It's the Same Old Song
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The Four Tops
Want to Learn How to Play Guitar? Learn to Play Easy Guitar Songs- Acoustic Lessons Here!
Runtime: 30:08 Teacher: Jennifer
- C
- Dm7
- F
- G
Lesson Description
This easy guitar lesson has 7 chapters. The Performance starts with that famous riff that may be one of the reasons you’re thinking of learning to play this song. In the Overview you learn about the form and chords you'll need. Jen then gets right down to the nitty-gritty by showing you note-by-note how to play that opening lead. To make it even richer, Jen shows you how to incorporate a palm mute into your melody strumming. In the next chapter, the Verse, we show you an easier, but equally useful, Strum Pattern that carries you through the Verse. The next chapter, the Chorus, introduces yet another strum technique called a “whack.” Jen explains this in detail because it is a little tough if you haven't done it before. We then take you to the Slow Practice, where you groove with Jen on the entire song several times. In a very valuable Bonus Chapter Jen shows you how to “arrange” your accompaniment by tastefully interchanging your newly-learned various strum patterns.
Song Information
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"It's the Same Old Song"
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| Single by Four Tops | |||||
| from the album Four Tops' Second Album | |||||
| Released | July 9, 1965 | ||||
| Format | 7" single | ||||
| Recorded | Hitsville USA (Studio A); July 8, 1965 | ||||
| Genre | Soul/pop | ||||
| Length | 2:46 | ||||
| Label | Motown M 1081 |
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| Writer(s) | Holland-Dozier-Holland | ||||
| Producer | Brian Holland Lamont Dozier |
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| Four Tops singles chronology | |||||
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"It's the Same Old Song" is a 1965 hit single recorded by The Four Tops for the Motown label. Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland-Dozier-Holland, the song is today one of The Tops' signature songs, and was notably created—from initial concept to commercial release—in 24 hours.
After "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)" hit #1 in June of 1965, The Four Tops' former label, Columbia Records, wanting to cash in on the group's success, re-released the Tops' 1960 Columbia single "Ain't That Love". Berry Gordy ordered that a new Four Tops single had to be released within a day's time.
At 3:00 p.m. that afternoon, the Holland brothers and Lamont Dozier penned "It's the Same Old Song"; Duke Fakir recalled: Lamont Dozier and I were both a little tipsy and he was changing the channels on the radio. He said, 'It sounds like the same old song.' And then he said, 'Wait a minute.' So he took 'I Can't Help Myself' and reversed it using the same chord changes. By 5pm, The Tops had recorded the song and mixing began.
The engineering team worked around the clock perfecting the single's mix and making hand-cut vinyl records so that Berry Gordy's sister Esther in the Artist Development department could critique them and select the best ones for single release. By 3:00 p.m. the next day, 1500 copies of "It's the Same Song" had been delivered to radio DJs across the country, and the song eventually made it to #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.
"It's the Same Old Song" is very similar in melody and chord progressions to "I Can't Help Myself," which in turn is even more similar in melody and chord progressions to "Where Did Our Love Go" by the Supremes, who also covered "It's The Same Old Song" in 1967.
John Lennon sang a bit of the song in The Beatles annual Christmas Message for 1965. They sent these records to members of their fan club every year. George Harrison can be heard cutting Lennon off for fear of copyright infringement.
In the mid-1990s, The Four Tops appeared in a Velveeta commercial, where they spoofed "It's the Same Old Song" with a song called "It's Not the Same Old Side" (as in the Velveeta side dish, Shells and Cheese). The Four Tops also spoofed "It's the Same Old Song" with a song called "It's Not the Same Old Show" for a promo on The Rosie O'Donnell Show.
