Record #0089: You Send Me / Summertime – SAM COOKE

Keen 4013 (original) USA, Sep. 7, 1957
Words & Music by:  Side A – Sam Cooke; Side B – George Gershwin, DuBose Heyward
Musicians: Sam Cooke (vocals), René Hall (rhythm guitar), Cliff White (lead guitar), Ted Brinson (bass), Earl Palmer (drums), the Pied Pipers (chorus)
Recording sessions:  Radio Recorders, Hollywood, CA,  June 1, 1957
Highest chart positions:  US #1, US R&B #1, UK #29

This was to be recorded for Specialty Records, but as their boss (Art Rupe) didn’t like at all what he heard during the session, producer Robert “Bumps” Blackwell took the master tape to Keen Records. Rupe must have been kicking himself afterwards due to a bad decision. Cooke’s first single with Keen was a huge success, selling over two million copies.

The flip side is a Gershwin classic from opera “Porgy and Bess”.

By now it starts to look like Earl Palmer played drums on every other R&B and R&R song of the 50’s and early 60’s. When looking at this list of some of the most famous songs he played on, you kind of get the feeling that he was all over the place. The list is missing at least two US top 10 hits, namely Jan & Dean’s “Dead Man’s Curve” and “The Little Old Lady From Pasadena” (both coming up later in this blog).

List price:  Very Good+ is $12.50, Near Mint is $25