1966- "Someday At Christmas"

.....When this single debuted, Ron Miller had been keeping busy around Motown as a pianist and increasingly as a composer since the early 1960's. During that time, as Stevie Wonder got older there came a period after the novelty of his being a prodigy had worn off and before he eventually became a capable composer in his own right. Unlike many child performers, he grew gradually into an adult repertoire without derailing. If there was any awkwardness, it wasn't in his adolescence but in attempts to market him when he was no longer 'Little Stevie' (for example, the 1964 album STEVIE AT THE BEACH could have been rethought). Many of Wonder's early writing credits were collaborations with Sylvia Moy and producers Henry Cosby and Clarence Paul. In 1966 Ron Miller contributed "A PLACE IN THE SUN". A month after it was recorded (but a couple weeks before it would be available as an A-side) Wonder entered the studio to record two more Miller originals for a Christmas single.

• 02:48 "SOMEDAY AT CHRISTMAS" (Ron Miller, Bryan Wells)
• 02:23 b/w "THE MIRACLES OF CHRISTMAS" (Ron Miller, Aurora Miller)
• performed by Stevie Wonder
• original source: 7" Tamla T-54142 (US) 11/22/66
• and my source: (A-side) CD MERRY CHRISTMAS/SOMEDAY AT CHRISTMAS Motown/MCA MCD08041MD (US) 1986 and (B-side) VACD CHRISTMAS IN THE CITY Motown Master Series 37463-6326-2 (Germany) 10/19/93

.....The following year the A-side, "SOMEDAY AT CHRISTMAS", would become the title track to a full album produced, as these were, by Henry Cosby. There would be more songs co-written by Miller but none of them would be as arresting as this one, an anti-war song that contrasts Nativity promises of hope against persistent global problems. Both sides were recorded October 9, 1966, the day before the release of the Simon and Garfunkel album LP PARSLEY, SAGE, ROSEMARY & THYME Columbia CS9363 (US) 10/10/66 which ends with the duo singing "SILENT NIGHT" over a simulated Seven O'Clock News broadcast. There must have been something in the air, although the tone of the Stevie Wonder single is unquestionably hopeful and the Simon and Garfunkel track seems cynical but is arguably ambiguous and probably deliberately so. That may explain the comparative durability of the Stevie Wonder song. In 2009 Justin Bieber performed "SOMEDAY AT CHRISTMAS" at the White House for President Obama and the first family (well, let's be honest; the Obamas had two daughters under the age of 14, so this wasn't really for the President). Because the concert was televised as a charity fundraiser there are multiple postings on Youtube. [In a weird coincidence, the performance was recorded shortly after Bieber released his debut EP containing the original song "DOWN TO EARTH", which was also the title of the Stevie Wonder album containing the Miller song "A PLACE IN THE SUN".]

.....The B-side is less weighty, despite the title. It simply lists random images of Christmas decorations and winter scenarios. Although neither song was included on the 1968 company album, "SOMEDAY AT CHRISTMAS" has appeared on most of the major Motown Christmas compilations including those in 1973, 1995 and 2009 and numerous minor midline and bargain items in between. It also appears on the full album of the same name, which has been reissued regularly in different formats. "THE MIRACLES OF CHRISTMAS" is a bit scarcer but I have found at least three CD pressings containing it and no other vinyl since the single. In all three cases it appears with a similar song called "EVERYONE'S A KID AT CHRISTMAS TIME", an outtake from the 1967 album sessions and also written by Ronald and Aurora Miller. They appear on:

• VACD CHRISTMAS IN THE CITY Motown Master Series 37463-6326-2 (Germany) 10/19/93
• VACD A CHRISTMAS PRESENT FROM MOTOWN Volume 1 Spectrum 544 672-2 (UK) 10/05/01
• CD 20TH CENTURY MASTERS/THE CHRISTMAS COLLECTION: THE BEST OF STEVIE WONDER Motown/Universal B0002831-02 (US) 09/21/04

.....That last title simply adds the two non-album tracks to the end of the 1967 album. That may seem unimaginative, but it does reunite the two sides of the single for the first time in almost forty years.

