Mickey's Monkey

"Mickey's Monkey" is a hit single of the American soul group The Miracles . The song was released in July of 1963 as a single and grew up in the late summer of that year to become one of the biggest hits of the group ever had. It was after " Shop Around "and" You've Really Got A Hold On Me "is the third most successful song by The Miracles. Later, there were only " I Second That Emotion "and the # 1 hits" The Tears Of A Clown "and" Love Machine ", in terms of listing on the Billboard Hot 100, more successful than "Mickey's Monkey". It was a hit # 8, while in Canada also the top ten was reached. The most successful was "Mickey's Monkey" on the US R & B list. Since it reached namely the third position.

The success of "Mickey's Monkey" concluded Motown, the record company The Miracles had a contract to dedicate an album to the song, called " The Miracles Doin 'Mickey's Monkey ". Of this, only " I Gotta Dance To Keep From Crying "also released as a single, while others dance songs like" Twist & Shout "," The Wah-Watusi "and"Do You Love Me ", a cover of Motown Colleagues of the song The Contours, album filled up. Agreement tusesn the two songs from the album were released as a single, is that they both were written by the songwriter trio Holland-Dozier-Holland . This is remarkable, because during the time that lead singer Smokey Robinson was part of The Miracles, he wrote most of the songs which released the group. Due to the great success of "Mickey's Monkey" Holland-Dozier-Holland, however, were legitimized to write a song for the group, thus resulting in "I Gotta Dance To Keep From Crying". When this number, however, only just managed to reach the top 40, Smokey Robinson went back singles writing for The Miracles. Moreover, to make another Motown songwriter something with "Mickey's Monkey", namely William Stevenson . His nickname was "Mickey" and the number in question is named after him. The monkey is a dance, early 60s was very popular. Mickey would spread this dance according to the lyrics of the song.

Although he did not write the song, Smokey Robinson sang it as usual lead . This time were background singers not only Bobby Rogers , Ronnie White , Warren "Pete" Moore and Claudette Robinson . Next to them also sang The Temptations , The Marvelettes , Mary Wilson of The Supremes , Martha and the Vandellas, all also under contract with Motown, and DJ "Jockey Jack" Gibson , to give listeners the feeling that live a party to the was underway. This recording technique was also in later song was by The Miracles, such as "I Gotta Dance To Keep From Crying" and " I Like It Like That "is used. Smokey Robinson the number starts with the question of whether everyone is ready. React all the background singers and -zangeressen by confirming this and chanting his name. Robinson then counts down and begins "Mickey's Monkey" with the famous line from the song "Lum Lum-di-di-lai-ai", which creates a jungle atmosphere.

Like many songs by The Miracles was "Mickey's Monkey" retreaded several times. First names Motown Colleagues Martha and the Vandellas, still sang background on the original, its own version. Also Choker Campbell took his own big band version, but it was instrumental. Also brought other world stars like The Hollies , The Young Rascals and Lou Christie versions of "Mickey's Monkey" from.

The B-side of "Mickey's Monkey" was the song "Whatever Makes You Happy". Unlike the A-side was this number be written by Smokey Robinson and produced too. Writing he did in collaboration with group memberRonald White, with whom he would later include the first # 1 hit of The Temptations " My Girl , "wrote. "Whatever Makes You Happy" was not released on the album "The Miracles Doin 'Mickey's Monkey" because it already had appeared in the previous studio album by The Miracles, called " The Fabulous Miracles ".

Occupation [ edit ]

 * Lead: Smokey Robinson
 * Background: Bobby Rogers, Warren "Pete" Moore, Claudette Robinson and Ronald White
 * Additional background: "Jockey Jack" Gibson, Martha and the Vandellas, The Temptations, The Marvelettes, and Mary Wilson
 * Instrumentation: The Funk Brothers
 * Guitarist: Marv Tarplin
 * Writers: Holland-Dozier-Holland
 * Production: Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier