Today's song is excellent! "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" was originally by the fabulously talented Motown group The Miracles and has been covered by many artists over the years (including The Supremes, The Temptations, a young Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, She & Him, etc.). The song itself is so classic it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.
Despite that exciting start, however, there's little information regarding the Beatles' version; John sang, George provided close harmony, and early on, the group performed it often during their live sets. In my quest for more info, I ran into beatlesebooks.com, an interesting site that provides "the in-depth story behind the songs of The Beatles". The page for today's song, found here, has a bit more history. In particular, the author delves into the nature of the musical inspiration The Miracles provided to The Beatles:
... an event occurring in 1980 during the recording of Lennon’s “Double Fantasy” album sheds some light on the impact of The Miracles music on the career of the Beatles. While recording the vocal track for the hit song “Woman,” Yoko commented that John sounded like a Beatle. Lennon corrected her by saying, “Actually I’m supposed to be Smokey Robinson at the moment, my dear, because the Beatles were always supposing that they were Smokey Robinson.”
Pretty neat. :)
As for my experience with the song, from the opening notes of the guitar to the end of the song, listening to this one was great. I could really hear the Motown influence, and after I checked out the original Miracles song, I appreciated the Fab Four's version as a faithful, yet creative and unique, interpretation.
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Heard It Tally: 1
Songs Completed: 24
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