Released 1961 Recorded 1961 Length 2:53 | Format 7" Genre Rock & roll, R&B | |
B-side "Won't You Forgive Me" (Ike Turner) | ||
"It's Gonna Work Out Fine" is a song written by Rose Marie McCoy and Sylvia McKinney, and released as a single by Ike & Tina Turner in 1961. It is noted for being their first Grammy nominated hit and their second million-selling hit after "A Fool in Love".
Contents
History
The song was recorded a year after Ike and Tina Turner broke through with their blues-oriented soul number, "A Fool in Love", which accidentally formed the duo after Sue Records president Juggy Murray refused to erase Bullock's raspy delivery from the record. Insisting on equal billing, Ike Turner included himself in the billing and renamed Anna "Little Ann" Bullock to Tina Turner, adding his last name, though the couple were not married at the time.
While their follow-up single, "I'm Jealous", was a monumental failure, the couple had a sizeable R&B hit with another Ike Turner composition, "I Idolize You". Working with Ike and Tina on the track was another popular duo, Mickey & Sylvia, who reportedly supported the recording by adding their guitar work and backing vocals to the track. Mickey Baker insisted that Ike Turner was not part of the original recording, stating that he was coached to be "Ike" while delivering spoken responses to Tina's lyrics. Ike Turner claimed he was in on the recording and that the guitar work was his.
Rose Marie McCoy stated, "I wrote the song, but I heard that Tina didn't really care for it. Anyway, at the time, Sylvia (McKinney) told me I had to "hear this girl sing it." When Ike and Tina came to New York, I went up to the Apollo to see them. Ike called Tina in the room. He said "Sing that song." She didn't say a word, but she sang. She sang like her life depended on it. I told Sylvia, if it sounds that good now, I can't wait to hear it with the music behind it."
Released in the summer of 1961 on Sue Records, the song became the duo's second crossover hit, reaching number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and repeating the same spot of "A Fool in Love" on the R&B chart at number two. Much like "A Fool in Love", the song became an early highlight of Ike & Tina's live shows as the duo's band transformed from The Kings of Rhythm in which Tina was the lead vocalist and sole dancer into The Ike & Tina Turner Revue, by 1962. It also resulted in the group's first Grammy nomination for Best Rock & Roll Vocal Performance By a Duo or Group.
The song is often (as on the original release) credited to Joe Seneca and one J. Lee, and has been covered by Manfred Mann (on the album The Five Faces of Manfred Mann, 1964) and The Spencer Davis Group (on their debut album Their First LP in 1965). Ry Cooder recorded an instrumental version of the tune on his Bop Till You Drop album in 1979. Just before Ike and Tina Turner split in 1976, they re-recorded "It's Gonna Work Out Fine" in a then-modern rock influenced setting with Ike Turner undoubtedly performing this time. Ike Turner also played piano on the track. The song's guitar riffs were similar to songs released in that time period including "Nutbush City Limits" and "Sexy Ida (Part 2)".
Afterwards, Tina Turner kept the song on her set list until the release of Private Dancer in 1984. In 1993, she re-recorded the song with Laurence Fishburne on the soundtrack to Tina's biopic, What's Love Got to Do with It. In the film, the song is dramatized after Ike Turner (played by Fishburne) proposes marriage to Tina (played by Angela Bassett) after Tina and their newborn were secretly carried out of the hospital by Ike and his band mates and the couple traveled to Tijuana, Mexico to be married, much to Tina's chagrin. According to Ike Turner, however, the scene where Fishburne, playing Ike, takes Tina and her baby out of the room, was inaccurate. After marrying, Tina is nearly forgotten about as Ike's car drives off. When Tina eventually gets into the car, she pushes Ike away in anger for forgetting her, though Ike persists in kissing her.