Tag: Pete York

I heard this song on an oldies channel in the mid-1980s, and it sounded so fresh and powerful. I remember wanting to know more about them, but books on the Spencer Davis Group were in short supply at that time. Before I started blogging, I knew very little about this band.

Let’s talk about the not-so-secret weapon here: Steve Winwood. The kid was 17, but he sings like a man three divorces deep with a gospel choir in his chest. He is simply electric when he plays or sings. No buildup, no easing into it, it’s all gas, no brakes, and all the more thrilling because of it. A teenage Steve Winwood, somehow sounding like a man who had lived five blues lifetimes by age seventeen.

The song peaked at #1 in Canada, #7 on the Billboard 100, #5 in New Zealand, and #2 in the UK in 1966. Steve Winwood’s voice and his B-3 organ drives this song. The Spencer Davis Group formed in 1963, with Spencer Davis on guitar, Pete York on drums, and Muff Winwood on bass, while his brother Steve Winwood, remarkably, was just 14 years old.

By 1966, the Spencer Davis Group had a few hits under their belt in the UK (Keep On Running, Somebody Help Me), but they needed something fast to keep the momentum going. Their producer, Jimmy Miller (who later remade the Stones) asked for an original song that would go over well in the US. So Steve Winwood sat down at the Hammond, punched out that legendary riff, and the band built the rest around it in about 30 minutes. Steve Winwood, Spencer Davis, and Muff Winwood are listed as the writers. 

In 1980, The Blues Brothers returned this song to the Billboard Top 20 when their cover reached #18.

Gimme Some Lovin’

Well, my temperature is rising, got my feet on the floor
Crazy people rocking ’cause they want to some more
Let me in baby, I don’t know what you got
But you better take it easy ’cause this place is hot

And I’m so glad you made it, so glad you made it
You got to gimme some lovin’, gimme, gimme some lovin’
Gimme some lovin’, gimme, gimme some lovin’
Gimme some lovin’ everyday

Well, I feel so good, everything’s getting high
You better take it easy ’cause the place is on fire
Been a hard day and I had no work to do
Wait a minute baby, let it happen to you

And I’m so glad we made it, so glad we made it
You got to gimme some lovin’, gimme, gimme some lovin’
Gimme some lovin’, gimme, gimme some lovin’
Gimme some lovin’ everyday, yeh

Well, I feel so good, everything’s getting high
You better take it easy ’cause the place is on fire
Been a hard day nothing went too good
Now I’m gonna relax, buddy everybody should

And I’m so glad we made it, hey hey, so glad we made it
You got to gimme some lovin’, gimme, gimme some lovin’ woo ooo
Gimme some lovin’, gimme, gimme some lovin’

Gimme, gimme, gimme some of your lovin’, baby
You know I need it so bad woo ooo
Gimme some of your lovin’, baby