Download Instrumental    This poor sucker in the photo above is in a world of hurt.  If you’ve ever been in a relationship where you wanted OUT but just couldn’t get away, you know how he feels – minus the slithery scales, of course.

“You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me” was indeed one of my favorites in the “early Beatles” days.  It had a solid beat and not a lot of instrumentation – simplicity at its best.  Just drums, bass, piano and one guitar was quite enough, thank you..  It was Lennon’s lead vocals and the great backup harmonies that carried the day on this one.  The opposite polarity of the lyrics was pretty cool too.  “I don’t like you – but I love you” is a good example.  Then there’s “You treat me badly – I love you madly”.  And the ever popular “I wanna split now – I just can’t quit now”.  Clearly a man with an Anaconda wrapped around his neck.

The great Smokey Robinson wrote this tune in his hotel room while in New York in 1964.  He was there to negotiate a record deal and things weren’t going very well.  His mood might explain the negative sentiment throughout the lyrics: “I don’t want you – but I need you”.  The Beatles covered it later the same year, upping the tempo and taking away some of the “Motown” influence.  Both renditions are classic but we always chose to go with the Fab Four version – mostly because of the tempo.  Throw this one in your repertoire and watch your audience respond – you’ll be glad you did.

And keep the reptiles to a minimum, please…