This 1967 One-Hit Wonder Was Recorded in One Take, Was the Band’s First Single, and Is Now a Drama Series Staple

There is the average one-hit wonder, and then there is Vanilla Fudge—a psychedelic rock band from the 1960s that gave all-new meaning to the term “one and done.” Although psych-rock fans likely know Vanilla Fudge beyond their most commercially successful single, the layman listener will likely know them for their cover of a track made famous by The Supremes, “You Keep Me Hanging On”.

In fact, covering tracks made famous by other people was the band’s whole schtick. Vanilla Fudge released its eponymous debut in August 1967, which exclusively featured half-speed covers of popular songs, like the aforementioned Motown track, “Eleanor Rigby” and “Ticket To Ride” by The Beatles, “She’s Not There” by The Zombies, and “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)” by Sonny Bono.

The band’s Supremes cover was the first single to come from that first album, and it proved to be their most popular. “You Keep Me Hanging On” peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and broke into the Top 20 in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. After it became their only Top 10 hit on the Hot 100, Vanilla Fudge earned the bittersweet “one-hit wonder” distinction.

Vanilla Fudge Recorded Their One-Hit Wonder in One Mono Take

“One” seems to be the recurring theme in Vanilla Fudge’s cover of “You Keep Me Hanging On”. One person is feeling like they’re left out of a relationship. The band’s first album and first single. One Top 10 hit. And according to drummer Carmine Appice, the band recorded their iconic Supremes cover in one take in mono. “One take, straight to tape,” the drummer recalled, per Songfacts. But it wasn’t just the singularity of it all that contributed to this track’s timeless quality. That half-speed trick made all the difference.

“We used to slow songs down and listen to the lyrics and try to emulate what the lyrics were dictating,” Appice said in a 2014 interview. “[The Supremes’ ‘You Keep Me Hanging On’] was a hurtin’ song. It had a lot of emotion in it. ‘Eleanor Rigby’ was sort of eerie and churchlike, like a horror movie. If you listen to ‘Hangin’ On’ fast by The Supremes, it sounds very happy. But the lyrics aren’t happy at all. If you lived through that situation, the lyrics are definitely not happy.”

Today, the song lives on in countless television and film dramas—most notably, The Sopranos, Mad Men, War Dogs, and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. There’s something enduringly attractive about the way Vanilla Fudge mashed psychedelia and heavy rock ‘n’ roll together. The passion the band put into the track is undeniable, both sonically and visually. And most importantly, at its core essence, everyone can find a way to relate to lyrics like “Set me free, why don’tcha baby? / Get out of my life, why don’tcha baby? / ‘Cause you don’t really love me / You just keep me hangin’ on.”

Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

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