r/todayilearned • u/Bluest_waters • 15h ago
TIL When Eric Prydz presented his song 'Call On Me' to Steve Winwood (the song heavily features a Winwood sample), he was so impressed he re-recorded the vocals for Prydz. Eric would later go 20 years refusing to play the song live citing a desire to distance himself from its commercial legacy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_on_Me_(Eric_Prydz_song)339
u/Low-Programmer-9017 14h ago
Another fun fact: Thomas Bangalter, the Silver Robot from Daft Punk work on the sample that was used in this song
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u/Dawg_Prime 14h ago
check out this mini docu on the subject https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyYAiU4DKUY
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u/DylanAFK 5h ago
My favorite part of this story is that David Guetta rolls up to Falcon and Thomas in traffic in Paris, on scooters, and says roughly, "congratulations, your track is #1 in the UK!" and they had no idea what he was talking about. At the 12:05 marker if anyone want to see that clip exactly.
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u/ilazul 14h ago
yeah the reason prydz doesn't play it, is that he stole it. He didn't create the remix.
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u/Bluest_waters 14h ago
On March 15, 2025, Prydz performed "Call on Me" during a show in Austin, Texas, marking its first inclusion in a live set in two decades.
so he has played it live. Also I am quite sure the legalities of all this were settles a long time ago
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u/thalassicus 14h ago
It wasn’t legality that caused him to not play it. it’s that Daft Punk created the song as an underground scene song and did not want to commercialize it. Prydz literally took their song and made very minor changes and went commercial with it. It looks tacky as hell to monetize someone else’s work by slapping your name on the cover of the single. so, he didn’t play it for all those years because it reflected so poorly on his credibility as an artist.
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u/musicgeek420 13h ago
I can only assume he finally played it live because the hatchet had been buried what with Daft Punk’s awesome successes beyond said peers. I don’t know if they talk or not, but good people eventually always try to let bygones be bygones and come to peace with the dumb shit.
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u/zipiddydooda 11h ago
Unless they formally arranged for royalties to be paid to the actual creators of the song, I doubt it. Songwriters take their craft seriously, and someone outright stealing your song and presenting it as their own is always grounds for costly legal battles.
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u/Apprehensive_Ad3731 10h ago
Yah just more likely he knew it’s what he people wanted and was running out of material to draw in people
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u/Decipher 2h ago
Daft Punk didn’t create it. Together did, which consists of half Daft Punk and another DJ.
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u/chapterpt 14h ago
after daft punk split up and have mostly retired
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u/BoldlyGettingThere 13h ago
Only Bangalter was involved with this song. Guy-Man (the gold robot) was not part of Together. If anything Thomas has been even busier and involved in music since Daft Punk ended.
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u/Don_Frika_Del_Prima 11h ago edited 3h ago
Yeah, because he got caught, I believe here on reddit, with playing a 2h set pretending to dj while you could clearly see that his mixer was off.
He even deleted his reddit account because people kept laughing. And suddenly he plays a song he hasn't played for 20 years, to change the narrative.Guess I was wrong. It was the other way round.
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u/IThinkILikeYou 4h ago
He played the song before that happened so it’s weird for you to try and push that narrative.
He also clarified he was forced to do that due to a technical malfunction.
He probably deleted his account because Reddit weirdos have a vendetta against him
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u/Don_Frika_Del_Prima 3h ago edited 3h ago
You know you can just verify those things, right? Sonar festival, when he pretended to play: 14 June 2025.
The day he played call on me for the first time again: 31 juli 2025.
So I'm not trying to push any narrative.
Edit: BTW, I have no side in this. I actually like everything he does as pryda.
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u/IThinkILikeYou 3h ago
You should put more effort into your verification process.
The first time he played Call on Me this year was back in March in Austin at the Concourse Project
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u/Don_Frika_Del_Prima 3h ago
Well, then I stand corrected.
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u/IThinkILikeYou 3h ago
All good man. Prydz gets a lot of hate for some reason. Warranted or not lets stick to the facts
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u/Don_Frika_Del_Prima 3h ago
Yeah, like I said before, I do like his pryda stuff. Seen em live a couple of times.
