TOP 100 SONGS OF 1967 ― NUMBER 33

50 years ago this year these songs were released. I took the top 100 from Rolling Stone for 1967 and put them in the order in which I think they should have listed, since this was the decade of the music I grew up on. Enough of the formalities, here we go. Enjoy.  

YOU KEEP ME HANGIN' ON ― VANILLA FUDGE

Genre ―  Soul /Pop



Video  (Audio only) 

"You Keep Me Hangin' On" is a 1966 song written and composed by Holland–Dozier–Holland. It first became a popular Billboard Hot 100 number one hit for the American Motown group The Supremes in late 1966. The rock band Vanilla Fudge covered the song a year later and had a top ten hit with their version. British pop singer Kim Wilde covered "You Keep Me Hangin' On" in 1986, bumping it back to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1987. The single reached number one by two different musical acts in America. In the first 32 years of the Billboard Hot 100 rock era, “You Keep Me Hangin' On” became one of only six songs to achieve this feat. In 1996, country music singer Reba McEntire's version reached number 2 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart.

Over the years, "You Keep Me Hangin' On" has been covered by various artists including a charting version by Wilson Pickett, Rod Stewart, Colourbox, The Index and the Box Tops.

The Supremes original version ― 

Background

"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 vocals were multitracked, a production technique which was established and popularized concurrently by 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.

Reception  

"You Keep Me Hangin' On" was the first single taken from the Supremes' 1967 album The Supremes Sing Holland–Dozier–Holland. The song became the group's eighth number-one single when it topped the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart for two weeks in the United States from November 13, 1966 through November 27, 1966.[3][4] It peaked at number 8 in the UK Singles Chart. The Supremes original version was ranked #339 on Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It was voted #43 on Detroit's 100 Greatest Songs, a Detroit Free Press poll in 2016.

The track is one of the more oft-covered songs in the Supremes canon. They performed the song on the ABC variety program The Hollywood Palace on Saturday, October 29, 1966.

Personnel

Lead vocals by Diana Ross.
Backing vocals by Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson
Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers

Vanilla Fudge version ― 

Background 

Vanilla Fudge's 1967 psychedelic rock remake of "You Keep Me Hangin' On" reached number 6 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 seven minutes and twenty seconds long. 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.

A similar arrangement was used by Rod Stewart on his 1977 album Foot Loose & Fancy Free. This may have, in part, been the idea of Appice, who had by now joined Stewart's band.

The Vanilla Fudge version appears at the conclusion of Episode 1 of Season 7 of the Mad Men television series (2015),[15] plus in the film War Dogs (2016) and the videogame Mafia III (2016).

Personnel

Carmine Appice - drums, vocals
Tim Bogert - bass, vocals
Vince Martell - guitar, vocals
Mark Stein - lead vocals, keyboards

From Wikipedia and Google