Bring It On Home to Me

Not to be confused with Bring It on Home or Bring It on Home (Little Big Town song).

"Bring It On Home to Me" is a 1961 12-bar blues written and recorded by R&B singer-songwriter Sam Cooke. The song, about infidelity, was a hit for Cooke and has become a pop standard covered by numerous artists of different genres. It is one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. Cooke's recorded version has Lou Rawls singing responses as an uncredited background singer.

This song is considered by many historians of soul music to be the founding, or at least definitive soul song, as it provides the formula that is still popular today. Cooke's live version of this song that he performed in Miami, from the album Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963, can be seen as his personal vision of what soul music should be, owing to the texture and emotion conveyed through his vocals that night, and that were probably standard in Cooke's near-nightly shows in primarily black clubs.

Covers

The most significant covers of the song include the hit versions by

• The Animals, Eddie Floyd, Mickey Gilley, Ben Mills, and most recently Scott Blasey.
• Lou Rawls, who sang background vocals on the original song, recorded his own charting version in 1970.
• In the United Kingdom, The Faces released this song as part of a medley with "You Send Me" and charted it on the UK Singles Chart at #7 as a double A-side with "Farewell". Rod Stewart later covered this song as a medley with Cookes "You Send Me" on his solo album Smiler.
• Otis Redding covered this song with Carla Thomas.
• John Lennon and Paul McCartney each recorded this song, but separately. McCartney recorded the song twice: First in 1988 for his album Choba B CCCP, and again in 2006 with George Benson and Al Jarreau for the album Givin' It Up.
• Van Morrison's highly acclaimed, 1974 live album, It's Too Late to Stop Now contained his personally relevant version (he was going through a divorce battle at the time) of this song, as performed in concert.
• The Dixie Chicks performed it bluegrass style on their debut album.
• Sonny & Cher recorded it as a B-side to "Little Man"
• The band Thunder have also played the song live, and it features on their Thrill of it All special edition CD.
• Another cover is included as a hidden song on The Von Bondies album Lack of Communication, with Marcie Bolen on lead vocals.
• Bon Jovi performed a live cover of this song with Steve Perry
• Britt Daniel, lead vocalist of indie-rock band Spoon, recorded a cover of this song for the Portland, OR based covers compilation Bridging the Distance.
• Secrets Between Sailors has not put their version on one of their albums, but has been a crowd favorite encore at the end of many of their shows, with Kyle Burkett's fervored vocals, and the unique version of the songs melody played through pounding bass lines by Andrew Maxson
• Eddie Floyd and Duffy performed on Jools Holland]'s Hootenanny.
• Dave Mason (a co-founder of Traffic) covered the tune on his 1974 solo album Dave Mason.
• Tony Lucca and Erine Halter have covered this song at several concerts
• Sonny Terry & Brownie McGee covered this song on the album: Back to New Orleans

Chart performance

Sam Cooke version

Year	Chart	Position
1962	Black Singles Chart	#2
1962	Pop Singles Chart	#13

The Animals version

Year	Chart	Position
1965	Pop Singles Chart	#32
1965	UK Singles Chart	#7

Eddie Floyd version

Year	Chart	Position
1968	Black Singles Chart	#4
1968	Pop Singles Chart	#17

Lou Rawls version

Year	Chart	Position
1970	Black Singles Chart	#45
1970	Pop Singles Chart	#96

Mickey Gilley version

Year	Chart	Position
1976	Country Singles Chart	#1

References

• Heylin, Clinton (2003). Can You Feel the Silence? Van Morrison: A New Biography, Chicago Review Press ISBN

1-55652-542-7

Succession