February 25, 2022 —– Chart #132

Hello Music Friends,

I had a little surprise when I chose today’s Chart of the Week. The song I had in mind is a psychedelic rock tune from the 60’s with a catchy harmony line that is pretty cool. When I started my research I realized that the version I had in mind was not the original, and the original caught me by surprise.

  “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” is a song written and composed by Holland–Dozier–Holland. It was first recorded in 1966 by American girl group the Supremes, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. American rock band Vanilla Fudge released a cover version in June of the following year, which reached number six on the Billboard Hot 100. I planned on featuring Vanilla Fudge, had not made the connection to the Supremes until later. English singer Kim Wilde also covered “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” in 1986, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1987. In the first 32 years of the Billboard Hot 100 rock era, “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” became one of six songs to reach number one by two different musical acts.  In 1996, American country singer Reba McEntire‘s version reached number two on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. The BBC ranked the Supremes’ original song at number 78 on The Top 100 Digital Motown Chart, which ranks Motown releases by their all-time UK downloads and streams.

“You Keep Me Hangin’ On” was originally recorded in 1966 by the Supremes for the Motown label. The single is rooted in proto-funk and rhythm and blues, compared to the Supremes’ previous single, “You Can’t Hurry Love”, which uses the call and response elements akin to gospel. The song’s signature guitar part is said to have originated from a Morse code-like radio sound effect, typically used before a news announcement, heard by Lamont Dozier. Dozier collaborated with Brian and Eddie Holland to integrate the idea into a single.

Many elements of the recording, including the guitars, the drums, and Diana Ross’s vocals were multitracked, a production technique which was established and popularized concurrently by Holland–Dozier–Holland (H–D–H) and other premier producers of the 1960s such as Phil Spector (see Wall of Sound) and George Martin. H–D–H recorded the song in eight sessions with the Supremes and session band the Funk Brothers before settling on a version deemed suitable for the final release.

Vanilla Fudge’s 1967 psychedelic rock remake entitled “You Keep Me Hanging On” reached number six on the Billboard Hot 100 chart a year after the release of the Supremes’ recording. While the edited version released on the 45 RPM single was under three minutes long, the album version was 7:20. The recording, done in one take, was Vanilla Fudge’s first single.

Vanilla Fudge drummer Carmine Appice talked about the band’s decision to cover the song in a 2014 interview:

That was Mark and Timmy. We used to slow songs down and listen to the lyrics and try to emulate what the lyrics were dictating. That one was a hurtin’ song; it had a lot of emotion in it. “People Get Ready” was like a Gospel thing. “Eleanor Rigby” was sort of eerie and church-like … like a horror movie kind of thing. If you listen to “Hangin’ On” fast  … by the Supremes, it sounds very happy, but the lyrics aren’t happy at all. If you lived through that situation, the lyrics are definitely not happy.

The Vanilla Fudge version appears in the series finale of the television show The Sopranos (2007), at the conclusion of episode 1 of season 7 of the television series Mad Men (2015), the film War Dogs (2016), the video game Mafia III (2016), and the film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019).

The Supremes:  https://youtu.be/t3bjMtqpGBw 

Kim Wilde:  https://youtu.be/I_3gLp6k7ZE

Keep Rockin’ my Friends,

Stan