Released January 12, 1966 Genre Soul/pop Label Tamla
54128 | Format 7" single Length 2:46 | |
Recorded Hitsville U.S.A. (Studio A); 1965 | ||
"This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)" is a song by The Isley Brothers from 1966 that was a hit for them during their brief tenure on Motown's Tamla label. Featuring Ronald Isley on lead vocal, "This Old Heart of Mine" peaked at number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100, and at number six on the Billboard R&B Singles chart.
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In the UK, the song originally reached number 47 in April 1966, but it re-charted in late 1968 and reached number three for two weeks in November, making it the group's highest charting UK single.
Written by Motown's main songwriting team Holland–Dozier–Holland alongside Sylvia Moy, "This Old Heart of Mine", produced by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier, was originally intended for The Supremes (who later recorded their own version for their Supremes A' Go-Go album). The single was the group's only major hit while on Motown, whom they left in 1969 to restart their own T-Neck label. Tammi Terrell also recorded and released the song as a part of her Irresistible album released in January, 1969.
The song was prominently featured in an episode of the hit 1980s show Moonlighting and was one of the tunes included on the show's hit soundtrack.
Personnel
Rod Stewart versions
In 1975, Rod Stewart released a remake of this song that charted in several markets (U.S. #83). In 1989, Stewart released another version--this time a duet of the song with Ronald Isley that reached number 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and spent five weeks at #1 on the US adult contemporary chart. The later version was produced by Bernard Edwards and Trevor Horn and was released on Warner Records.
Luv' cover version
"This Old Heart of Mine" is the twenty-fifth single by Dutch girl group Luv', released in 1992 by the Dutch label JAM. It is the last record involving the line-up including Marga Scheide, Carina Lemoine and Diana van Berlo before the reunion of the original trio in 1993.
The 1991 album Sincerely Yours and the singles released from it were far from being hit records, though the female pop formation was frequently invited to perform live at clubs and discos. Because of the lack of commercial success, Luv' and RCA Records/BMG ended their legal relationship. The trio later signed a contract with the Dutch label JAM for the release of one single in 1992, a Dance cover version of "This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)" (originally performed by The Isley Brothers. Luv's rendition of this Motown hit failed to top the charts. This attempt to cover a song from the Holland-Dozier-Holland repertoire is not the first one for Scheide, one of Luv's members. In 1983, she recorded as a solo artist a Supremes medley that was aired on Black American radio stations despite its disappointing record sales.
Soon after promoting "This Old Heart of Mine", the group disbanded. One year later, the original formation (José Hoebee, Patty Brard and Marga Scheide) reunited and returned to the Dutch albums and singles charts.
Other versions
In 1966 it was covered by The Zombies, in 1975 by Bettye Swann (unreleased until 2014), in 1978 by the US group Flame, in 1983 by Randy Crawford, in 1990 by The Contours, in 2010 by American Pop Punk band A Loss For Words, in 2012 by Swiss singer Stefanie Heinzmann and appeared on the 2014 album Dublin to Detroit by Irish group Boyzone.
Soul group The Impressions released their song "Can't Satisfy" in 1966. Motown thought the song sounded like "This Old Heart Of Mine" and sued; it was deemed to be similar enough to the Isleys' song and Curtis Mayfield was made to share writing credits with Motown songwriting-production team Holland-Dozier-Holland and Sylvia Moy for his song. Nevertheless, "Can't Satisfy" became a Top 20 R&B hit for the group, peaking at #12, as well as a favored record on the Northern Soul scene.