1973 · Behind the Songs
Allen Toussaint wrote it, Lee Dorsey cut it first — and the Pointer Sisters turned it into the demo that launched their career.
Before the Pointer Sisters had a record deal, they had “Yes We Can Can.” The brass-driven funk number was written by New Orleans master Allen Toussaint and first released by Lee Dorsey in 1970 on his album Yes We Can, a record Toussaint co-produced. When the sisters went shopping for a label, it was producer David Rubinson who suggested the song for their demo — and Bonnie Pointer later credited that choice with helping them land their deal with Blue Thumb Records.
The recording was among the first things the group cut in the fall of 1972 for their debut album. The basic track was laid down at Pacific Recording Studio in San Mateo, California, before the sessions moved to Studio A at Wally Heider’s in San Francisco, with Rubinson producing. Anita Pointer took the lead vocal, and the group retitled the song “Yes We Can Can,” doubling down on the chant at its heart.
Released in February 1973 as the first single from The Pointer Sisters, with the Anita and June Pointer original “Jada” on the flip side, it became the group’s first hit: No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 12 on the Hot Soul Singles chart. For a brand-new act, it was a calling card — four-part harmony wrapped around a New Orleans groove, announcing a group that could move between funk, soul, and jazz without blinking.
The song’s bones were pure Toussaint: a second-line strut, a singalong chorus, and a message of uplift. The sisters made it their own with the call-and-response energy of their stage show, and it set the template for the eclectic path they would follow through the rest of the decade.