(The Hit Hammer is where I'm reviewing each #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100. Starting from when the chart started in 1958 and eventually working my way to the present. To see my inspiration and more information about this blog, please refer down below)
The Four Tops - "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)"
Hit Number 1: June 19, 1965
Stay at Number 1: 2 Weeks
Second only to the Supremes, the Four Tops were probably the most important Motown Act. Fronted by lead singer Levi Stubbs, who was known for his powerful and soulful voice, the group were a major part of Motown's dominance in the mid-60s. Their first #1 hit is a song that most of us still know today, "I Can't Help Myself" which is noted for it's "sugar pie, honey bunch" phrase. The song is probably the group's biggest hit, and it's definitely their best song. Written by (surprise, surprise) Holland-Dozier-Holland, the song sounds a lot like the Supremes' 1964 chart-topper "Where Did Our Love Go", which one of the Holland brothers realized as they were writing the song. The song's title is driven from that brother admitting that "he can't help" recycling previous hits that the group wrote. Hell, if it worked before, why abandon it?
About "I Can't Help Myself", can we discuss how damn happy this thing is? This song is just about as happy as Disney World. Stubbs sings the song like he's a man with urgency, and he is, but he sounds just as excited as the rest of what's going on in the song. The song is about a man who finds out that no matter what he does, he can't shake his love for a specific girl. That's pretty simple alone, but if you pay more mind to the overall sound of the song, the meaning of it changes. If the song had been slowed down, this is a man who is extremely helpless, and wishes that he didn't feel so attached to this girl. But since it was decided to be sped up, this is instead a man who is still indeed helpless, but he almost seems to "like" it. He feeds off of his own excitement over the love of this girl, and as the song says, he even gets "choked up" every time he sees her face, when he tries to break it off with her.
Which that confuses me a lot. Why would a guy who has these intense feelings for this girl even want to try to break it off? It's really the only thing that takes me aback with this song, cause otherwise, it's an amazing song.
First, Stubbs sings the song with that urgent, powerful voice, and the oohing of the other three Tops are a sweet little backing pattern that make the song pretty lovely. The general feel of the song is like a bright sunny day, and can lighten up even the baddest of moods. Which is probably what I like the most about it. I also really like the sax solo in the middle of the song, cause it fits right in to the happy sound, honking away without a care in the world.. I dare anyone to listen to this song, and not have it lighten up your day even a LITTLE bit. Cause I'm convinced that that's impossible.
GRADE: 9/10
MY INSPIRATION / MORE INFORMATION:
SONG MENTIONED:
"Where Did Our Love Go" - https://rmparis12.wixsite.com/website/post/the-hit-hammer-the-supremes-where-did-our-love-go
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