It's the Same Old Song

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"It's the Same Old Song"
Single by Four Tops
from the album Four Tops' Second Album
B-side "Baby I Need Your Lovin'" (Netherlands); "Your Love Is Amazing" (selected countries, namely in the West German, American and Australian markets); "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" (on one copy in the UK)[1]
Released July 9, 1965
Format 7" single
Recorded Hitsville U.S.A. (Studio A); July 8, 1965
Genre Soul/pop
Length 2:46
Label Motown
M 1081
Writer(s) Holland–Dozier–Holland
Producer(s) Brian Holland
Lamont Dozier
Four Tops singles chronology
"I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)"
(1965)		 "It's the Same Old Song"
(1965)		 "Something About You"
(1965)

"It's the Same Old Song" is a 1965 hit single performed by the Four Tops for the Motown label.[2] Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song is today one of The Tops' signature songs, and was notably created—from initial concept to commercial release—in 24 hours. It reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Billboard R&B Singles chart.[3] It also reached #34 in the UK.[4]

Writing and recording

After "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" hit #1 in June 1965, The Four Tops' former label, Columbia Records, wanting to cash in on the group's success, re-released the Tops' 1960 Columbia single "Ain't That Love". Berry Gordy ordered that a new Four Tops single had to be released within a day's time.[5]

At 3 o'clock that afternoon, the Holland brothers and Lamont Dozier wrote "It's the Same Old Song". Four Tops tenor Abdul "Duke" Fakir recalled:

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Lamont Dozier and I were both a little tipsy and he was changing the channels on the radio. He said, 'It sounds like the same old song.' And then he said, "Wait a minute." So he took "I Can't Help Myself" and reversed it using the same chord changes. The next day, we went to the studio and recorded it, and then they put it on acetate and released to radio stations across the country." [6]

The engineering team worked around the clock perfecting the single's mix and making hand-cut vinyl records so that Berry Gordy's sister Esther in the Artist Development department could critique them and select the best ones for single release. By 3 P.M. the next day, 1500 copies of "It's the Same Song" had been delivered to radio DJs across the country, and the song eventually made it to number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number two on the R&B chart.

"It's the Same Old Song" is very similar in melody and chord progressions to "I Can't Help Myself", which in turn is even more similar in melody and chord progressions to "Where Did Our Love Go" by the Supremes, who also covered "It's The Same Old Song" in 1967. Critic Maury Dean disputes that there is much in common with "I Can't Help Myself," saying that it is "a dynamic NEW treatment, with just a hint of Benny Benjamin's thundering drums echoing" "I Can't Help Myself."[7]

Allmusic critic Ron Wynn calls "It's the Same Old Song" "a tidy little number" with "one of the greatest lyrical hooks -- and titles -- ever."[8] Fellow critic Steve Leggett calls it "wise beyond its era."[9]

Cover versions

In 1967, Australian singer Ray Brown (following his split with The Whispers), took his version into the Australian Top 10.[citation needed]

In 1971 Jonathan King covered the song with a completely different arrangement under the name The Weathermen and his version reached the UK Top 20 selling over 250,000 copies.[citation needed]

In 1975 The Armada Orchestra included an instrumental version on their debut self-titled LP.

Uses

The group appeared in a 1997 Velveeta Shells & Cheese commercial when they spoofed the song to "Not The Same Old Side."

Personnel

Notes

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References

External links

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