“You Keep Me Hanging On” – Single by Vanilla Fudge from the album Vanilla Fudge
B-side: “Take Me for a Little While”
Released: June 1967
Recorded: 1967
Label: Atco
Songwriters: Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland
Producer: Shadow Morton
Charted No.6 in US
“You Keep Me Hangin’ On” is a song written and composed by Holland–Dozier–Holland. It was first recorded in 1966 by American Motown group the Supremes, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
Vanilla Fudge’s 1967 psychedelic rock remake entitled “You Keep Me Hanging On” reached number six on the Billboard Hot 100 chart a year after the release of the Supremes’ recording. While the edited version released on the 45 RPM single was under three minutes long, the album version was 7:26 and features a markedly slower and more aggressive interpretation of the song. The recording, done in one take, was Vanilla Fudge’s first single.
The band’s original line–up — vocalist and organist Mark Stein, bassist and vocalist Tim Bogert, lead guitarist/vocalist Vince Martell, and drummer and vocalist Carmine Appice — recorded five albums during the years 1967–69, before disbanding in 1970.
The band has been cited as “one of the few American links between psychedelia and what soon became heavy metal.” Vanilla Fudge also is known to have influenced other major bands such as The Nice, Deep Purple, Yes, Styx, Led Zeppelin, and Uriah Heep.
