromedia Records. Although “Color Him Father” was the intended A-side — a sentimental soul hit that reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned the band a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song — it was the B-side, “Amen, Brother,” that would go on to become one of the most influential recordings in modern music history.

The A-side, “Color Him Father,” is a tender, gospel-tinged soul ballad written by Richard Spencer, celebrating the love and devotion of a stepfather. Its warm melody, heartfelt lyrics, and the group’s smooth vocal harmonies made it a mainstream success and one of the most touching soul singles of the late 1960s.

The B-side, “Amen, Brother,” is an uptempo instrumental reinterpretation of the gospel standard “Amen,” featuring a lively horn section, punchy bass, and energetic drumming by Gregory C. Coleman. The track’s famous six-second drum break, occurring roughly midway through the song, became known as the “Amen Break” — the most sampled drum pattern of all time.

This breakbeat — raw, syncopated, and effortlessly funky — would go on to shape the sound of Hip-Hop, jungle, drum & bass and breakbeat for decades. It has been sampled by hundreds of artists from Schoolly D to 4-Hero, or from Salt-N-Pepa to Foul Play, but these 3 features are certainly up there with the most recognised:

N.W.A – “Straight Outta Compton”

Mantronix – “King of the Beats

Baby D - ”Let Me Be Your Fantasy

The 7″ single thus embodies a remarkable dual legacy — the emotional warmth of “Color Him Father” on one side and the revolutionary rhythmic DNA of “Amen, Brother” on the other. While the A-side represents the heart of late-’60s soul, the B-side inadvertently provided the foundation of modern beat-based music, influencing generations of producers, DJs, and musicians. (and how many times have we found the real heavy hitting floor rockers on the B-Side)

Despite the Winstons themselves never receiving royalties from the sampling explosion, their work endures as one of the most impactful 7″ releases in music history.

Amen, Brother stands out as a drum-break cornerstone that quite literally changed the course of modern music