"Reach Out I'll Be There" (also formatted as "Reach Out (I'll Be There)") is a 1966 hit song recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label. Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song is one of the most well-known Motown tunes of the 1960s and is today considered The Tops' signature song. It was the number one song on the R&B charts for two weeks, and on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks, from September 24, 1966 to October 15. It replaced "Cherish" by The Association, and was itself replaced by "96 Tears" by Question Mark & the Mysterians. Rolling Stone later ranked this version #206 on their list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. This version is also currently ranked as the 45th best song of all time, as well as the #3 song of 1966, in an aggregation of critics' lists at acclaimedmusic.net.
The track also reached #1 in the UK Singles Chart, becoming Motown's second UK chart-topper after The Supremes hit #1 with "Baby Love" in late 1964.
Lead singer Levi Stubbs delivers many of the lines in the song in a tone that straddles the line between singing and shouting, like he did in 1965's "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)".
This song differs markedly from the Four Tops' earlier efforts, due to the highly-contrasting shifts between minor and major, and also major and augmented chords. These contrasting tonal shades form the hook for which the song is so well known. The Four Tops would rely on this formula for several subsequent releases.
The song is featured prominently in the final scene and the closing credits of the 1975 motion picture Cooley High, a coming-of-age film starring Glynn Turman and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs.
PWL remixed the song in 1988. The remix was done by Phil Harding & Ian Curnow. The 12" Remix runs 6:05 and the Radio Edit runs 3:10.
Read more about Reach Out I'll Be There: Covers, Use in Other Music, Personnel
Famous quotes containing the words reach out and/or reach:
“Judgments, value judgments concerning life, whether for or against it, can in the end never be true: their only value is as symptoms, they only come into consideration as symptoms—in themselves such judgments are stupidities. We must reach out and attempt to put our finger on this astonishing finesse, that the value of life cannot be assessed.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Italians, and perhaps Frenchmen, consider first whether they like or want to do a thing and then whether, on the whole, it will do them any harm. Englishmen, and perhaps Germans, consider first whether they ought to like a thing and often never reach the questions whether they do like it and whether it will hurt. There is much to be said for both systems, but I suppose it is best to combine them as far as possible.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)