Gimme Some Lovin’ – It went down a storm. #MusicisLife #TedTocksCovers #TheSpencerDavisGroup #SpencerDavis #SteveWinwood #Traffic #Chic #TomPettyandtheHeartbreakers #OliviaNewtonJohn #TheBluesBrothers #GratefulDead #BrianJohnson

Here’s an idea. If you want to write a quality rock and roll song, just put the word ‘Gimme’ in the title. Off the top of my head, you’ve got ‘Gimme Shelter’ by the Rolling Stones, ‘Gimme Some Truth’ by John Lennon, ‘Gimme, Gimme, Gimme’ by ABBA, ‘Gimme All Your Lovin’ by ZZ Top, and today’s classic ‘Gimme Some Lovin’ by The Spencer Davis Group.

‘Gimme’ five minutes and Ted Tocks Covers will walk you through this song’s interesting history. There will be many cover versions to enjoy as well, because that is what this feature is all about.

‘Gimme Some Lovin’ was released 55 years ago this month. Today’s feature acknowledges this anniversary, but more importantly it will serve as an homage to Spencer Davis who co-founded the Spencer Davis Group in 1963. So, there you have my agenda, first the song, then a fine list of covers and I will conclude with the man who shared in the vision for the band.

Oftentimes spontaneity is a musician’s best friend and in the case of ‘Gimme Some Lovin’ it was an early morning jam session that created the spark. Truth be told, the Spencer Davis Group was feeling the pressure from their record company. Their previous single had not performed well. Manager Chris Blackwell was pushing them for a quality single and it came to a head when he locked them in a rehearsal room at the Marquee Club in London and basically said “I don’t want to see you until you have written a hit”. According to band member Muff Winwood it went down like this:

We started to mess about with riffs, and it must have been eleven o’clock in the morning. We hadn’t been there half an hour, and this idea just came. We thought, bloody hell, this sounds really good. We fitted it all together and by about twelve o’clock, we had the whole song. Steve had been singing ‘Gimme, gimme some loving’ – you know, just yelling anything, so we decided to call it that. We worked out the middle eight and then went to a cafe that’s still on the corner down the road. Blackwell came to see how we were going on, to find our equipment set up and us not there, and he storms into the cafe, absolutely screaming, ‘How can you do this?’ he screams. Don’t worry, we said. We were all really confident. We took him back, and said, how’s this for half an hour’s work, and we knocked off ‘Gimme Some Lovin’ and he couldn’t believe it. We cut it the following day and everything about it worked. That very night we played a North London club and tried it out on the public. It went down a storm. We knew we had another No. 1.”

Muff Winwoos

Of course, Steve is ‘Steve Winwood’ who was all of 18 when he belted out these vocals. In the opinion of Ted Tocks Covers this is one of the most remarkable stories in music history, especially when I consider what I was doing at the age of 18 but, this is why Steve Winwood is a music legend and I write about music as a hobby.

The song is all about the Hammond B3 organ and Winwood’s soulful voice. Fifty-five years later and it still sends chills.

When it comes to ‘Gimme Some Lovin’ and its eventual release there are some interesting sidenotes related to both the U.K. version and the track that was released in North America. On the U.K. version Steve Winwood receives sole credit but the U.S. release also credits Spencer Davis and Steve Winwood’s older brother Muff. It should also be noted that Winwood’s lead vocal is also different in his home country. It includes the line:

My head’s a-spinning And I’m floating to sound, Too much is happening ’cause you’re not around”

Steve Winwood

Listen below. Note the slower tempo of the U.K. version. It also lacks the ‘response’ style backing vocals in the chorus. There is no doubt that the U.S. version created more of a live feel. For that you can credit the great producer Jimmy Miller who went on to produce Steve Winwood and his work with Traffic and Blind Faith, as well as the Rolling Stones stellar albums ‘Beggar’s Banquet’, ‘Let it Bleed’, ‘Sticky Fingers’, ‘Exile on Main Street’ and Goats Head Soup’. This resides as one of the most impressive runs for a producer ever. It is analogous to a Major League Baseball pitcher winning eight Cy Young Awards in a row.

Have a listen to the U.K version and then check out the better-known track I played at the outset.

Let’s have a look at Steve Winwood playing ‘Gimme Some Lovin’ through the years.

Here is Steve Winwood along with Traffic at Woodstock ’94. The percussion in this creates a bit of a Santana feel. Really well done. Traffic also did a live recording of ‘Gimme Some Lovin’ on their 1971 live album ‘Welcome to the Canteen’. Compare both versions.

