Song of the Day 11/4: Vanilla Fudge, “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”
This Holland-Dozier-Holland tune was a No. 1 hit for the Supremes in 1966, just a year before Long Island band Vanilla Fudge slowed it down and turned the song’s minor-key moodiness into sinister anguish. This version reached No. 4 on the charts, and it’s credited as one of the songs that helped steer psychedelia toward what would soon become heavy metal. This video shows the band performing the shortened single version, cut down from the seven-minute extravaganza on LP. That’s a young Carmine Appice twirling the drumsticks every chance he gets, but the performance belongs to organist Mark Stein, who puts a lot more passion into his vocal than Diana Ross ever did.
Appice once explained how the band’s biggest hit came about:
We used to slow songs down and listen to the lyrics and try to emulate what the lyrics were dictating. That one was a hurtin’ song; it had a lot of emotion in it. If you listen to “Hangin’ On” fast … by the Supremes, it sounds very happy, but the lyrics aren’t happy at all. If you lived through that situation, the lyrics are definitely not happy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNcFWGox-SM
Vanilla Fudge broke up in 1970, but has reformed several times over the years. The song proved more durable, reaching the charts for Kim Wilde in 1986 and, believe it or not, Reba McEntire in 1995.
When I was a kid I thought this was the original.
Arguably the beginnings of Sludge and Stoner metal.
The background vocals harmonizing on the “woo -oo-woo-ooo’s” make the record.
I like this comment.⤴️
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2396566/
The local Rock band NOXX does a great job with this song!!
Wasn’t a big fan of this version, and I disagree with what the band said about this being a sad song, hence the slow tempo.
I always felt that the jittery guitar line in the Supremes’ version created the sense of unease that made the song great.
Maybe if I’d drunk a lot of Robitussin back in the day, my opinion would be different…
Yeah, I don’t think the original sounds happy. Faster, yes. Happy, no.
Interesting, though, that the Supremes seem to get so much less attention these days than most other Motown groups.