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Darrell Banks Is Here!, 1967
Written by Darrell Banks
This song kicks off with a clash of brass and a chopping guitar chord before the vocals come in. It's pure, high-octane soul, Motown in everything but label. Banks isn't a falsetto merchant or a volcanic shouter; his voice sits warm and steady in the middle, carrying a kind of earnest ache that fits the song's emotional pitch perfectly. You might dance to it, but the lyrics might give you pause: he's pleading for the woman he loves to finally let him in, the longing framed in vivid, gospel-tinged imagery. And like too many great soul singles of the era, the authorship is messy. Donnie Elbert claimed Banks simply sped up and retitled a tune they had worked on together and released it without credit. Elbert eventually won a co-writer label, but the real story is probably lost to time. The record endures anyway, a desperate, joyful, irresistible plea set to one of the era's most propulsive grooves.
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