"Take a Letter Maria" is the debut single written and recorded by American soul singer R. B. Greaves.
These include Donna Jean Thatcher on vocals (later Donna Jean Godchaux of the Grateful Dead), Roger Hawkins on drums, Barry Beckett on electric piano, Eddie Hinton and Jimmy Johnson on guitar, David Hood on bass, and Mel Lastie on trumpet.
[6] "Take a Letter Maria" has a Latin music flavor, complete with a mariachi-style horn section, and tells of a man who has learned of his wife's infidelity the night before.
He dictates a letter of separation to Maria, his secretary, whom he asks out for dinner later in the song in order to "start a new life."
"Take a Letter Maria" has had two charted cover versions by country music singers: