"Take a Letter Maria" is a song written and recorded by R. B. Greaves

R. B. Greaves

Ronald Bertram Aloysius "R. B." Greaves III is a singer who had chart success in 1969 with the pop single "Take a Letter Maria". A #2 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, this single sold one million copies and earned a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America...

, an American soul

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 singer. The song has a Latin music

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 flavor, complete with a mariachi

Mariachi

Mariachi is a genre of music that originated in the State of Jalisco, in Mexico. It is an integration of stringed instruments highly influenced by the cultural impacts of the historical development of Western Mexico. Throughout the history of mariachi, musicians have experimented with brass, wind,...

-style horn section. It tells of a man who learns of his wife's infidelity

Infidelity

In many intimate relationships in many cultures there is usually an express or implied expectation of exclusivity, especially in sexual matters. Infidelity most commonly refers to a breach of the expectation of sexual exclusivity.Infidelity can occur in relation to physical intimacy and/or...

 the night before and dictates a letter of separation to "Maria", his secretary. The song reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in 1969 and is certified gold by the RIAA for singles sales of one million copies.
The song was recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio

Muscle Shoals Sound Studio

The Muscle Shoals Sound Studio was formed in Muscle Shoals, Alabama,in 1969 when musicians Barry Beckett , Roger Hawkins , Jimmy Johnson and David Hood left FAME Studios to create their own studio...

 on August 19, 1969 using the house studio musicians. These include Roger Hawkins

Roger Hawkins

Roger G Hawkins , is an American drummer best known for playing as part of the studio backing band known as The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section of Alabama...

, drums, Barry Beckett

Barry Beckett

Barry Edward Beckett was a keyboardist who worked as a session musician with several notable artists on their studio albums...

, piano, Eddie Hinton

Eddie Hinton

Eddie Hinton was an American songwriter and session musician best known for his work with soul music and R&B singers...

 and Jimmy Johnson

Jimmy Johnson (musician)

Jimmy Johnson is an American a member of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section that was attached to FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama for a period in the 1960s and 1970s, and later was the a founder of Muscle Shoals Sound Studio located at first on 3614 Jackson Highway in Sheffield, Alabama and at...

, guitars, David Hood

David Hood

David Hood , is a bassist from Muscle Shoals, Alabama. He also plays the trombone and is a member of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame....

, bass. and Mel Lastie, trumpet.

Cover versions

"Take a Letter Maria" has had two charted cover version

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

s by country music

Country music

Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 singers. Anthony Armstrong Jones

Anthony Armstrong Jones

Ronnie Jones was an American country music singer known professionally as Anthony Armstrong Jones, a stage name that he took from the name of the British photographer who married Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon...

 released a cover in 1970 from his album of the same name, reaching #8 on the country charts with it. In 1999, Doug Stone released the song from his album Make Up in Love

Make up in Love

Make Up in Love is the eighth studio album by American country music artist Doug Stone. Released in 1999 as his only album for Atlantic Records, it features the singles "Make up in Love,” a cover of R.B. Greaves' "Take a Letter, Maria", and “Surprise." The title track was the only one of these to...

, reaching #45 on the country single charts.