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Nobody but Me (Isley Brothers song)
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Wikipedia article
"'Nobody but Me'" is a song written by O'Kelly, Rudolph, and Ronald Isley of The Isley Brothers and first recorded by The Isley Brothers in 1962.
The most commercially successful and widely known version to date is the 1968 US Top 10 hit by The Human Beinz, which was their only chart success.
The Isley Brothers
The Isley Brothers' original version, released as a single on Wand 131, failed to make the pop or R&B charts.
The Human Beinz
The song was covered by Youngstown, Ohio's The Human Beinz and made them one-hit wonders after the song reached number eight on the 'Billboard' pop singles chart in 1968. It was included on some versions of Lenny Kaye's 'Nuggets' compilation.
Dave Marsh, in his 'Book of Rock Lists'Dell, October 1981, named the version by the Human Beinz "The most negative song to hit the Top 40," noting that the word "no" is sung over 100 times in a mere 2:16. Marsh also counts the word "nobody" 46 times more; he adds "for balance, they throw in the word Yeah once".
Other versions, uses, and appearances
Liverpool group The Mojos released an early version in 1964 ('The Mojos' EP, Decca Records).
Experimental group The Residents sampled this song in the track "N-Er-Gee (Crisis Blues)" from their 1974 album 'Meet the Residents'.
The French group The Dogs recorded a version in 1979 included in the album 'Different'.
George Thorogood and the Destroyers would later record a version more faithful to the Human Beinz cover than to the Isleys' original, and released it on 1982's 'Bad to the Bone'.
Canadian band Doug and the Slugs released their own cover of the single in 1983.
The L.A. punk band the Dickies also recorded a lightning-fast version of the song on their 1998 all-covers album, 'Dogs from the Hare that Bit Us'.
Garage/punk musician Nobunny reworked the song for his track "Nobunny Loves You".
A lip-dub of the Human Beinz version was also used in the cold open of the first episode of the seventh season of the American TV series 'The Office' "Nepotism", featuring all the characters of the show.
A cover of the song was also featured in at least four television commercials: in a 1987 Friskies cat food commercial, where the line "like we do" was changed to "like Friskies", in the mid to late 1980s for Mita Photocopiers and Idaho Potatoes (both with significantly altered lyrics), in the early 2010s for Nike, and the mid-2010s for the Dish Network.
A parody of this would be performed by the CBS Orchestra on The Late Show With David Letterman for the "Know Your Current Events" audience participation game (particularly the repeated "no" part, as the homonym "know").
The Human Beinz version has been featured in many movies as well, such as when Mike Sarne sings this in the film 'Seaside Swingers' (1965) under the title "Indubitably Me". It also appears in 'Troop Beverly Hills', 'The Departed' (when Billy gets into a brawl in a store), 'Recess: Schools Out' (as the students and teachers of Third Street School face off against Phillium Benedict and his henchmen), and 'Kill Bill Vol. 1' (when the Bride fights the Crazy 88s).
See also
* List of 1960s one-hit wonders in the United States
References
Category:1963 songs
Category:1963 singles
Category:1967 singles
Category:The Isley Brothers songs
Category:George Thorogood songs
Category:Songs written by Ronald Isley
Category:Songs written by Rudolph Isley
Category:Songs written by O'Kelly Isley Jr.
Category:Song recordings produced by Bert Berns
Category:Songs about dancing
Category:Capitol Records singles
Category:Wand Records singles
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