Tuesday, February 18, 2014

"Gimme Some Lovin'" (The Spencer Davis Group)

Great Britain's Spencer Davis Group was named for its lead guitarist, Spencer Davis, who along with eventual superstar Steve Winwood (lead vocals and keyboards), Mervyn "Muff"--God, what an awful nickname--Winwood (bass), and Pete York (drums) comprised the original lineup of the R&B-flavored quartet.  The band got its name because the brothers Winwood didn't want to be bothered with talking to the press, so they elected to make Davis the bandleader since he was more comfortable in the hot seat.  (After all, Steve Winwood was barely 15 years old and his brother not much older when they joined the band in 1963.  So it's pretty understandable why they were eager to have Davis--who was in his mid 20s--be the titular frontman.)
The group's hit "Gimme Some Lovin'" (1966) is one of many songs from the 1960s that is largely built around a Hammond B-3 organ groove.  The Hammond is essentially a church organ with a built-in, rotating Leslie speaker that creates a slight swirling effect as a note is played.  Although the Hammond B-3 was used pretty extensively by jazz artists like Jimmy Smith in the late 50s/early 60s, it really was after Ray Charles featured the organ on several recordings (especially his 1961 album Genius + Soul = Jazz) that it became a sought after instrument for budding R&B and rock musicians.  And the list of Hammond enthusiasts is long:  Booker T. Jones of Booker T. & The MG'sFelix Cavaliere of The Rascals, Ray Manzarek of The Doors, session musician Al Kooper (who played the Hammond on Bob Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone"), and many others. 
Steve Winwood also was a devotee of the Hammond B-3 and a Ray Charles disciple.  In fact, Charles's influence is all over Winwood's impassioned vocal and soulful keyboard work on "Gimme Some Lovin'."  Add in that thumping bassline, clunking cowbell percussion, and female backing singers, and the track easily could have been a Ray Charles single.  
Speaking of other people's songs, I discovered recently that "Gimme Some Lovin'" borrows pretty heavily from another 1966 song called "Ain't That A Lot of Love" by Memphis soul artist Homer Banks.   Although Banks's song has altogether different lyrics and lacks that distinctive Hammond organ sound, the chord progression and bassline are strikingly similar to "Gimme Some Lovin'."
So for your consideration, I'm posting both "Gimme Some Lovin'" (credited to S. Winwood, M. Winwood, S. Davis) and "Ain't That A Lot of Love" (credited to Homer Banks and Willia "Deanie" Parker).   
  



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