Let’s squeeze in a last bit of Carolina beach music before the summer’s over. This 1967 tune was the closest regional star Clifford Curry, once known as the King of Beach Music, ever got to a national hit — it reached No. 45 in the R&B chart. It was covered by John Fred & His Playboy Band, the Box Tops and, years later, Huey Lewis and the News, all pale imitations of the original (pun maybe intended).
Curry had a long career, and his output is appreciated by soul-besotted Brits.”I Can’t Get Hold of Myself,” unsuccessful when it was released in 1968, has had a long afterlife as a Northern Soul favorite.
