"Cry to Me" is a song written by

Bert Berns Bertrand Russell Berns (November 8, 1929 – December 30, 1967), also known as Bert Russell and (occasionally) Russell Byrd, was an American songwriter and record producer of the 1960s. His songwriting credits include " Twist and Shout", " Piec ...

(listed as "Bert Russell") and first recorded by American

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest att ...

singer

Solomon Burke Solomon Vincent McDonald Burke (born James Solomon McDonald, March 21, 1936 or 1940 – October 10, 2010) was an American singer who shaped the sound of rhythm and blues as one of the founding fathers of soul music in the 1960s. He has been ...

in 1961. Released in 1962, it was Burke's second single to appear in both ''Billboard'' magazine's Hot R&B Sides and

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

singles charts. Several other artists recorded the song, including

Betty Harris Betty Harris (born September 9, 1939 in Orlando, Florida, United States) is an American soul singer. Her recording career in the 1960s produced three hit singles that made the U.S. ''Billboard'' R&B and ''Billboard'' Hot 100 charts: "Cry to ...

(1963),

the Pretty Things ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

(1965), the

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

(1965),

Freddie Scott Freddie Scott (April 24, 1933 – June 4, 2007) was an American soul singer and songwriter. His biggest hits were " Hey, Girl", a top ten US pop hit in 1963, and " Are You Lonely for Me", a no. 1 hit on the R&B chart in early 1967. Life and car ...

(1967) and others.

Background

On December 6, 1961 Burke recorded one of his best known songs, "Cry to Me", "an ode to loneliness and desire" "one of the first songs to unify country, gospel and R&B in one package", that is considered "the

paradigm In science and philosophy, a paradigm () is a distinct set of concepts or thought patterns, including theories, research methods, postulates, and standards for what constitute legitimate contributions to a field. Etymology ''Paradigm'' comes f ...

for

Southern soul Southern soul is a type of soul music that emerged from the Southern United States. The music originated from a combination of styles, including blues (both 12 bar and jump), country, early R&B, and a strong gospel influence that emanated ...

ballads." "Cry to Me" was written by

(as

Bert Russell Bertrand Russell Berns (November 8, 1929 – December 30, 1967), also known as Bert Russell and (occasionally) Russell Byrd, was an American songwriter and record producer of the 1960s. His songwriting credits include " Twist and Shout", "Piece ...

), conducted and arranged by Klaus Ogermann, and produced by

, "a roly-poly white New Yorker with a deep love and empathy for black music despite a formal music education at the

Juilliard School of Music The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most el ...

and a music background far removed from the searing soul in which, by 1963, he specialized", with whom Burke had a difficult relationship. Burke "distrusted the young producer", and often spoke of him disparagingly, but later acknowledged Berns as "a genius" and "a great writer, a great man."

Cissy Houston Emily "Cissy" Houston ( ''née'' Drinkard; born September 30, 1933) is an American soul and gospel singer. After a successful career singing backup for such artists as Roy Hamilton, Dionne Warwick, Elvis Presley, and Aretha Franklin, Houston embar ...

, who provided backing vocals on several of Burke's songs that were produced by Berns, believed "Burke changed his mind about Bert as soon as Sol started working with him in the studio. Bert's emotion-charged songs and Sol's gospel delivery was a marriage made in heaven." Although Burke recognized Berns's skill for crafting hit records, he rejected two Berns compositions, "

Hang on Sloopy "Hang On Sloopy" (originally "My Girl Sloopy") is a 1964 song written by Wes Farrell and Bert Berns. Rhythm and blues vocal group the Vibrations were the first to record the tune in 1964. Atlantic Records released it as a single, which reached ...

" (later recorded by

the McCoys The McCoys were a rock group formed in Union City, Indiana, United States, in 1962. They are best known for their 1965 hit single " Hang On Sloopy". Their name was changed from Rick and the Raiders to The McCoys, taken from the B-side of The ...

), and "

A Little Bit of Soap A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes ...

