Song of the Day 2/14: Sam Cooke, “Cupid”

By all accounts, Sam Cooke didn’t need Cupid’s help. Girls rushed to the front pews to get a glimpse of him when he sang with the Soul Stirrers, a phenomenon new to gospel, and once he went secular his reputation as a ladies’ man became as legendary as his expressive tenor voice. So, no surprise, he only wrote this Valentine’s Day classic for someone else to sing.

The tracks Cooke cut for RCA were produced by cousins Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore, who worked with Perry Como as well as Cooke. The story goes that Creatore saw a girl on Como’s TV show – a model whose role was to look up at Como as he crooned – and asked Cooke to write something she could sing. That idea lasted until Creatore heard her voice, whereupon he decided it would sound better if Cooke sang it himself.

Despite the subtly Latin rhythm, Hugo & Luigi poured their usual syrupy strings and a tasteful English horn over the velvet tone Cooke used for his MOR records. The sound of Cupid’s arrows flying was Cooke’s idea. “Cupid” wasn’t among the singer’s biggest hits – it topped out at No. 17 in 1961 – but it has been one of the longest-lasting. Rolling Stone still includes it on its list of rock’s 500 greatest songs.

Johnny Nash gave “Cupid” a Jamaican makeover in 1968, just as rocksteady was giving way to reggae, and put it on the B-side of his No. 5 Billboard hit “Hold Me Tight.” It was released again as an A-side in 1969 and though it only reached No. 39 in the U.S., it was a No. 6 hit in the UK.

Another notable cover was by Amy Winehouse, who gave Nash’s arrangement her own special sauce.