1966- "Season's Greetings From Motown"

.....In 1966 Motown had a Stevie Wonder single in the works for Christmas (see next post), but the rest of their holiday music catalog consisted of two single-artist albums, one redundant single and a fistful of out-of-print and unreleased songs. To the less savvy, the obvious answer would be to get use out of the non-album recordings by collecting them together as a various artists album, throwing in some choice tracks from the Miracles' and Supremes' albums to sweeten the pot. But we are not Berry Gordy.

.....Whatever else was going on in Gordy's life, what those of us who didn't know him personally knew for certain amounted to three things: he had an ear for what worked as pop music; he loved making money; and he wanted to project a positive, assimilationist image of African-Americans that countered images he saw growing up. More than anything he wanted black Americans to control their own image and not have it controlled by everyone else. If Mitch Miller and Bing Crosby sold Christmas albums, Motown would sell Christmas albums. But he wasn't going to be selling dated material. From this point on, for the foreseeable future, the only item prior to the Supremes' album to be returned to print would be the original Miracles song "CHRISTMAS EVERYDAY". The album it came from would sell through its remaining stock and eventually return to print years later, but the emphasis would be on new recordings. Eventually there would be a holiday product that could project the whole Motown brand identity and not just a single act. Inching towards that end, Motown released a promotional single with spoken greetings from Motown artists. Many of them hadn't recorded, and wouldn't record, Christmas songs for Motown. Some never recorded Christmas material ever. The single shipped only to radio stations and was known to be pressed on red vinyl. I wouldn't be surprised if plans existed to press it on green vinyl as well.

.....Except for Shorty Long every act was represented by two greetings. One greeting would specifically mention Christmas and/or New Year's and the other greeting would be deliberately vague so that it could apply to different holidays as well. Everything ranged from five to ten seconds in length. Below I'm going to transcribe the texts, which are generally spoken by a single person. Where another group member interjects, their part will be marked by parentheses. Where an entire group speaks, that part will be marked by double brackets, i.e., {{, }}.

.....7" EP SEASONS GREETINGS FROM MOTOWN Motown 2482 (US) 11/66 [promo]

• 1-) "Hi, this is Martha Reeves of Martha and the Vandellas wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a glorious New Year."
• 1A) "Hi, this is Martha Reeves of Martha and the Vandellas sending season's greetings to everyone everywhere."
• 2-) "Hi, this is Eddie of The Temptations speaking for the rest of the guys wishing you a Merry, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year."
• 2A) "Hi, this is Eddie of The Temptations wishing you the best holiday season ever."
• 3-) "Hi, this is Smokey Robinson (and Bobby of the Miracles) wishing you all a Merry Christmas (and a Happy New Year)."
• 3A) "Hi this is Smokey (and Bobby of the Miracles) and we'd like to extend a season's greeting to all."
• 4-) "This is Bad Shorty wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year."
• 5-) "Hi, this is Carolyn of the Velvelettes wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year from all of us."
• 5A) "Hi, this is Carolyn of the Velvelettes extending season's greetings from all of us."
• 6-) "{{Hello, we're The Spinners}} and we'd like to take this occasion to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year."
• 6A) "{{Hello, we're The Spinners}} and we'd like to take this occasion to wish everyone the best of season's greetings."
• 7-) "Hi, this is Duke of The Four Tops. I'd like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from all of The Four Tops."
• 7A) "Hi there, this is Duke of The Four Tops. I'd like to wish you the very best of season's greetings from all of The Four Tops."
• 8-) "{{Merry Christmas}} and a Happy New Year from The Elgins."
  
