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The Songfactor's Choice Top Ten Facts


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The Songfactor's Choice Top Ten Facts

Two songs from our weekly top ten that are without facts on Songfacts:

(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher - Jackie Wilson (1967)

If I Were Your Woman - Gladys Knight and the Pips (1971)

If you have any info on any of the songs mentioned above, please feel free to post your knowledge in this thread. Submissions on songs will be collated and sent to the main site and you will receive credit for your contribution.

The Songfish thanks you for your time :D

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Katie, you are so wonderful for keeping up with this. The Songfish thanks you, too. :bow:

from allmusic.com

"(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" put Jackie Wilson back at the top of the charts. Teamed with Chicago soul producer Carl Davis and members of Motown studio band the Funk Brothers, the combination would give Wilson several hits. The song had originally been recorded by the Dells on one of their albums. The session for Wilson's version took place on July 7, 1967, at Columbia's Chicago recording studio with bassist James Jamerson, drummer Richard "Pistol" Allen, guitarist Robert White, and keyboardist Johnny Griffith. The track is a perfect marriage of song and singer with Wilson relishing every lyric. Written by Raynard Miner, Carl Smith, Gary Jackson, and Chess A&R head Billy Davis and arranged by Sonny Sanders, "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher" went to number one R&B and number six pop in the fall of 1967. Billy Davis, under the pseudonym Tyran Carlo, had co-written with Berry Gordy such earlier Wilson hits as "Reet Petite," "To Be Loved," and "Lonely Teardrops."

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Songwriters Pam Sawyer and Gloria Jones were having a lunchtime discussion about women's issues when they came up with the beginnings of what would be one of Gladys Knight & the Pips' classic Motown sides. After touching on topics including the women's liberation movement and a woman's ability to give her all in a romantic relationship, the two started writing "If I Were Your Woman." They submitted the song to Motown producer Clay McMurray who was taking over the production chores of Norman Whitfield of Gladys Knight & the Pips. Whitfield produced the group's number one R&B/number two pop hit "I Heard It Through the Grapevine." After hearing "If I Were Your Woman," Whitfield told McMurray that the song would be a number one hit for the group. Wrapped in an astounding arrangement by Paul Riser, the tender soulful ballad "If I Were Your Woman" hit number one R&B and number nine pop in early 1971.

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(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher - Jackie Wilson (1967)......

This song first charted in the U.K. in 1969, peaking at #11, and then again in 1975 and 1987.

Also it was successfully covered by Rita Coolidge in 1977 reaching US #2. It was a much slower version and the title was amended slightly to (Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher And Higher.

:)

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Thankyou very much to Peaches and Darryl for your valuable contributions! :bow:

The Songfactor's Choice Top Ten #26

Rejoice, for all the songs excepting TWO already have a home on the Songfacts database! Those missing songs are:

El Paso - Marty Robbins (1959)

Little Sister - Elvis Presley (1961)

If you have any info on any of the songs mentioned above, please feel free to post your knowledge in this thread. Submissions on songs will be collated and sent to the main site and you will receive credit for your contribution.

The Songfish thanks you :D

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That's a tough one edna. It was definitely #5 in the U.S., but most U.K. Charts show it as a "tag along" Hit to Marie's The Name His Latest Flame - definitely the A side there - which was #1 for 4 weeks in November 1961. Some U.K. Charts do couple them.

Good luck sorting that one out Sweet Georgia Peaches. :)

How about I nominate "...Latest Flame" in our next Top Ten, we vote it in, and both songs can be coupled ! :grin:

................................................

There was an excellent cover of Little Sister by Ry Cooder in 1979 which charted here in Australia.

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There´s also a "Little Sister/Get back" version, which is "Little Sister" ending with "get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged..." and it´s credited to Pomus/Shuman/Lennon/McCartney... :P I saw it on youtube, which is my current Bible...

:)

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El Paso by Marty Robbins

The song was written by Marty in a car as he and his family were traveling through Texas on the way to Arizona. The song has been called a "vivid, Western saga laden with drama,violence, and romance. The song ran 4 1/2 minutes long and at first was rejected as a single because of its length. But Columbia Records knew it was a good song and released it in October of 1959. The song reached number 1 in both the country and pop charts. Marty Robbins won the first Grammy ever awarded a country song. Country America magazine ranked it #6 on their Top 100 Country songs of all time.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks to edna, Darryl and phil for their contributions :bow:

The Songfactor's Choice Top Ten #27

Eat, drink and be merry, for all the songs featured in Top Ten #27 have a home on Songfacts!

If you have any info on any of the songs mentioned anywhere in this thread, please feel free to post your knowledge in this thread. Submissions on songs will be collated and sent to the main site and you will receive credit for your contribution.

The Songfish applauds you :D

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The Songfactor's Choice Top Ten #28

Three songs from this week's top ten do not currently reside on Songfacts. Those songs are:

Cry Baby - Janis Joplin (1971)

Bad Case Of Loving You - Robert Palmer (1979)

Dear Mr. Fantasy - Traffic (1967)

If you have any info on any of the songs mentioned anywhere in this thread, please feel free to post your knowledge in this thread. Submissions on songs will be collated and sent to the main site and you will receive credit for your contribution.

The Songfish thanks you :D

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This is what I found in Allmusic... I wish I could find better facts, I will keep on searching.

