"Gimme Some Lovin" is a song first recorded by
the Spencer Davis Group. Released as a single in 1966, it reached the Top 10 of the record charts in several countries. Later, ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' included the song on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs.
Other artists have also recorded versions of the song; group singer
Steve Winwood later recorded it live with
Traffic and a rendition by
the Blues Brothers reached number 18 on the main US singles chart.
Background
As recalled by bassist
Muff Winwood, the song was conceived, arranged, and rehearsed in just half an hour. At the time, the group was under pressure to come up with another hit, following the relatively poor showing of their previous single, "
When I Come Home", written by Jamaican-born musician
Jackie Edwards, who had also penned their earlier number one hits, "
Keep On Running" and "
Somebody Help Me". The band auditioned and rejected other songs Edwards offered them, and they let the matter slide until, with a recording session looming, manager
Chris Blackwell
Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell OJ (born 22 June 1937) is a Jamaican-British former record producer and the founder of Island Records, which has been called "one of Britain's great independent labels". According to the Rock and Roll Hall ...
took them to London, put them in a rehearsal room at the
Marquee Club, and ordered them to come up with a new song:
Personnel
The Spencer Davis Group:
*
Steve Winwood – lead vocals, organ, piano, percussion
*
Spencer Davis – rhythm guitar, vocals
*
Muff Winwood – bass, vocals
*
Pete York – drums
Chart performance
Lawsuit
In 2016, Willia Dean Parker and Rose Banks sued Mervyn Winwood, Steve Winwood, and Kobalt Music Publishing for copyright infringement, alleging that they plagiarized their 1965 song "
Ain't That a Lot of Love". In 2019, it was ruled that the Spencer Davis Group did not plagiarize.
Legacy
In 2004, ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' magazine ranked "Gimme Some Lovin'" at number 247 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Winwood later recorded live versions of the song with
Traffic for ''
Welcome to the Canteen'' (1971)
and ''
The Last Great Traffic Jam'' (2005). In an album review for ''Welcome to the Canteen'',
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
's William Ruhlmann wrote 'the
et listcapper was a rearranged version of Steve Winwood's old Spencer Davis Group hit "Gimme Some Lovin'." '
"Gimme Some Lovin'" has been recorded by several rock and other artists. Pop artist
Olivia Newton-John covered it for her 1978 album, ''
Totally Hot'', which an album reviewer called "as close to a drunken party as one will get on a Newton-John album". A performance for the musical comedy film ''
The Blues Brothers'' (1980) "featur
san arrangement notable for the horn section that replaces Steve Winwood's rumbling organ work", according to critic Bret Adams.
Released as single by
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
, it reached number 18 on ''Billboard'' magazine's
Hot 100 chart, number 22 on the Canadian
RPM Top Singles chart,
and number 20 on the
Dutch Single Top 100. In 1990, British group
Thunder recorded it for their debut album ''
Backstreet Symphony''.
AllMusic writer Alex Henderson commented: "Another high point of this CD is an inspired cover of the Spencer Davis Group's 'Gimme Some Lovin',' which Thunder changes from blue-eyed soul/rock to straight-up hard rock."
The song is heard in the films ''
Sing'' (2016), ''
The Adam Project'' (2022),
and ''
The Life of Chuck'' (2024).
References
External links
"Gimme Some Loving" by the Spencer Davis GroupPartial list of subsequent versions
{{authority control
1966 songs
1966 singles
The Spencer Davis Group songs
The Blues Brothers songs
Olivia Newton-John songs
Thunder (band) songs
RPM Top Singles number-one singles
Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients
Songs written by Steve Winwood
Song recordings produced by Jimmy Miller
Fontana Records singles
United Artists Records singles
Atlantic Records singles