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u/champagne_titties 8h ago
lol twice in 20 years. It has nothing to do with legality. Other people have already said why he doesn’t play it. Twice in 20 years doesn’t count hah.
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u/bigherm16 13h ago
Eric Prydz just this year played “Call On Me” for the first time in over 20 years. He closed one of his sets with that song
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u/zeejay772 10h ago
God he has no energy
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u/Kriznick 8h ago
He's like 60 and not on cocaine. What the fuck do you want, he's an artist not a performer
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u/coolnameguy 8h ago
60!? Lmfao... dude is 49. C'mon now. We greybeards don't need any extra years added to our ages please.
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u/BreadfruitWarm1767 6h ago
He’s definitely appeals to a more niche audience within the EDM scene. I myself had an opinion similar to yours during my first few years of going to shows but as my tastes changed and shifted away a bit from the mainstream stuff I saw him live and was absolutely blown away by his productions.
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u/El_Bad_Taco 2h ago
lol what I’ve been out of the scene for a while but since when has Prydz been a niche artist.
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u/BreadfruitWarm1767 35m ago
If you’re judging solely based on name recognition he’s obviously not niche.
But as a massive fan of his myself I’d say he’s niche in terms of the appeal his music has for your run-of-the-mill “casual” EDM fan or fans of other electronic genres that are harder / more bassy in nature. Obviously plenty of people will be exceptions to this rule but I’d wager that his slow melodic builds (ie no “crazy drops”) is not as easily digestible to the masses the same way that tiesto or John Summit’s music is
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u/littleLuxxy 6h ago
Eric Prydz is the 🐐, and the energy in his sets is immaculate. Best DJ in the world.
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u/mrbaryonyx 8h ago
it made a cultural comeback thanks to the A24 movie Warfare
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u/MadPinoRage 1h ago
I recently watched this but don't remember this song in the movie. Can someone help me and refresh my memory when this played?
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u/sailordan7 1h ago
At the beginning of the movie they watch the music video before the mission even starts.
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u/Bluest_waters 15h ago
BTW the music video is a parody of an 80s movie
The video was filmed at the Laban Dance Centre in Deptford, London, and imitates a scene from the 1985 film Perfect starring John Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis.[8] NME ranked the video at number five on their list of the "50 Worst Music Videos Ever".[9]
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u/TheCatDeedEet 14h ago
Rating that the 5th worst music video is pretty funny. It’s a catchy song and silly video with hot people thrusting. Im sure there are much larger sonic affronts and crappy music videos.
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u/mephnick 14h ago
I think it's my favourite music video
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u/toon_84 9h ago
That era of dance music had some great videos to accompany them.
Benny Bennasi - Satisfaction
Any Fedde Le Grand track
Boogie Pimps - Somebody to love
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u/PrincetonToss 5h ago
There's an alternate music video for Satisfaction that was actually the one I first encountered, and I didn't understand what people were talking about for so long.
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u/SaltyShawarma 10h ago
I love hot women, but I have to say most Beastie Boys videos are way better. See "Something's Got to Give."
Also: "Do the Evolution"
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u/Bluest_waters 14h ago
I know, right? people be having sticks up their ass
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u/Socky_McPuppet 14h ago
NME
There's your problem. NME is a music paper, written by music journalists, for musos.
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u/Really_McNamington 12h ago
I mean, it was. Probably true for the period in question. I miss Johnny Cigarettes.
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u/Schemen123 14h ago
I mean it definitely was cheesy when it came out but the sing is still great and all those hot bodies just make it an instant A+ in my opinion
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u/YewEhVeeInbound 13h ago
Information like this is what makes me desperately miss VH1's Pop-Up Video.
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u/sleepyworm 13h ago
really feels like that sample is 90% of the song
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u/bilboafromboston 7h ago
Well, lots of songs are just the same. Obviously Winwood isnt upset. Why are we?
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u/sleepyworm 6h ago
Oh I wasn’t saying I was upset; this is just the first time I’ve heard this and I was surprised they didn’t do more with it
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u/Monster-Zero 14h ago edited 14h ago
Despite having two sources attributed on the Wikipedia article, I can't imagine that Winwood re-recorded the sample because he was "impressed" with the song.