• 8A) "{{Season's greetings}} from The Elgins."
• 9-) "{{Hi, we're The Supremes wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.}}"
• 9A) "{{Hi, we're The Supremes wishing everyone a pleasant holiday.}}"

.....Tracks 1-5 are on side A, tracks 6-9 are on side B. The entire contents above appear as an unlisted fifteenth track on VACD A MOTOWN CHRISTMAS VOLUME 2 Motown/Universal 440 016 364-2 (US) 11/06/01, plus a Michael Jackson greeting from 1973. The order of the artists speaking is the same as the order on label scans of the original single, but I'm only assuming that on the original single that the Christmas-specific greetings always precede the general greetings for each artist as they do on the CD track. Although there was no picture sleeve, label scans can be found intermittently on resale and auction sites, both general ones like eBay and music-only sites, for however long it takes that copy to sell.

.....There are no details on the single itself to identify speakers who don't explicitly identify themselves. I also don't know exactly when during 1966 these were recorded. I've identified below what could have been the line-ups of the various groups during 1966, with the groups alphabetical but numbered by their respective track on the single.

• 8) THE ELGINS: Sandra (Mallet) Edwards, Johnny Dawson, Cleo 'Duke' Miller, Robert Fleming
• 7) THE FOUR TOPS: Levi Stubbs, Lawrence Payton, Abdul 'Duke' Fakir, Renaldo 'Obie' Benson
• 4) SHORTY (FREDERICK) LONG
• 3) THE MIRACLES: William 'Smokey' Robinson, Ronnie White, Bobby Rogers, Claudette Rogers-Robinson, Warren 'Pete' Moore, Marv Tarplin
• 6) THE SPINNERS: Henry Fembrough, Billy Henderson, Pervis Jackson, Bobbie Smith, (?)George W. Dixon
• 9) THE SUPREMES: Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard
• 2) THE TEMPTATIONS: Otis Williams (or Otis Miles?), Melvin Franklin (or David English?), David Ruffin, Paul Williams, Eddie Kendricks
• 1) MARTHA AND THE VANDELLAS: Martha Reeves, Rosalind Ashford, Betty Kelly
• 5) THE VELVELETTES: Betty Kelly, Sandra Tilley, Carolyn Gill

.....Since 1990, these greetings and the ones from a similar 1973 single have been used as 'bumpers' between tracks on label compilations. The two tracks from The Supremes appear, again unlisted, five seconds after the ending of the bonus track "SILENT NIGHT" on the 1999 remaster of their MERRY CHRISTMAS album (see two posts back). If you know of any unmarked uses of these tracks, please leave the details in the comments section. Thank you.

1966-1970- James Brown on King

.....James Brown recorded about three and a half LP's worth of Christmas songs between 1966 and 1970. I would like to think that he was prompted by the success of Gary Walker's "SANTA'S GOT A BRAND NEW BAG", which I discussed in the previous post, if only because it made a good story. It probably had more to do with his expressed desire at that time to provide inspiration to impoverished black youth. It was a common sentiment at the time and much of his previous material was more oriented for adult audiences. What I can be certain about is that most of the songs were original compositions, many of them written by himself, Alfred "Pee-Wee" Ellis and Nat Jones. Since my purpose in this blog is to account for the earliest recordings of original 20th Century Christmas songs, Brown alone could provide about three weeks of daily entries. When I ran across a CD compilation I had and went to look up the original catalog numbers for the singles, I was reminded that Brown died on Christmas Day, 2006. That makes this year the fifth anniversary and perhaps deserving a little more than a mere mention. Instead I'm going to post a full discography of his original releases. A complete, exhaustive discography would be more difficult, since this material became the basis for numerous repackagings under similar sounding titles. All times are roughly approximate, since they vary among the reissues.

.....There were three singles released late in 1966, possibly all in December:

• 7" King Records 45-6064 (US) 12/66
• 02:41 THE CHRISTMAS SONG (Version 1) (Mel Tormé, Robert Wells)
• 02:44 THE CHRISTMAS SONG (Version 2) (Mel Tormé, Robert Wells)

.....

