Songs
Among the album's notable songs were four charting singles. Peak among them at #3 on the Black Singles, #18 on the Pop Singles charts and #22 on the UK Singles was the Holland–Dozier–Holland song "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)", which had previously hit for Marvin Gaye in 1964. Not far behind, "(I'm a) Road Runner", by the same songwriters, reached #4 on Black Singles and #20 on Pop Singles, while suprassing "How Sweet It Is" to reach #12 in the UK. "Pucker Up Buttercup" did not crack the top 10, but reached #11 Black Singles and #31 Pop Singles. A distant fourth, Junior Walker & the Allstar's cover of the 1959 Barrett Strong hit "Money (That's What I Want)" reached #35 Black Singles and #52 Pop Singles.
The album is titled for "(I'm a) Road Runner", which had been previously released on Junior Walker & The All-Star's 1965 debut album, Shotgun. It proved so successful in its March 1966 single that it was included and singled out on the band's follow-up. Although "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" surpassed it in two out of three charts, "(I'm a) Road Runner" is regarded as a superior offering from Junior Walker & The All-Stars, one of three songs by the band (along with "Way Back Home" and "Shotgun" included in 1999's Da Capo Press publication The heart of rock & soul: the 1001 greatest singles ever made. Ranking it second of the three at #467, music critic David Marsh, identifying Junior Walker as "the one gutbucket star in Motown's heaven", says "even... never saw the like of this blend of booming bass, tanked-up tambourine, and gritty guitar. Much less Walker's fractured saxophone." Sometimes known as "I'm a Road Runner", the song has been covered by a number of rock bands, including Fleetwood Mac (on album Penguin) and Peter Frampton (on I'm in You), and also by comedian Bill Cosby on Bill Cosby Sings Hooray For the Salvation Army Band!
Read more about this topic: Road Runner (album)
Famous quotes containing the word songs:
“So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
—Bible: New Testament, Ephesians 5:17-20.
“O past! O happy life! O songs of joy!
In the air, in the woods, over fields,
Loved! loved! loved! loved! loved!
But my mate no more, no more with me!
We two together no more.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“And songs climb out of the flames of the near campfires,
Pale, pastel things exquisite in their frailness
With a note or two to indicate it isn’t lost,
On them at least. The songs decorate our notion of the world
And mark its limits, like a frieze of soap-bubbles.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)