Interview with Lamont Dozier & Duke Fakir: How The Four Tops Turned “I Can’t Help Myself” Into Another Hit

Coming up, interviews with two legends that we’ve lost over the last few years. One was one of the most successful songwriters in history: Lamont Dozier. Giving Lennon and McCartney all the competition they could handle at their peak. And another was Duke Fakir, the last remaining member of the hall-of-fame music group the Four Tops. Together they tell the story behind several of their biggest hits including their first #1 I Can’t Help Myself (Sugarpie Honeybunch), which came from this famous songwriter’s grandpa and the pet names he used to FLIRT with the women who would come by to get their hair cut by his wife…After it hit #1 the band’s former label put out their early material to capitalize on their popularity and steal their new label’s thunder. So The Tops needed a good follow-up single to head off the threat. And so they took this I Can’t Help Myself and played it backwards putting new lyrics to it. Then the named it The Same Old Song. It hit the top 5 and was almost a carbon copy! See what I mean next.

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