Entry · catalog no. 8212
soul
/ /soʊl/ /SOHL
noun · United States · 1950s
✓ Verified
1.
The depth of feeling, authenticity and shared inheritance of Black American life, and the music that expresses it, rooted in gospel and the blues.
“You can't fake soul; it comes from what you've lived.”
Origin & Attribution
Gospel groups of the 1940s and 1950s sometimes carried the word in their names. Ray Charles is often cited as popularizing soul music, beginning with \"I Got a Woman\" in 1954, which set gospel feeling against secular lyrics. The phrase \"soul music\" is first attested in 1961. The word grew in the Black Power era, alongside phrases such as soul brother, into a term of racial pride and cultural identity; James Brown's \"Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud\" (1968) is a marker. By the early 1960s it was an umbrella term for African-American popular music.
1954
Ray Charles, "I Got a Woman"
1961
"soul music" first attested
1968
James Brown, "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud"
Region of origin
West
Midwest
N.East
South
Nationwide
United States · 1950s
Spoken by
Black Americans, then general American English
$SOULThe Record · cultural traction
▲ Steady14 yrs
ahead of the mainstream
75/100
peak cultural energy
Introduced to English by the culture — logged here before the mainstream caught on.
Cultural usage — the recordMainstream search interest
First used
1954
in the culture
Mainstream crossover
1968
search interest spikes
Cultural energy indexed from documented usage, search interest, and citation frequency. The recorded date is the archive’s permanent point of record.
Hear it spoken
By region — how it actually sounds
@auntiereg
Atlanta, GA
@deltasoul
Memphis, TN
Contribute your pronunciation
Citations & Sources
■
Ray Charles, "I Got a Woman," Atlantic Records, 1954
1954
■
James Brown, "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud," King Records, 1968
1968
■
+ Cite a sourceWikipedia, "Soul music" (1961 first attestation)
online
See also