Original Isaac Hayes version
Who's the black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks?
(Shaft!)
You're damn right
Who is the man that would risk his neck for his brother man?
(Shaft!)
Can you dig it?
Who's the cat that won't cop out when there's danger all about
(Shaft!)
Right on
You see this cat Shaft is a bad mother--
(Shut your mouth)
I'm talking about Shaft
(Then we can dig it)
He's a complicated man but no one understands him but his woman
(John Shaft!)
THEME FROM SHAFT is a song written and recorded by Isaac Hayes for the Gordon Parks directed 1971 film Shaft. The song was first released on the film's soundtrack album, which was entirely composed and performed by Hayes. The above lyrics are for the original Isaac Hayes version of THEME FEROM SHAFT as released in 1971.
Although he has never performed it in full, Bruce Springsteen has often played an instrumental snippet of THEME FROM SHAFT in the midsection of ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) between October 1974 and March 1977. See the live 18 Nov 1975 version of ROSALITA (COME OUT TONIGHT) for an example.
Springsteen also played an instrumental snippet of THEME FROM SHAFT in the midsection of most performances of AMERICAN LAND in 2009 during the Working On A Dream Tour.
List of available versions of THEME FROM SHAFT on this website:
THEME FROM SHAFT [Original Isaac Hayes version]