"Bring It On Home to Me" is a 1961 soul song written and recorded by R&B singer-songwriter Sam Cooke. The song, about infidelity, was a hit for Cooke and has become a pop standard covered by numerous artists of different genres. It is one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. Cooke's recorded version has Lou Rawls singing responses as an uncredited background singer.
This song is considered by many historians of soul music to be the founding, or at least definitive soul song, as it provides the formula that is still popular today. Cooke's live version of this song that he performed in Miami, from the album Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963, can be seen as his personal vision of what soul music should be, owing to the texture and emotion conveyed through his vocals that night, and that were probably standard in Cooke's near-nightly shows in primarily black clubs.
Charles Brown and Amos Milburn dueted on a single, I Wanna Go Home, which musically bears a striking resemblance to Cooke's Bring It On Home. The Brown/Milburn effort was recorded for Motown Records on Nov. 11, 1962, several years prior to Cooke's song, and has been credited as the source of Cooke's tune. Cooke apparently heard Charles Brown play the song in Cincinnati nightclubs, re-worked the lyrics, and according to some sources even invited Brown to play piano on the 1965 Bring It On Home session. Reportedly, Brown recorded I Want To Go Home as early as 1959 as the B-side of Educated Fool, along with Amos Milburn for Ace Records. Cooke had been a big fan of Charles Brown and recorded a number Brown tunes on his live 1963 Night Beat album. [1]
Covers
The most significant covers of the song include the hit versions by
- The Animals, Eddie Floyd, Ben Mills
- Lou Rawls, who sang background vocals on the original song, recorded his own charting version in 1970.
- In 1976, Mickey Gilley would hit number one on the country chart with his cover [2]
- Tab Benoit sings a popular Blues rendition of this song on his album Brother To The Blues
- In the United Kingdom, The Faces released this song as part of a medley with "You Send Me" and charted it on the UK Singles Chart at #7 as a double A-side with "Farewell". Rod Stewart later covered this song as a medley with Cookes "You Send Me" on his solo album Smiler.
- Wilson Pickett covered this song on 1968's I'm In Love
- Otis Redding covered this song with Carla Thomas.
- John Lennon and Paul McCartney each recorded this song, but separately. McCartney recorded the song twice: First in 1988 for his album Choba B CCCP, and again in 2006 with George Benson and Al Jarreau for the album Givin' It Up.
- Van Morrison's highly acclaimed, 1974 live album, It's Too Late to Stop Now contained his personal version (he was going through a divorce battle at the time) of this song.[3][4]
- The Dixie Chicks performed it bluegrass style on their debut album, "Thank Heavens For Dale Evans", and would later record, "You Send Me" for their sophomore album, "Little Ol' Cowgirl".
- Sonny & Cher recorded it as a B-side to "Little Man"
- Another cover is included as a hidden song on The Von Bondies album Lack of Communication, with Marcie Bolen on lead vocals.[5]
- Bon Jovi performed a live cover of this song with Steve Perry [6]
- Britt Daniel, lead vocalist of indie-rock band Spoon, recorded a cover of this song for the Portland, OR based covers compilation Bridging the Distance.
- Eddie Floyd and Duffy performed on Jools Holland]'s Hootenanny.
- Dave Mason (a co-founder of Traffic) covered the tune on his 1974 solo album Dave Mason.[7]
- Tony Lucca and Ernie Halter have covered this song at several concerts
- The Von Bondies included version with guitarist Marcie Bolen on lead vocals as a hidden bonus track on their 2001 debut album Lack of Communication
- Sister Hazel included a version on their debut self titled album Sister Hazel in 1994 (remastered and re-released in 2005)
- M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel of the group She & Him regularly perform a cover of this song live at their concerts, including an in-studio session at KEXP-FM on June 29, 2007.[8]
- The New Standards included a version on their 2008 album Rock and Roll.
- Joey Ramone who has said himself to be a very big Sam Cooke fan had covered this song live a number of times. One recording performed with The Resistance is featured on a bootleg of Rock For Choice 1993.
- Jimmy Barnes included a version of it on his album Soul Deep as a duet with Johnny Diesel
Chart performance
Notes
References
- Heylin, Clinton (2003). Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography, Chicago Review Press ISBN 1-55652-542-7
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