Supremes – "You Keep Me Hangin' On" (1966)

Let me get over you

The way you've gotten over me

Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” was the lone Motown song in the inaugural group of songs inducted into the 2 OR 3 LINES “GOLDEN DECADE” HIT SINGLES HALL OF FAME last year.

This year’s class includes two Motown classics: Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” by the Supremes.

“You Keep Me Hangin’ On” was a classic Motown song that was a #1 hit for the Supremes.  It was written and produced by Motown’s legendary Holland-Dozier-Holland production team, and I think it’s the best song the Supremes ever did.  It has a little more punch than most of their songs.

Last year, I included Vanilla Fudge’s cover of “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” in the initial class of the OR 3 LINES “GOLDEN DECADE” ALBUM TRACKS HALL OF FAME 

The Vanilla Fudge version of the song is such a stick of dynamite that it’s easy to overlook just how good the original recording of the song was.  

It’s flawlessly performed and produced – what Supremes hit wasn’t?  But thanks to the speeded-up tempo and the anxiety and frustration in Diana Ross’s voice, the song gets under the listener’s skin.  

Come on, buddy . . . just be a man about it . . . and set her free!

Click here to listen to “You Keep Me Hangin’ On.”

Click on the link below to buy the song from Amazon:

Vanilla Fudge -- "You Keep Me Hangin' On" (1967)

Why don't you get out of my life

And let me make a new start?

(So have you figured out the two themes of this year's 29 Posts in 28 Days?)

"You Keep Me Hangin' On" was probably the Supremes' best single ever.  (Keep in mind that the Supremes had no fewer than twenty top-ten singles between 1964 and 1970 – including twelve number one singles.)

Why Vanilla Fudge chose to cover that particular song is a mystery to me.  Their over-the-top, take-no-prisoners style of playing wouldn't seem to be a good fit for a classic Motown pop song.

But the quartet from Long Island knocked it out the park . . . as this absolutely maniacal video of Vanilla Fudge's live performance of the song on The Ed Sullivan Show demonstrates:

(I need to go lie down with a cool washcloth on my forehead.  Can you excuse me for a few minutes?)

The video of the boys performing the song on The Ray Anthony Show is almost as bizarre as the Ed Sullivan performance.  The quartet of go-go girls who cluelessly gyrate to the music are fascinating to watch, but the quality of the video and the sound is not as good:

Click here to buy the album version of "You Keep Me Hangin' On," which was released in the summer of 1967 on Vanilla Fudge's eponymous debut album.  (That album consisted of covers of relatively recent pop songs, including the Beatles' "Ticket to Ride" and "Eleanor Rigby," the Zombies' "She's Not There," and Cher's "Bang Bang."