", a recent hit for the Jarmels. Burke explained in 2004: "I felt a little unsafe about it, because they were pushing me in an ethnic market, so why would I want to say that (about soap) to my people? It didn't have the meaning it needed to have." In frustration after Burke had rejected his song choices, Berns offered him a final song, "Cry to Me", which Berns sang to him very slowly. According to Burke in a 2008 interview: "I said 'That's terrible. It's just too slow for me, I don't like slow songs.' And Mr Wexler says, 'Listen, this guy writes for you, you're pissing him off. You're pissing me off, too.' (Laughs) I tried to sing it a couple of times that way, couldn't even feel it. Then I asked the young man in the studio, the engineer Tommy Dowd, 'Could we have them speed this up?'".Solomon Burke, in ''Mojo Magazine'' (August 2008), quoted i
"Cry To Me by The Rolling Stones"
/ref> The personnel on the Solomon Burke recording included Leon Cohen on alto sax, Jesse Powell on tenor sax,

Hank Jones Henry Jones Jr. (July 31, 1918 – May 16, 2010) was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, arranger, and composer. Critics and musicians described Jones as eloquent, lyrical, and impeccable. In 1989, The National Endowment for the Arts honored ...

on piano,

Robert Mosely Robert Henry Mosely, Jr., sometimes written as Mosley, is an American singer, songwriter and producer. He has recorded singles as a solo artist as well as in the duo Mayme & Robert. Mosely is best known for co-writing the songs " Sha-La-La" and ...

on organ, Don Arnone,

Al Caiola Alexander Emil Caiola (September 7, 1920 – November 9, 2016) was an American guitarist, composer and arranger, who spanned a variety of music genres including jazz, country, rock, and pop. He recorded over fifty albums and worked with some of ...

Bucky Pizzarelli John Paul "Bucky" Pizzarelli (January 9, 1926 – April 1, 2020) was an American jazz guitarist. He was the father of jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli and double bassist Martin Pizzarelli. He worked for NBC as a staffman for Dick Cavett (1971) ...

, and

Everett Barksdale Everett Barksdale (April 28, 1910 – January 29, 1986) was an American jazz guitarist and session musician. He played bass and banjo before settling on guitar. In the 1930s, Barksdale moved to Chicago, where he was in Erskine Tate's band. He r ...

on guitars;

Art Davis Arthur David Davis (December 6, 1934 – July 29, 2007) was a double-bassist, known for his work with Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, McCoy Tyner and Max Roach. Biography Davis was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United Stat ...

on bass, and Gary Chester on drums.

Chart release and covers

Released in 1962, "Cry to Me", backed with "I Almost Lost My Mind" (Atlantic 2131), became Burke's second entry in the US charts, peaking at number five on the R&B charts and number 44 on the Hot 100. On March 20, 1962, Burke sang "Cry to Me" on ''

American Bandstand ''American Bandstand'', abbreviated ''AB'', is an American music-performance and dance television program that aired in various versions from 1952 to 1989, and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as the pr ...

''. Several artists have recorded versions of the song.

' rendition (also produced by Bert Berns) reached R&B number 10 and Hot 100 number 23 in September 1963. English band

recorded it in 1965 and their version reached number 28 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 ...

. Also in 1965, a rendition by the

was included on their ''

Out of Our Heads ''Out of Our Heads'' is the 3rd British and 4th American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released in two editions with different covers and track listings. In the US, London Records released it on 30 July 1965, whil ...

'' on both the UK and US editions of the album.

recorded the song in 1967; his single peaked at numbers 40 on the R&B and 70 on the Hot 100.

Impact

After "Cry to Me", Burke became one of the first performers to be called a soul artist. In "Cry to Me", and in his "most popular recordings from 1962 onward, elements of the African-American folk-preaching style", which incorporated "the fusion of speech and song", "the use of repetition or elongation for emphasis", and the improvisation of " hollers and vocal

melisma Melisma ( grc-gre, μέλισμα, , ; from grc, , melos, song, melody, label=none, plural: ''melismata'') is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is refer ...

s", the "flowers and curlicues of gospel singing", are salient.Teresa L. Reed, ''The Holy Profane: Religion in Black Popular Music'' (University Press of Kentucky, 2004):125–126. Burke always had his

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, acces ...

in the recording studio.Teresa L. Reed, ''The Holy Profane: Religion in Black Popular Music'' (University Press of Kentucky, 2004):126.

Certifications

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cry To Me 1962 singles 1963 singles The Rolling Stones songs Solomon Burke songs Eric Burdon songs Dionne Warwick songs Pretty Things songs Songs written by Bert Berns Song recordings produced by Andrew Loog Oldham 1962 songs Atlantic Records singles Jubilee Records singles