“Dear Mr. Fantasy†became one of the earliest tunes to define the first phase of Traffic’s fresh and whimsical blend of primarily acoustic British folk music with decidedly charged jazz and psychedelic pop. Each of the dozen sides on the band’s debut Mr. Fantasy (1967) long player can easily be considered stylistic anomalies unto themselves. However this title track aptly represents the totally unique synthesis of Jim Capaldi (drums/percussion/vocals), Dave Mason (guitar/mandolin/sitar/tambura/shakkai/bass/vocals ), Steve Winwood (organ/guitar/bass/piano/percussion/harpsichord/vo cals) and Chris Wood (flute/sax/organ/percussion/vocals). A slightly trippy dark and foreboding tone permeates both the lyrics and arrangement contrasting the rock-solid pop delivery. Tying it all together are Winwood’s emotive and residually mournful lyrics. With a distinct blue-eyed soul intonation — perfected during a seminal stint in the Spencer Davis Group— he effortlessly increases the drama with a combination of slightly behind the beat timing and empathic vocals. There are several notable covers of “Dear Mr. Fantasyâ€. For a short time in the ‘80s and into 1990, the Grateful Dead would occasionally include an inspired reading led by Brent Mydland(keyboards/vocals). The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper (1969) features a stellar performance by that dynamic duo. On the other side of the scale is the half-baked version that turned up on the otherwise essential Crosby, Stills & Nash [box Set] (1991).

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And this is what they say about "Cry, baby"

Written by Bert Berns/Jerry Ragovoy.

This tremendous cover of the Top 5 1963 hit for Garnet Mimms & The Enchanters has an even more "enchanting" version in the out-take

on the Janis 3 CD boxed set. The very precise Paul Rothchild production was the follow-up single to "Me & Bobby McGee" and is 3 minutes and 56 seconds long, compared to the 4:56 length of the out-take which has Janis asking at the end of the performance "Is it a hit or a myth?" .

Columbia Records single "Cry Baby" / "Mercedez Benz"

is a tour-de-force that was a hit in different regions of the country, but didn't make the Top 40. The liner notes to the re-mastered Pearl album state it debuted on the Billboard charts 5/15/71, and stayed there for six weeks, peaking at #42. Almost as explosive as "Piece Of My Heart", and written by the same duo, R & B producer Jerry Ragovoy who recorded the Garnet Mimms original version and Bang Records executive Bert Berns, (the original songwriting credit went to N.Meade/ B.Russell, which was most likely a pseudonym for the pair), Janis gives us her passionately loud and tender sides which make this performance an endless thrill. Great insight into the Janis Joplin legacy can be found by studying the popular minor hit version from Pearl as well as the tape from the rehearsals for Pearl released on the 3 CD set, both recorded on September 5, 1970.

A glimpse of Rothchild's glossy finish can

also be gleaned from the rendition aired on radio as Janis doesn't hit all the notes precisely in the alternative take, but boy is she witty, and does she have a stylish soul all her own. It appears it took quite a bit of energy for her to get those vocal chords energized for that psychedelic scream in this song and the extended monologue in the middle is wonderful, just the tone of her voice and attitude during this segment speaks volumes. A truly great 27 year old blues singer with the insight of a spirit that has been around a lot longer, she lets it loose on "Cry Baby", and the result is a magnificent artistic achievement.

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Cry Baby is a Track on Janis Joplin's Posthumous # 1 Album Pearl released in February 1971. Pearl was on the record charts for 42 weeks and is a certified triple platinum album. Cry Baby was written by Bert Berns and Jerry Ragovoy and was a top 5 R&B hit for early Soul singer Garnett Mimms in 1963. Janis recorded Pearl with her last band, The Full Tilt Boogie Band, considered her best backing band.

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More about Dear Mr. Fantasy in this thread from last year.

"Mr. Fantasy was the only song that was scribbling on a piece of paper.

Next to the drawing - I'm not really even trying to write a song - I had written a letter and this character who had become Mr. Fantasy.

One day, I was doodling on this paper and I drew this character with a spiky hat. I don't draw very good. He was playing a guitar, but not using his hands. He was operating a pair of hands on the end of puppet strings that were playing the guitar." ~ Jim Capaldi

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Thanks to edna, phil, bazooka and RonJon for the info :bow:

The Songfactor's Choice Top Ten #29

Another successful top ten, one more song that needs some facts:

For Once in My Life - Stevie Wonder (1968)

If you have any info on any of the songs mentioned anywhere in this thread, please feel free to post your knowledge in this thread. Submissions on songs will be collated and sent to the main site and you will receive credit for your contribution.

The Songfish salutes you! :D

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For Once In My Life was written by Ron Miller and Orlando Murden for Motown Records publishing company Jobete in 1967. After Jean DuShon, The Temptations and Tony Bennet recorded slower versions that did not chart. Stevie Wonder's uptempo version hit # 2 in the pop charts in late 1968, early 1969.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The Songfactor's Choice Top Ten #33

Only one song from our current top ten is not on the songfacts database that song is:

I Wanna Be Sedated - The Ramones (1978)

Given my oversight in the voting, I'll be making sure there is plenty of facts found for this song!

If you have any info on any of the song listed above, please feel free to post your knowledge in this thread. Submissions on songs will be collated and sent to the main site and you will receive credit for your contribution.

The Songfish is thanking you! :D

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Wikipedia says:

"I Wanna Be Sedated" was written by Joey Ramone when he had to go to the hospital to be treated for burns after accidentally spilling hot water on himself. Joey was in the habit of inhaling steam from a kettle before performing, to clear his sinuses.

In an interview about the song, Joey explains the chorus, "It's a road song. I wrote it in 1977, through the 78. Well, Danny Fields was our first manager and he would work us to death. We would be on the road 360 days a year, and we went over to England, and we were there at Christmas time, and in Christmas time London shuts down. There's nothing to do, nowhere to go. Here we were in London for the first time in our lives, and me and Dee Dee Ramone were sharing a room in the hotel, and we were watching The Guns of Navarone. So there was nothing to do, I mean, here we are in London finally, and this is what we are doing, watching American movies in the hotel room".

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