| "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" |
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| Single by Four Tops | ||||
| from the album Four Tops' Second Album | ||||
| Released | April 23, 1965 | |||
| Format | 7" single | |||
| Recorded | Hitsville U.S.A. (Studio A); 1965 | |||
| Genre | Soul/pop | |||
| Length | 2:46 | |||
| Label | Motown M 1076 |
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| Writer(s) | Holland–Dozier–Holland | |||
| Producer | Brian Holland Lamont Dozier |
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| Four Tops singles chronology | ||||
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"I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" is a 1965 hit song recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label.
Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song is one of the most well-known Motown tunes of the 1960s. The song hit number one on the R&B charts and was also the number-one song on the Billboard Hot 100 for two non-consecutive weeks,.[1] from June 12 to June 19 and from June 26 to July 3 in 1965. It replaced "Back in My Arms Again" by labelmates The Supremes, was first replaced by "Mr. Tambourine Man" by The Byrds, then regained the top spot before being replaced by "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" by The Rolling Stones.
The song finds lead singer Levi Stubbs, assisted by the other three Tops and The Andantes, pleadingly professing his love to a woman: "Sugar pie, honey bunch/I'm weaker than a man should be!/Can't help myself/I'm a fool in love, you see." Like most of his lead parts, Stubbs' vocals are recorded in a tone that straddles the line between singing and shouting, similar to the tone of a black Baptist preacher. The melodic and chordal progressions are very similar to the Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go".
Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song #415 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It has been covered extensively since 1965, including versions done for several television commercials.
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The Supremes recorded a cover of this song between 1965 and 1966, released on the their #1 album, The Supremes A' Go-Go. It is notable that their backing band, The Funk Brothers, was also the Four Tops' backing band at the time and was composed of most, if not all, of the same musicians as the original #1 single. In 1967, the Four Tops themselves recorded a special Italian language version, entitled Piangono gli uomini (The men cry).
In 1980, Bonnie Pointer had a Disco crossover hit, with the song peaking at #40 on the pop singles chart, #42 on the soul singles chart,.[2] and #4 on the dance charts.[3]
Dolly Parton covered the song and included her version on her 1984 album of covers The Great Pretender.
UK group The Real Thing released a version in 1987.
La Toya Jackson covered "I Can't Help Myself" on her 1995 album Stop in the Name of Love. The single was only released throughout Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Holland, with the album track "Baby Love" (cover of The Supremes' "Baby Love") as a B-side.
Australian girl group, Teen Queens, released a version in 1992 for their second single, where it peaked at #28 on the ARIA Singles Chart.
The hard rock band Axe did a heavy version of the song on their first LP.
During the 1980s the song (using the original Four Tops arrangement) was featured in a popular commercial for Kelloggs Honey Smacks cereal in the United Kingdom; sung by the cereal's (then) mascot, Barey Bee.
During the late 1980s or early 1990s, the song was used in a Duncan Hines brownie mix commercial in the US.
In 1980, the song was covered by Japanese pop singers Pink Lady on an episode of their American variety show Pink Lady and Jeff.
On Madonna's Who's That Girl Tour, she sang a few lines of "I Can't Help Myself" during the song "Like a Virgin."
The band Say Anything also uses a few lines from the song on their track "Sure Baby...Hold Back" released on their first album entitled Baseball.
George Harrison's "This Song", which commented on the "My Sweet Lord"/"He's So Fine" plagiarism suit, borrowed the riff of "I Can't Help Myself". In the middle of the song, Monty Python's Eric Idle calls out in falsetto "Could be 'Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch,'" "No, sounds more like 'Rescue Me'!" Scottish Post-punk band Orange Juice makes reference to The Four Tops in their similarly named song "I Can't Help Myself" and made use of the intro bass riff in their instrumental song "Moscow".
The intro of the song was later sampled in the Ace of Base song, "Always Have Always Will".
The band Eraserheads, from the Philippines, borrowed the intro bass line for their song, "Easy Ka Lang" , which translate to English "Take It Easy" but with slight variation on the intro.
The song is part of the 2004 Lodge Kerrigan film, Keane.
| Preceded by "Back in My Arms Again" by The Supremes |
Billboard Hot 100 number-one single June 19, 1965 – July 3, 1965 |
Succeeded by "Mr. Tambourine Man" by The Byrds |
| Billboard Hot R&B Singles number-one single June 5, 1965 – July 31, 1965 |
Succeeded by "In the Midnight Hour" by Wilson Pickett |
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