The Snake - Al Wilson

Another club favourite from back in the Northern Soul era was “The Snake,” by Al Wilson.

Originally written and first recorded in 1963 by civil-rights activist Oscar Brown, it became a hit for US singer Al Wilson 5 years later. It relates a story very similar to Aesop’s fable “The Farmer and the Viper.”

The song tells the tale of a kind-hearted woman who rescues a freezing snake and nurses it back to health. When she was later bitten by the snake, she protests, only to be told: “You knew darn well I was a snake before you took me in.”

The song is a parable about betrayal — a warning about trusting someone who shows clear signs of being harmful.

Its success on the Northern Soul scene led to its appearance on over 30 pop and Northern Soul compilation albums and to its use in a Lambrini TV advertisement in the UK. Donald Trump also featured the song at a political rally in Pennysylvania.

Al Wilson, who was also remembered for his later million-seller hit “Show and Tell,” was born in Meridian, Mississippi in 1939. He passed away from Kkidney failure in 2008.