Nobody But Me

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"Nobody But Me" is a 1968 top ten garage rock hit by The Human Beinz that had been originally recorded by The Isley Brothers in 1963. Written by the three Isleys, O'Kelly, Rudolph and Ronald, the song was covered by Youngstown, Ohio's The Human Beinz and made them one-hit wonders after the song reached number eight on the Billboard pop singles chart in 1968.

The Human Beinz were one of a handful of artists to have covered Isley Brothers classics. The Isleys' 1959 classic, "Shout!", for example, was made into a U.S. pop top forty hit by Dee Lite & the Starlighters, and into a U.K. pop top ten hit by Lulu.

Despite its stay in the top ten in 1968, it's likely that the song reached most listeners by its inclusion on Lenny Kaye's Nuggets compilation. Far from the song's soulful roots, it is now mostly known as a prime example of raw proto-punk garage rock, and perhaps rightly so, given that the frantic and inexpert guitar solo sounds as if it is being played over the hum of a vacuum cleaner.

The song also gained some measure of fame when Dave Marsh, in his Book of Rock Lists^[1] named the version by the Human Beinz "The most negative song to hit the Top 40," noting that the word "no" is sung over 100 times in a mere 2:16. Marsh also counts the word "nobody" 46 times more. Coming in second place, according to Marsh, was "Tell Her No" by The Zombies, which used the word 'no' 63 times in its 2:08.

George Thorogood and the Destroyers would later record a version more faithful to the Human Beinz cover than to the Isley's original, and released it on 1982's Bad to the Bone.

"Nobody But Me" has been featured in several films, including Kill Bill Volume 1, and The Departed.