Smokey Robinson & The Miracles

You've Really Got A Hold On Me

"You've Really Got a Hold on Me" is a song written by Smokey Robinson, which became a 1962 top 10 hit single for the Miracles. One of the Miracles' most covered tunes, this million-selling song received a 1998 Grammy Hall of Fame Award.

It has also been selected as one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.

Composition and recording

"You've Really Got a Hold on Me" was written by Smokey Robinson while in New York in 1962 on business for Motown; he heard Sam Cooke's "Bring It On Home to Me", which was in the charts at the time, and—influenced by it—wrote the song in his hotel room.

Release and reception

The song was released on the Tamla label on November 9, 1962, as the B-side of "Happy Landing". "Happy Landing" reached some regional charts; however, "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" was ultimately more successful. With "You've Really Got a Hold on Me" as the A-side, the single reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop chart, peaking at number eight, and was a number one smash on the Billboard R&B singles chart during the winter of 1962–63. Cash Box described it as "a pulsating beat-ballad romancer that the artists carve out in emotion-packed fashion" and said "could be a real big dual-mart, pop-r&b sales item". Cash Box also praised the "captivating instrumental assist".

In popular culture

Smokey Robinson performed a rewritten version of the song on Sesame Street in 1985 called "U Really Got a Hold on Me", alongside a grabby feminine-looking Muppet letter "U", that keeps squeezing and grabbing him.