This is an interesting combination of musicians. Check out Chic with Steve Winwood, Slash and Simon LeBon of Duran Duran fame

I have often referred to the Ted Tocks Covers ‘Tom Petty rule’. Well, here you go. If Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers cover it, Ted Tocks will share it. This was a pleasant surprise. What a treat for his fans that night in 2014. Man, are they having fun or what?

I also found this 2020 version featuring Steve Winwood and friends.  Just a little Covid social distancing project to put a smile on his fan’s faces. Nice!

Now, on to the cover versions.

Here is Olivia Newton- John following up her success from ‘Grease’ in 1978. This is from her album ‘Totally Hot’.

One year later the Blues Brothers famously covered ‘Gimme Some Lovin’ on their movie soundtrack. Just amazing, even without the Hammond B3.

It was also about this time that The Knack released ‘My Sharona’, which they admitted to being inspired by ‘Gimme Some Lovin’. The opening riff just took the chord structure and inverted it.

This was one of the best days of my life so forgive me, my self-indulgence. It was July 4, 1986, and I was at Rich Stadium in Buffalo with a group of friends. It was Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and the Grateful Dead. It was raining, but the ‘place was hot’. The Dead were coming out of ‘Drums and Space’ and the crowd was entranced. As if the Grateful Dead controlled the weather, the clouds began to part, and the sun broke through. As ‘Space’ concluded Brent Mydland broke into the familiar chords of ‘Gimme Some Lovin’ and 80,000 appreciative Deadheads danced in a state of euphoria. I had never seen anything like it in my life. From that day on I was not just a fan, I was along for the ride. The bus pulled up and I got on. That’s where it all began. When they all sang “I’m so glad you made it”, I swear they were talking to me. What a scene! There were many forces at work on this day, but the prime mover was the Grateful Dead. Less than a week later Jerry Garcia went into a diabetic coma.

I have often heard that Brian Johnson of AC/DC is a student of music history. Here is an example. In this 2006 video Johnson takes the lead vocal with a 2006 edition of the Spencer Davis Group.

In order to properly conclude today’s post, we must pay tribute to Spencer Davis, who passed away one year ago today at the age of 81. The formation of the band that took on Davis’s name goes back to Birmingham, England in 1963 when he joined forces with Muff Winwood of the Muff Wood Jazz Band, a traditional jazz trio that consisted of Muff Winwood, his younger brother Steve who was 15, and drummer Pete York.

I went to a pub in the northern suburbs of Birmingham. Somebody said, ‘Go and see the Muff Wood Jazz Band.’ Sitting down at the piano was this young guy [who] played piano like Oscar Peterson and sang like Ray Charles. I said, ‘You, I want you in the band!’ He said, ‘I don’t have a driver’s license.’ I said, ‘Don’t worry about that.”

Spencer Davis

 Soon after their formation the band adopted the name The Spencer Davis Group because Davis was the only one with the energy and patience to conduct early morning press interviews. This allowed the other band members to sleep in. Since Davis was the spokesperson, the band took on his name. The Spencer Davis Group earned a reputation for their live energy and quality musicianship and in a short period of time they caught the attention of Chris Blackwell of Island Records. The band recorded a series of acclaimed songs including ‘Keep on Running’, ‘Somebody Help Me’, ‘Gimme Some Lovin’ and ‘I’m a Man’ before Steve Winwood left the band in 1967 to form Traffic. The Spencer Davis Group continued following Winwood’s departure, releasing two albums. Neither lived up to the success of the recordings released while Steve Winwood was in the band. The group disbanded in 1969, but they did re-emerge in 1973/74 with York and Davis at the helm for a short-lived stint. Various incarnations toured at intervals from the late ‘70s through 2006. Spencer Davis divided his time between being a recording and touring musician. He was highly regarded for his dexterity and his ear which he parlayed into immense success as an A&R executive with Island Records, where he worked with Bob Marley and Robert Palmer in addition to his longstanding relationship with Steve Winwood. Within industry circles he was affectionately known as ‘the Professor’, which was a tribute to his vision and aptitude for the math/science behind music.

Perhaps, most of all Spencer Davis was a family man. Later in life Davis celebrated this important connection between music and family. Here is one example from an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.

The songs have taken on a life of their own. I got a call from one of my grandkids — I have five grandchildren. He said, ‘Grandpappy, Ariana Grande has covered your song! I didn’t say which song, I said, ‘Who?’ She’s kind of a Miley Cyrus, a teen pop idol queen or whatever. She did ‘Gimme Some Lovin’. She did a good job too. The check was nice as well!”

Spencer Davis

What a perfect way to end.

When your music spans generations it moves beyond classic rock and enters the realm of a gift.

Let’s remember Spencer Davis’s role.