• 7" King Records 45-6065 (US) 12/66
• 02:54 SWEET LITTLE BABY BOY (Part 1) (James Brown, Nat Jones)
• 02:37 SWEET LITTLE BABY BOY (Part 2) (James Brown, Nat Jones)

.....

• 7" King Records 45-6072 (US) 12/66
• 02:53 LET'S MAKE CHRISTMAS MEAN SOMETHING THIS YEAR (Part 1) (James Brown, Nat Jones)
• 02:57 LET'S MAKE CHRISTMAS MEAN SOMETHING THIS YEAR (Part 2) (James Brown, Nat Jones)

.....Between the second and third single is the most likely time for the release of the album LP THE JAMES BROWN CHRISTMAS ALBUM King Records K1010 (mono) and KS1010 (stereo) (US) 12/66. Not only was this album pressed several times with minor variations to the jacket but the same songs were assembled in a different order and released again in 1967(?) under the title JAMES BROWN AND HIS FAMOUS FLAMES SING CHRISTMAS SONGS.

• 06:29 LET'S MAKE CHRISTMAS MEAN SOMETHING THIS YEAR (Part 1) (James Brown, Nat Jones)
• 00:00 LET'S MAKE CHRISTMAS MEAN SOMETHING THIS YEAR (Part 2) (James Brown, Nat Jones)
• 05:15 SWEET LITTLE BABY BOY (Part 1) (James Brown, Nat Jones)
• 00:00 SWEET LITTLE BABY BOY (Part 2) (James Brown, Nat Jones)
• 02:31 MERRY CHRISTMAS, I LOVE YOU (James Brown, Nat Jones)
• 04:37 SIGNS OF CHRISTMAS (James Brown, Nat Jones)
• 02:44 THE CHIRISTMAS SONG (Version 2) (Mel Tormé, Robert Wells)

.....and side B:

• 03:54 MERRY CHRISTMAS BABY (Lou Baxter, Johnny Moore)
• 02:41 THE CHRISTMAS SONG (Version 1) (Mel Tormé, Robert Wells)
• 03:21 PLEASE COME HOME FOR CHRISTMAS (Charles Brown, Gene C. Redd)
• 02:59 THIS IS MY LONELY CHRISTMAS (Part 1) (James Brown, Gene C. Redd)
• 04:46 THIS IS MY LONELY CHRISTMAS (Part 2) (James Brown, Gene C. Redd)
• 02:53 CHRISTMAS IN HEAVEN (Billy Ward)

.....The two versions of "THE CHRISTMAS SONG" and the other three covers on side B seem to be the last of the non-originals. The next two albums contain songs written for (and a few by) Brown that I can't find in any earlier form. A fourth album was released in 1999 and a half a dozen times since under as many titles. It may contain covers or originals, but I haven't sprung for a copy yet and won't be examining it in a post until I have. The two tracks on side B above that aren't covers appear to have been prepared as a fourth single, following the pattern of the first three of being one song in two parts. It's at times like this that I wish I knew more about James Brown's catalogue but he was extremely prolific, in a very rare class with Frank Zappa, Chet Atkins and few others. For instance, a more fanatical fan might have come across a report of a test pressing for such a single or might know if the mastering codes for those two tracks were significantly lower numbers than the other album-only songs, suggesting (but not proving) that they were prepared separately for separate release.

• 7" King Records 45-6187 (US) 09/68
• 02:45 SAY IT LOUD-- I'M BLACK AND I'M PROUD (Part 1) (James Brown)
• 02:30 SAY IT LOUD-- I'M BLACK AND I'M PROUD (Part 2) (James Brown)

.....That's not a mistake. Although not a Christmas song, the above single leads the second side of the next album.

• 7" King Records 45-6203 (US) 12/68
• 02:55 SANTA CLAUS GO STRAIGHT TO THE GHETTO (James Brown, Alfred Ellis, Hank Ballard)
• 02:55 YOU KNOW IT (instrumental) (Alfred Ellis, Bud Hobgood)

.....

