Isaac Hayes: "Don't Let Go" Polydor PRO 103 (promotional release)
Released 1979
Speed: 33â…“ RPM
From the album Don't Let Go.
A1: Don't Let Go / 7:16 / (Short Version)
B1: Don't Let Go / 12:49 / (Long Version)
Some non-US versions include the non-album track
"You Can't Hold Your Woman" (4:48) on the B-side.
Mexican release "No Me Dejes (Don't Let Go)"
was released in four colored versions: translucent
vinyl in red, green and yellow, and this
marbled translucent version in all three colors.
This 12-inch single shouldn't be too difficult to find--in the US market, it was released only as a promotional 12-inch single. The shorter side is the album-length version, whereas the B-side is extended five minutes further. There is also a 45 RPM 7-inch single version clocking in at 3:58.
I only discovered the full album a few years ago. This comes from the era when Hayes rebooted his career and made a string of somewhat successful recordings for the Polydor label, his Shaft and Hot Buttered Soul days behind him. Some elements of those older recordings trickle into the production, however, in tracks like "A Few More Kisses to Go" and especially the pensive "Someone Who Will Take the Place of You." The dud among the five album tracks is "Fever." Yes, that "Fever." It's not a total failure, but it's not as clever of a remake as "Don't Let Go" is.
A hidden gem is the non-album B-side, "You Can't Hold your Woman," which finally joins the rest of the album on the expanded version released as a CD with other bonus tracks (alternate single versions of the tracks). An extended version of this track appears on The Best of the Polydor Years, a great overview of this era.
"Don't Let Go" surprised me in another form about 20 years ago. I was listening the XM Radio channel 50s on 5 and in most confusing fashion, this song came on that I'd never heard before, yet I knew all the lyrics! It took me a second listen before I realized it was the Isaac Hayes record I knew from 1979, as the hit was in heavy rotation on the local soul/funk radio stations. This original version I heard was by Roy Hamilton.
