This week’s selection was written and produced by Motown’s main production team, Holland-Dozier-Holland and occupied the #1 slot on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart for two weeks in November, 1966. The song was performed by one of the most successful musical groups in history and became their eighth #1 hit. Four additional #1 hits would follow, among a total of 30 songs appearing on the Billboard Top 40 charts.
The original arrangement has been described as rooted in proto-funk and rhythm and blues, featuring a signature bass line intended to resemble a Morse code-like radio signal. The original version of the song was ranked #339 on Rolling Stone’s The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Unlike many other major hits which quickly retire to relative obscurity, this song would make at least three more curtain calls during the decades that followed. Two years later, in June of 1968, a psychedelic/hard rock remake would rise to #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.