• 7" King Records 45-6204 (US) 12/68
• 03:05 TIT FOR TAT (AIN'T NO TAKING BACK) (James Brown, Nat Jones)
• 02:45 BELIEVERS SHALL ENJOY (NON-BELIEVERS SHALL SUFFER) (instrumental) (Bud Hobgood, Nat Jones)

.....The songwriting credit for the A-sides above and below were both changed to "Charles Bobbit, Nat Jones" after these recordings were repackaged by Polydor, which acquired the King Records catalogue in 1971. I really don't know which is correct, but Brown's name was on the 7" vinyl. Also, the subtitle for the above A-side is definitely "AIN'T NO TAKING BACK", despite numerous websites listing this song as "TALKING BACK" or "TURNING BACK" or who knows what. The song is about the child's game, Tit For Tat. Each child hits the other in turn and the other child is allowed to hit back at least as hard as they were hit themselves. The trick is to hit harder than you were hit yourself, but no harder than you can withstand being hit in return. Hence, "ain't no taking back", meaning that you can't hit someone and then change your mind when you realize how hard you have allowed them to hit you in retaliation. It's a way of saying, "No cheating". The game ends when someone quits before hitting back.

• 7" King Records 45-6205 (US) 12/68
• 02:42 LET'S UNITE THE WHOLE WORLD AT CHRISTMAS (James Brown, Nat Jones)(see above)
• 02:35 IN THE MIDDLE (Part 1) (Bud Hobgood, Alfred Ellis)

.....LP SOULFUL CHRISTMAS King Records KS1040 (US) 12/68

• 03:01 SANTA CLAUS GO STRAIGHT TO THE GHETTO (James Brown, Alfred Ellis, Hank Ballard)
• 04:03 SANTA CLAUS, SANTA CLAUS (Charles Bobbit, Nat Jones)
• 02:14 BELIEVERS SHALL ENJOY (NON-BELIEVERS SHALL SUFFER)(vocal) (Bud Hobgood, Nat Jones)
• 03:06 SOULFUL CHRISTMAS (Hank Ballard, Charles Bobbit, Alfred Ellis)
• 03:04 TIT FOR TAT (AIN'T NO TALKING BACK) [see note below single]
• 02:38 CHRISTMAS IS COMING (Bud Hobgood)

.....and side B:

• 04:46 SAY IT LOUD-- I'M BLACK AND PROUD (Part 1) (James Brown[and Alfred Ellis?])
• 00:00 SAY IT LOUD-- I'M BLACK AND PROUD (Part 2)
• 02:42 IN THE MIDDLE (Alfred Ellis, Bud Hobgood)
• 02:42 LET'S UNITE THE WHOLE WORLD AT CHRISTMAS [see note above single]
• 02:20 YOU KNOW IT (vocal) (Alfred Ellis, Bud Hobgood)
• 03:50 SANTA CLAUS GAVE ME A BRAND NEW START (Bud Hobgood, Nat Jones)

.....Soon after, one of the songs was rerecorded as a duet with Marva Whitney and released as an A-side with an earlier A-side as the flip:

• 7" King Records 45-6206 (US) 02?/69
• 02:44 IN THE MIDDLE (Part 2) (Alfred Ellis, Bud Hobgood) with Marva Whitney
• 03:05 TIT FOR TAT (AIN'T NO TAKING BACK) [see note below earlier single]

.....Both sides of "SAY IT LOUD... " also appear on an album of the same name, King Records KS1047 (US) 04/69.

....."IN THE MIDDLE" Parts 1 and 2 eventually appear together on the album LP JAMES BROWN PLAYS AND DIRECTS THE POPCORN King Records KSD 1055 (US) 08/69.

