"Show You the Way to Go" is a song written by

Gamble and Huff Kenneth Gamble (born August 11, 1943, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Leon A. Huff (born April 8, 1942, Camden, New Jersey) are an American songwriting and production team credited for developing the Philadelphia soul music genre (also known as ...

and recorded by

the Jacksons The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most o ...

for their 1976 CBS debut album, ''

The Jacksons The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most o ...

''. Released as a single in early 1977, it was the only number-one song for the group in the UK. It was later covered by

Dannii Minogue Danielle Jane Minogue () is an Australian singer, television personality, and actress. She initially gained recognition for her appearances on the television show ''Young Talent Time'' (1982–1988) and for her role as Emma Jackson on th ...

in 1992.

The Jacksons version

"Show You the Way to Go" became a hit for

, (formerly known as "The Jackson 5") after their departure from

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

nearly two years prior. The move made it easy for the brothers to write and produce their own material. They spent a couple of years under the production and direction of

and were signed to

Philadelphia International Records Philadelphia International Records (PIR) was an American record label based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1971 by songwriting and production duo Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff along with their longtime collaborator Thom Bell. I ...

. This was one of the songs that the producers wrote for the brothers. This song was released after " Enjoy Yourself," released a year earlier.

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

sang lead and background vocals.

Marlon Jackson Marlon David Jackson (born March 12, 1957) is an American entertainer, singer and dancer best known as a member of the Jackson 5. He is the sixth child of the Jackson family. Marlon now runs Study Peace Foundation to promote peace and unity wor ...

, and the rest of the brothers (

Randy Randy is a given name, popular in the United States and Canada. It is primarily a masculine name. It was originally derived from the names Randall, Randolf, Randolph, as well as Bertrand and Andrew, and may be a short form (hypocorism) of the ...

having replaced

Jermaine Jermaine ( ) is a masculine given name of Latin language, Latin origin, derived from the French given name , which is in turn derived from the Latin given name , meaning "brother". The masculine given name Jermaine was popularized in the 1970s b ...

) had backup parts. The song reached No. 6 US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' R&B

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

, No. 28 US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and No. 1 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. After recording the album '' Goin' Places'' in 1977, the Jacksons left

Philadelphia International Philadelphia International Records (PIR) was an American record label based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1971 by songwriting and production duo Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff along with their longtime collaborator Thom Bell. I ...

for

Epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film with heroic elements Epic or EPIC may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and medi ...

. The single's

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

was "

Blues Away Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narra ...

", which was the first song

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

wrote entirely himself.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Personnel

*Lead vocals by

*Background vocals by

Tito Jackson Toriano Adaryll "Tito" Jackson (born October 15, 1953) is an American musician. He is an original member of the Jackson 5 (later known as The Jacksons), who rose to fame in the late 1960s and 1970s with the Motown label, and later had continued ...

Jackie Jackson Sigmund Esco "Jackie" Jackson (born May 4, 1951) is an American singer best known as a founding member of the Jackson 5, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Jackson is the second child of the Jackson family, a ...

and

Randy Jackson Randall Darius Jackson (born June 23, 1956) is an American record executive and television presenter, perhaps best known as a judge on ''American Idol'' from 2002 to 2013. Jackson began his career in the 1980s as a session musician playing bas ...

*Instruments by

MFSB MFSB, officially standing for "Mother Father Sister Brother", was a pool of more than 30 studio musicians based at Philadelphia's Sigma Sound Studios. They worked closely with the production team of Gamble and Huff and producer/arranger Thom Bel ...

Dannii Minogue version

Australian singer

's version of "Show You the Way to Go" was produced by Bruce Forest and

Andy Whitmore Andy Whitmore is a British keyboard player and record producer from London, UK. He works from his own studio Greystoke studios in Ealing, West London. Whitmore has produced 14 UK top-ten hits including " Flava" by Peter Andre and "I've Got a Littl ...

and was the first single released from her second album, ''

Get into You ''Get into You'' is the second album by Australian pop singer Dannii Minogue. It was released by MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA I ...

''. In 1992, it appeared on the ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' charity album ''

Ruby Trax ''Ruby Trax - The NME's Roaring Forty'' is a compilation album released by the 'rock inkie' (newspaper) NME (New Musical Express) in 1992 to commemorate 40 years of publication. The album features 40 cover versions of classic Number 1 songs by p ...

'', before being remixed and released as a single, reaching No. 30 on the

in August of that year.

Critical reception

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...

from ''

'' called it "her strongest single to date", adding that "the cut sports a rich, soul-splashed house groove and a nicely matured vocal by Dannii." Alan Jones from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' described the song as "bright, breezy and inconsequential".

Track listings

* UK CD single # "Show You the Way to Go" (7-inch version) # "Success" (E-Smoove Groovy 12-inch) # "Show You the Way to Go" (extended version) # "Success" (Maurice's dub) * Australian cassette single (C16040) # "Show You the Way to Go" (7-inch version) # "

Success Success is the state or condition of meeting a defined range of expectations. It may be viewed as the opposite of failure. The criteria for success depend on context, and may be relative to a particular observer or belief system. One person mig ...

" (E-Smoove Groovy 12-inch) * Australian CD single (D16040) # "Show You the Way to Go" (7-inch version) # "

" (E-Smoove Groovy 12-inch) # "Show You the Way to Go" (extended version) * UK cassette single # "Show You the Way to Go" (7-inch version) # "Show You the Way to Go" (dub) *

(Disc one, track 9) # "Show You the Way to Go" (Eron Irving Remix)

Charts

References

Other sources

* *

External links

DanniiMusic.com - official website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Show You the Way to Go 1976 songs 1977 singles 1992 singles The Jackson 5 songs Dannii Minogue songs UK Singles Chart number-one singles Songs written by Kenny Gamble Songs written by Leon Huff Epic Records singles Philadelphia International Records singles MCA Records singles