"You've Really Got a Hold on Me" is a song written by

Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive director. He was the founder and front man of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief ...

, which became a 1962 Top 10

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

for

the Miracles The Miracles (also known as Smokey Robinson and the Miracles from 1965 to 1972) were an American vocal group that was the first successful recording act for Berry Gordy's Motown Records, and one of the most important and most influential groups ...

. One of the Miracles' most covered tunes, this million-selling song received a 1998

Grammy Hall of Fame Award The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...

. It has also been selected as one of

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and ...

. It was recorded by

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

for their second album, ''

With the Beatles ''With the Beatles'' is the second studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released in the United Kingdom on 22 November 1963 on Parlophone, eight months after the band's debut ''Please Please Me''. Produced by George Martin ...

'' (1963). Many other musicians also recorded versions.

Composition and recording

"You've Really Got a Hold On Me" was written by

while in New York in 1962 on business for Motown; he heard

Sam Cooke Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer and songwriter. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred ...

's " Bring It On Home to Me", which was in the charts at the time, and—influenced by it—wrote the song in his hotel room. The song was recorded in Motown's Studio A on October 16, 1962, with Robinson on lead vocals, and Miracles' second tenor

Bobby Rogers Robert Edward Rogers (February 19, 1940 – March 3, 2013) was an American musician and tenor singer, best known as a member of Motown vocal group the Miracles from 1956 until his death. He was inducted, in 2012, as a member of the Miracles to t ...

on harmony co-lead. Robinson was the producer, and he had

Eddie Willis Eddie "Chank" Willis (June 3, 1936 – August 20, 2018) was an American soul musician. Willis played electric guitar and occasional electric sitar for Motown's in-house studio band, The Funk Brothers, during the 1960s and early 1970s. Career Bo ...

and Miracle

Marv Tarplin Marvin Tarplin (June 13, 1941 – September 30, 2011) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist for the Miracles from the 1950s through the early 1970s. He was one of the group's original members and co-wrote several of their bigges ...

share the guitar parts.

Releases and charts

The song was released on the Tamla label on November 9, 1962, as the B side of " Happy Landing". "Happy Landing" reached some regional charts; however, "Hold On Me" ultimately performed better. With "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" as the A side, the single reached the Top 10 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 Pop chart, peaking at number eight, and was a number one smash on the Billboard

R&B singles chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs record chart, chart ranks the most popular Contemporary R&B, R&B and Hip hop music, hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of rad ...

during the winter of 1962–63. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' described it as "a pulsating beat-ballad romancer that the artists carve out in emotion-packed fashion" and said "could be a real big dual-mart, pop-r&b sales item." ''Cash Box'' also praised the "captivating instrumental assist." The Miracles' original version was inducted into the

Grammy Hall of Fame The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...

in 1998. It was also the group's second single to sell over a million copies, after "Shop Around". The song was included on the album ''

The Fabulous Miracles ''The Fabulous Miracles'' is a 1963 album by The Miracles featuring the million-selling ''Grammy Hall of Fame'' hit, "You've Really Got a Hold on Me", one of the group's most popular singles. It also features the chart hits " A Love She Can Count ...

'' over three months after its release.

Personnel

The Miracles *

– lead vocal *

Claudette Rogers Robinson Claudette Annette Rogers Robinson ( Rogers; born June 20, 1938) is an American singer, best known as a member of the vocal group The Miracles from 1957 to 1972. Her brother Emerson "Sonny" Rogers was a founding member of the group, which befor ...

– backing vocal * Pete Moore – backing vocal *

Ronnie White Ronald Anthony White (April 5, 1939 – August 26, 1995), usually referred to as Ronnie White, was an American singer, best known as the co-founder of The Miracles and its only consistent original member. White was also known for bringing Stevi ...

– backing vocal *

– co-lead vocal and backing vocal *

– guitar *Other instruments by

the Funk Brothers The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972. Its members are considered among the most successful groups of stud ...

The Beatles rendition

"You Really Got a Hold on Me" was the first song recorded for

' second British album, ''

'', and was included on their third US album, ''

The Beatles' Second Album ''The Beatles' Second Album'' is the second Capitol Records album by the English rock band the Beatles, and their third album released in the United States including ''Introducing... The Beatles'', which was issued three months earlier by Vee-Jay ...

''. It features

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

and

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

on lead vocals with

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

on harmony vocals. The Beatles recorded the song on July 18, 1963. This session took place while ''

Please Please Me ''Please Please Me'' is the debut studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Produced by George Martin, it was released on EMI's Parlophone label on 22 March 1963 in the United Kingdom, following the success of the band's first two sin ...

'' was still at number one in the album charts four months after its release, and in the midst of a rigorous touring schedule that also had to include

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sessions for radio and television. It was completed in seven takes, four of which were complete. The group then recorded four edit pieces. The final version was an edit of takes 7, 10 and 11. The Beatles also recorded "You Really Got a Hold on Me" on four occasions for BBC radio in 1963. One of these, from July 30, 1963 was included on the ''

Live at the BBC {{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) Live at the BBC or BBC Recordings are recordings originally made for or by BBC Radio 1. Many recordings were released under several name variants. Live at the BBC *Live at the BBC (The Beatles ...

'' collection. A live version recorded in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, Sweden, in October 1963 was released in 1995 on ''

Anthology 1 ''Anthology 1'' is a compilation album by the Beatles, released on 20 November 1995 by Apple Records as part of ''The Beatles Anthology'' series. It features rarities, outtakes and live performances from the period 1958–64, including song ...

''. The song was performed once again in 1969, during the ''

Let It Be Let It Be most commonly refers to: * ''Let It Be'' (Beatles album), the Beatles' final studio album, released in 1970 * "Let It Be" (Beatles song), the title song from the album It may also refer to: Film and television * ''Let It Be'' (1970 ...

'' recording sessions, and featured in the 1970 documentary film, ''

''. Personnel *

– rhythm guitar, lead vocals *

– lead guitar, lead vocals *

– bass guitar, harmony vocals *

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

– drums *

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the B ...

– piano

Other versions

"You've Really Got a Hold on Me" has been recorded several times since its release. A rendition by

Eddie Money Edward Joseph Mahoney (March 21, 1949 – September 13, 2019), known professionally as Eddie Money, was an American singer and songwriter who, in the 1970s and 1980s, had eleven Top 40 songs, including "Baby Hold On", "Two Tickets to Parad ...

, recorded for his self-titled debut album, reached number 72 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in December 1978, and number 68 in Canada in January 1979. A version by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

Mickey Gilley Mickey Leroy Gilley (March 9, 1936 – May 7, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Although he started out singing straight-up country and western material in the 1970s, he moved towards a more pop-friendly sound in the 1 ...

peaked at number two on the U.S. ''

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 ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart and number one on the Canadian ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' Country Tracks chart.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:You've Really Got A Hold On Me The Miracles songs Songs written by Smokey Robinson Tamla Records singles Parlophone singles 1962 singles 1963 singles 1979 singles 1980 singles 1983 singles The Beatles songs Eddie Money songs Mickey Gilley songs Song recordings produced by George Martin Song recordings produced by Jim Ed Norman Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients RPM Top Singles number-one singles Epic Records singles Song recordings produced by Berry Gordy Song recordings produced by Smokey Robinson 1962 songs 1960s ballads Soul ballads ja:ユーヴ・リアリー・ゴッタ・ホールド・オン・ミー#ビートルズによるカバー