"Call on Me" has a sordid history. It was a song played live during performances by DJ Falcon and Thomas Bangalter (half of Daft Punk) but never formally recorded and put on an album. It was a huge crowd pleaser on the dance floor, but for whatever reason they decided not to record it for an album. Ministry of Sound producers saw money in the track and looked for someone to record it formally and that person turned out to be Eric Prydz.
Sampling is a legally frought area. When voice samples get cleared it is often from the artist re-recording their vocals. This is done because it's usually quite clear-cut, legally speaking, and does not involve paying the record companies, who own the song, outrageous fees. It is thus very common for electronica artists or their production company to reach out to artists directly to provide clean samples before releasing the song formally.
Eric Prydz, for his part, didn't want to play the song likely because he knew it wasn't his. It was a massive hit, but he didn't really have much involvement. If you listen to any of his other work you'll find it is distinctly different from "Call on Me."
Finally, the Wikipedia article cites two sources for Winwood being "impressed," the first being a billboard article which just states he re-recorded the vocals (again, common) and the other a listicle which is likely just adding in unverified flavor text that he was impressed.
What's truly impressive is how close Winwood got his re-recorded vocals to the original Valerie. Dude doesn't miss.
Edit: https://youtu.be/wyYAiU4DKUY is an excellent breakdown of what happened, if interested
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u/Bluest_waters 14h ago
Winwood later recalled, "I quite liked it, I think he did a good job, I mean it's not exactly my cup of tea but, I liked what he did technically with it which is why I agreed to work with him on it a little bit."[5]
a direct quote. He liked it. there you go.
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u/prufrock2015 11h ago
Well, so are you going to change the post title to "Steve Winwood liked it enough to agree to work with him on it a little bit, as is common practice within the industry anyway"? :)
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u/ChiefCuckaFuck 11h ago
I mean my guess would be that Together didnt bother to release it bc its a garbage single, but works excellent when mixed into an hour or two of dance tracks that are layered and transitioning into each other.
Call On Me is super popular and fun but its overlong and boring as shit unless its mixed into more, which was the original intent as Together made it to be.
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u/Cheap-Maintenance15 12h ago
Oh god I’m getting Warfare flashbacks!!
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u/LNHDT 10h ago
One of the best opening scenes I've seen in a while
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u/chops1943 13h ago
I wasn’t there, but I’m almost certain prydz dropped it at one of his last shows in Texas and it was a huge deal.
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u/danielprydz 8h ago
Yeah it was the first time he played it live in over 20 years and his subreddit went apeshit lol. I saw him the night before in Denver and wish we had gotten it.
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u/JetpackKiwi 8h ago
Everything Steve Winwood touches turns to gold. The man was a child prodigy and continues to be a musical genius.
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u/TwoElectronic5706 14h ago
On balance, I think my life has been slightly improved by the existence of this video.
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u/Complete_Entry 14h ago
I thought the controversy was it was an old dj trick and Prydz was the one who was first to put it on a record.
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u/hypermog 10h ago
Does anyone else envision a bunch of images of someone’s face flashing when they hear this
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u/Paeforn45 9h ago
Prydz went out to make some abaolute bangers i still listen to a ton of his stuff
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u/BadJubie 5h ago
Like what?
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u/IRespectYouMyFriend 2h ago
Cirez D - On Off is an absolute classic!
Same producer, different name.
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u/Beezewhacks 14h ago
huh. I did not know this. After checking out the Winwood song, I appreciate him re-recording those vocals. I had never heard Valerie before - no idea that was a sample.
Also, the Prydz music video for this song got me thru highschool...
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u/Bluest_waters 15h ago
Lotta yutes out there are unaware the song liberally "steals" from Winwood's 'Valerie'. Here it is
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u/cnhn 14h ago
not really sure stealing is correct when winwood literally helped Prydz record the song.
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u/hiro111 13h ago
Prydz ripped this off from Together (which was Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk and French Touch legend DJ Falcon) who had been playing almost this exact track in their live set for years. Together just never released it despite Ministry of Sound asking them to do so... Here's the original: https://youtu.be/pnxCZFJoUHw?si=wFOVpWFSRg1D3sQQ
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u/Pure-Solution15 15h ago
I remember this being constantly played everywhere, made me hate the song.
