‘Take Me In Your Arms’: The Motown hit covered by The Doobie Brothers
The team of Lamont Dozier and brothers Eddie and Brian Holland were the songwriting geniuses behind many of Motown‘s biggest hits, penning chart-topping tracks for everyone from The Supremes to Marvin Gaye. Their lyrics came to define an era at Motown during their time there, with Dozier and Brian often composing and producing songs and Eddie Holland writing the lyrics. Their collaborative touch can be felt on some of the most celebrated works to come out of the label, like ‘Baby Love’ and ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ On’.
Dubbed Holland-Dozier-Holland, the trio wrote ‘Take Me in Your Arms’ in the 1960s, which was then recorded by Kim Weston, who landed an R&B hit with it in 1965. The Isley Brothers quickly followed suit, seizing on the songwriting mastery with their 1967 cover of it.
But the track didn’t truly break the mainstream until The Doobie Brothers released their own version. Something of an unlikely candidate for the track, they were a rock band who all looked like long-haired bikers and embraced Americana. But still, they were known for their varied musical tastes, and the band’s former guitarist and singer Tom Johnston told Songfacts he “loved” it.
“I had been a fan of that song since it came out somewhere in the ’60s,” he said. “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.”
The band finally got around to it in 1975, recruiting what Johnston called “chick singers” to join them. “Which was to me the ultimate nirvana thing to do,” he explained, “[to have them] come in and sing on the thing with us. And then the strings were put on by Paul Riser, who was the Motown string guy.” Riser, much like the Holland-Dozier-Holland group, was responsible for arranging dozens of Motown hits, so his hand in the track was a huge deal for Johnston.
“I was in hog heaven,” he professed. “I absolutely love that song. And when we actually got to do it, for me, that was a real thrill. I felt not only satisfied but elated. And then to get to go out and play it live as well, that was a kick.”
Jeff Baxter echoed his sentiments, saying: “That song was like a dream come true for us. Every musician I’ve ever known has at some point wanted to achieve Motown’s technically slick soul sound – it’s so dynamic. We sat down to try to duplicate it and to see if our version could emerge as a successful single.”
It was something of a rocky start, with Patrick Simmons describing its initial shape as “The Grateful Dead doing the Four Tops”, but under the wing of Paul Riser, they managed to nail it – landing a top 20 hit in the US in the process of paying homage to the Motown Greats.
But likely the most pleasant element of the experience for the band was that Dozier was quick to return the praise, telling Blues & Soul magazine their cover version of ‘Take Me In Your Arms’ was his favourite rendition ever recorded.
