Smokey Robinson, Sam Cooke, and ‘You Really Got A Hold on Me.”

Black History Month Music Special

The story goes like this.

In 1962, Sam Cooke, the singer superstar had a big hit that year. It was called “Bring It On Home To Me.” He had recorded it in April 1962 with an 18 piece orchestra. His back vocalists included the great, Lou Rawls.

By then, Sam Cooke had been turning out the hits for years and was a major singer-songwriter and superstar in music. It was no surprise he continued to churn out hits.

Smokey Robinson, the lead singer for the Miracles, was in New York City that year and he heard Cooke’s song when he was there. He was pretty impressed.

Most Black singers at that time wanted to be Sam Cooke on some level. He wrote and sang his songs, he toured, recorded, and he was fighting for his creative and economic independence in a ruthless industry.

Smokey, after hearing the song, goes back to his hotel room in New York and writes a song called “You Really Got A Hold On Me.” The song is similar to “Bring It On Home To Me.” Check the links after this article and tell me what you think.

Smokey’s classic is a love song too. It is a song of certainty and want. It has that southern feel of the Black church, the music of the soul. It is Soul music. Sweet Soul Music, as Peter Guralnick might say.

Smokey hadn’t written a Motown song with the intentional up tempo for dancing and a wider audience. He had slowed his song down. The instruments were prominent and the familiar Motown tambourine was missing. It has an edge to it, not the usual Motown sound.

The Miracles recording of “You Got A Hold On Me” went to #1 on the Billboard Rhythm and Blues chart and #8 on the Pop chart in 1962. The song is iconic now, voted as one of the top 500 pop songs of all time.

“Bring It On Home To Me” was no slouch either. It reached #2 on the Rhythm and Blues chart and #13 on the Pop Chart.

Smokey, if he could, would probably hug Sam Cooke for this one or give him a high five. Without that creative spark, Smokey probably never writes his magnetic beauty of a record. The year, 1962 was an amazing period for Black male songwriters anyway. Robinson would write a string of hits as would Holland-Dozier-Holland.

Cooke, the gold standard at the time, would write several hits as well during the early 1960s that shaped American music. Sadly, Cooke was killed just two years later at the height of his fame in 1964. Robinson lives in Los Angeles today and continues to record and perform his music.

The songs

“Bring It On Home To Me” — Sam Cooke

“You Really Got A Hold On Me” — Smokey Robinson and the Miracles

Thanks for reading — check out my free monthly newsletter & subscribe please —