.....The first two albums continued to be available in 1969 but a new single came out as well:

• 7" King Records 45-6277 (US) 12/69
• 03:10 IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME (Part 1)(James Brown, Bud Hobgood)
• 03:15 IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME (Part 2)(James Brown, Bud Hobgood)

.....The following year two singles preceded the third album.

• 7" King Records 45-6339 (US) 11/70
• 03:42 HEY AMERICA (vocal) (Nat Jones, Addie Williams Jones)
• 03:42 HEY AMERICA (sing along) (Nat Jones, Addie Williams Jones)

.....

• 7" King Records 45-6340 (US) 12/70
• 04:24 SANTA CLAUS IS DEFINITELY HERE TO STAY (single version) (Nat Jones)
• 04:24 SANTA CLAUS IS DEFINITELY HERE TO STAY (sing along) (Nat Jones)

.....The third Christmas album was released with an art collage cover that was not obviously holiday themed. It was soon replaced with a cover featuring the title and subtitle in at least 2 inch font on a blank dark background over a small photo that looks like James Brown. Unlike many of the repackagings of Brown's Christmas music these both carried the same title: LP HEY AMERICA [IT'S CHRISTMAS] King Records KS 1124 (US) 12/70. It also became available as Polydor 2391 049.

• 03:49 HEY AMERICA (vocal) (Nat Jones, Addie Williams Jones)
• 03:59 A LONELY LITTLE BOY AROUND ONE LITTLE CHRISTMAS TOY (Nat Jones)
• 03:03 GO POWER AT CHRISTMAS TIME (Nat Jones)
• 06:00 CHRISTMAS IS LOVE (Nat Jones)

.....and side B:

• 04:22 SANTA CLAUS IS DEFINITELY HERE TO STAY [LP] (Nat Jones)
• 06:00 MY RAPP (Nat Jones)
• 03:03 I'M YOUR CHRISTMAS FRIEND, DON'T BE HUNGRY (Nat Jones)
• 03:55 MERRY CHRISTMAS MY BABY AND A VERY, VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR (Nat Jones)

.....The last two tracks were also pressed as a single in The Netherlands as 7" Polydor 2066 276. Again, I wish I had some way of knowing if there had been plans for a U.S. release, since most compilations don't include either track but do emphasize the singles. The one single that I can confirm was kept in print during the 1970's was:

• 7" Polydor 14161 (US) 12/72
• 02:58 SANTA CLAUS GO STRAIGHT TO THE GHETTO [1968]
• 02:50 SWEET LITTLE BABY BOY [1966]

.....Before Christmas this year I hope to post about the most notable compilations of these recordings. Except for the Marva Whitney duet, all the songs mentioned here can be found on 2CD THE COMPLETE JAMES BROWN CHRISTMAS Hip-O-Select/ Polydor 14791 (US) 10/12/10.

1966 "Sock It To Me Santa"

.....Today we have an A-side only.

.....Here's the rock archeologist's equivalent to a tip from Dick Tracy's Crimestoppers' Notebook: notice that the copyright date at the bottom of the label is 1963, in conjunction with the label's name, Cameo-Parkway. Notice also that the copyright date below the catalog number (right side, middle) is 1966, in conjunction with the publisher's name, Gear Publishing, Co. Was this song originally issued in 1963 and reissued in 1966? No. 1963 refers to the copyright of the graphic design of the label, which is itself intellectual property. Publishing copyrights don't change dates when new pressings are released. And when new recordings are released, their dates are noted with a letter 'P' in a circle, not a letter 'C' in a circle. This is where many databases screw up release dates of music and movies as well. Often if a vinyl album is reissued on CD with previously unreleased bonus tracks, the original album tracks are noted with a 'P' and their original release date, the bonus tracks with a 'P' and the reissue's date. The album art, if it needs to be reworked to reflect the different playlist, will be protected by a 'C' and the reissue date. Sometimes a sufficiently radical remastering job may justify the entire package being given a 'C&P' for the current date and that's where databases compiled on the fly by persons unfamiliar with the source material start disseminating misleading or outright false information. When I get information from something not in my hands (such as this super-rare label image from the indispensable folks at Soulful Detroit, posted November 20, 2008), I'll try to make a note of it. I can still make typos, of course, so call me out on those and any other gaffes in the comment section below.

