Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)

Co-written and first recorded by Eddie Holland (1964).
Hit versions by Kim Weston (US #50/R&B #4 1965), The Isley Brothers (R&B #22 1967), The Doobie Brothers (US #11/UK #29 1975), Charity Brown (CAN #5 1975).

From the wiki: “Eddie Holland, of the legendary Motown songwriting team Holland-Dozier-Holland (‘Leaving Here‘), co-wrote and recorded the original version of ‘Take Me in Your Arms’ in 1964. (Holland’s recording was not released commercially until 2005.) Holland quit performing due to stage fright, opting instead to concentrate on songwriting. Holland-Dozier-Holland were responsible for such mega hits as ‘Baby, I Need Your Loving’, ‘Heat Wave’, ‘Baby Love’, ‘This Old Heart of Mine’ and scores of others.

“Tom Johnston was still the Doobies’ frontman in 1975 and would later recall: ‘I had been a fan of that song since it came out somewhere in the ’60s. I just loved that song. So somewhere around ’72 I started lobbying to get the band to do a cover of that. And I didn’t get anywhere until ’75. Then finally in 1975 we actually did it.’ Motown veteran Paul Riser was enlisted to arrange the track. According to Doobies member Patrick Simmons: ‘At first the band sounded like the Grateful Dead doing the Four Tops, but gradually it came together quite accurately.’ The Doobie Brothers take on ‘Take Me in Your Arms’ would be the first single released from their 1975 album, Stampede.

“‘Take Me in Your Arms’ was also remade in 1975 by Canadian singer Charity Brown, whose version, was arranged by Motown veteran Tom Baird. The Charity Brown version of ‘Take Me in Your Arms’ reached #5 in Canada in May 1975: as this version descended the Canadian charts the Doobie Brothers’ version moved up to a #30 peak the success of Brown’s version evidently undercutting that of the Doobies’ version.”

Kim Weston, “Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)” (1965):

The Isley Brothers, “Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)” (1967):

The Doobie Brothers, “Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)” (1975):

Charity Brown, “Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)” (1975):