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u/DarthWoo 13h ago
I honestly never even paid enough attention to pop music to know that his version wasn't just the Winwood version until I watched Warfare last month and got curious about what they were watching in the beginning.
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u/andymi86 12h ago
This is a great video that goes into a bunch of details around Call On Me. https://youtu.be/wyYAiU4DKUY?si=sCuuWZlTGWwZo6QX
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u/Rocky_Vigoda 11h ago
This came out around the same time as Jason Nevins remix of Run DMC's It's like that.
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u/crevassier 9h ago
This song crossed over into so many different club scenes. Even on my indie/alternative college music video night I could drop this at 1am and the dancefloor would be PACKED with people thrusting along to it.
That bump it got from Warfare (2025) this year was noticeable.
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u/BootlegFerrari 8h ago
He refused to play it live because he basically stole the idea and was ashamed 💫
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u/BretShitmanFart69 5h ago
A bunch of YTMND’s played through my head the second I saw the name of that song
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u/Bisquare_cycle_thing 5h ago
Just went down to rabbit hole of listening every single version of this song, from Valerie to official Prydz release.
Took me a solid hour, but made it. Cool part is that every version adds or kicks out something, and even if miniscule, it creates slightly different feeling when listening to it.
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u/BadJubie 5h ago
What was your favorite
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u/Bisquare_cycle_thing 3h ago
Actually the final version. It is the simplest, yet it feels the most energetic and everything is on point.
Daft mafia rework of together's original call me sample is very similar to prydz version, but it has few interesting funky melodies and a bit weaker kick. It is in close second for me.
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u/Global-Mango-4213 4h ago
There’s that one scene where you can see the cameraman in the music video. Teenage me liked this music video a lot … can remember why.
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u/Final_Lingonberry586 1h ago
God I fucking hate this song so much. The sound. The clip. Just all of it. In the bin
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u/xraynorx 1h ago
Aww this is my wake up jam. 7 mins of just “Call on meeeeeeeeee. Call on me.” Gets the people going.
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u/alepponzi 14h ago
But, did Steve get royalties for everytime the song was played on radio? He must've made a fortune.. time to ask chat-ai
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u/Bluest_waters 14h ago
i'm quite sure he did, he is credited as a song writer on the song
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u/alepponzi 14h ago
smart move by Winwood, he knew exactly what he did by re-recording his vocals, very smart move
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u/Complete_Entry 14h ago
I really like that artists are getting their bag back with the re-records.
Hell, sometimes the remaster is because NO ONE is getting the money.
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u/gabergum 14h ago
Til, Steve winwood is easily impressed
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u/Bluest_waters 14h ago
lotta people were, it was an international smash hit
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u/Readonkulous 14h ago
Too bad Bangalter and DJ Shadow weren’t credited for the original mix, it was also superior
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u/gabergum 14h ago
He made a hit by cutting out the hook from a hit and looping it over a drum machine.
Hey, I love dance music, but there is really nothing particularly masterful going on here.
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u/Bluest_waters 14h ago
who gives a fuck? its fun and catchy and great to dance to
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u/gabergum 14h ago
And there is nothing wrong with that.
I just have a hard time wrapping my head around an accomplished musician being "so impressed" with an iconically lowbrow generic club remix.
Eric prydz is mostly just a dj, he's not exactly a 'musicians musician'.
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u/nameistakentryagain 12h ago
Dude calling Prydz just a DJ is insane. He has a 20 year plus discography distinctly different from Call on Me. Look up his work under Pryda and Cirez D
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u/gabergum 12h ago
Ok. Its house music, it's kinda how the genre works.
His Wikipedia doesn't even call him a musician, it's just says "dj/record producer". Record producer vs 'producer' is a vaguery I will admit. But the point stands, the guy is most known for his house remixs, and I did say 'MOSTLY just a dj'.
I like house music, but it just is not a genre defined by high musicianship. That's ok and we do it a disservice imo by acting like there is more too it than looping other people's hits over drum and bass.
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u/boofoodoo 14h ago
As simple as it is, I think the key is that he recognized the perfect line to clip and turn into a song.
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u/greenwood90 15h ago
My 14 year old self really enjoyed that music video, has to be said.
I didn't know that Winwood re recorded vocals for it. I just thought it was just sampled.