• 02:13 "SOCK IT TO ME, SANTA" (Bob Seger, Dan Honaker, Carl Lagassa, Dave Leone)
• -N/A- b/w "FLORIDA TIME" ("Punchy" [probably Seger's manager Edward Andrews])
• performed by Bob Seger and the Last Heard
• original source: 7" Cameo C-444 (US) December 1966
• and my source: VA 4CD CAMEO-PARKWAY 1957-1967 ABKCO Music & Records OX01-92232 (US) May 17, 2005

.....Since the B-side is not a Christmas song, locating these two songs together isn't a priority for the purposes of this blog. The A-side has made a handful of appearances on CD, which is about right. Borrowing as it does from Gary Walker's James Brown pastiche "Santa's Got A Brand New Bag", it warrants less of a market presence than something purely original, such as Brown's own "Santa Claus Go Straight To The Ghetto". I've included it (A) because I hope to get around to everything eventually and (B) the enthusiastic performance makes up for the weak material. Yet, even though Seger's own song was derivative to start with in 1966, that didn't stop Bud Logan from releasing a second "Sock It To Me Santa" on 7" RCA Victor 47-9678 in 1968. That version was written by country-western session musician Thomas Bailey Keels. I haven't heard it myself, but Pete Bilderback (on his blog Flowering Toilet) contends "It's a totally different song."(Dec. 15, 2008) and I wouldn't doubt it. Still, it managed to confuse Howard Smiley and Bill Crowley, compilation producers for Polygram/JFC. They put together VA CD A ROCK'N'ROLL CHRISTMAS PolyGram Special Markets 314 520 244-2 (US) 1994, a budget release including the Seger recording, but with the song-writing credit "T. Keels".

.....Let's try to put together a timeline to help them out.

.....The phrase "sock it to [someone]" actually made it into print in the 1800's, meaning to make an impact on someone out of aggression or anger. The variant "Sock it to me", meaning to give me something so good or so true that it will impact me like a physical blow, probably came from black musicians in the 20th century. James A. Mitchell claimed in his Mitch Ryder biography "It Was All Right" that Ryder brought the phrase "to America"(?) with the LP SOCK IT TO ME! New Voice 2001(US) April, 1967. What makes that claim curious is not only that the album followed Seger's single in December 1966 but Ryder's own "Sock It To Me-- Baby!" single in January 1967.

.....Next came Aretha Franklin interjecting the phrase into her famous cover of Otis Redding's "Respect", recorded on Valentine's Day 1967 and released shortly thereafter. The television show "Laugh-In" debuted as a one-hour special in September and was brought back as an ongoing series in January 1968, turning "Sock It To Me" into an all-purpose non-sequitur. An appearance on the show by presidential candidate Richard Nixon in September 1968 is probably what precipitated the recording of the Bud Logan/Thomas Keels version.

.....The line-up for the Last Heard was:

• Bob Seger on organ, guitar and vocals
• Carl Lagassa on guitar
• Dan Honaker on bass
• Pep Perrine on drums

.....which was practically the Bob Seger System that signed to Capital in 1968. The single was produced by Doug Brown and Bob Seger and engineered by Les Cooley. The name from the writing credits I've not explained as yet is Dave Leone. Not a band member, but a partner with Seger's manager Edward Andrews. Together they ran the label Hideout. I'm not sure why he was given a songwriting credit and it seems neither was abkco. On the label retrospective boxed set cited above they removed his name from the credits in the booklet. I am not aware if they've been restored in their latest holiday collection, VA CD CAMEO PARKWAY HOLIDAY HITS Collector's Choice WWCL M21662 (US) November 23, 2010.