Dave's Song of the Day
Betcha By Golly, Wow – The Stylistics
Sunday song of the day: Today’s song didn’t sell well under its original title, but a retitled cover version was a big hit.
The songwriting team of Thom Bell and Linda Creed, who were instrumental in establishing “The Philadelphia Sound” in soul music, wrote a song called
Keep Growing Strong in 1970. It was then recorded by actress and singer Connie Stevens and released as a single in October 1970. This version failed to make an impact and did not chart at all.
The next year, Bell was producing the debut album for a group called The Stylistics, and they recorded
Keep Growing Strong, but used a different title, based on another line repeated in the song:
Betcha By Golly, Wow. The album, titled simply
The Stylistics, was released in November 1971. Three songs included on the album were singles that preceded the album, with
You’re a Big Girl Now,
Stop, Look, Listen (To Your Heart), and
You Are Everything placing at #73, #39, and #9 on the
Billboard Hot 100 respectively. Thus, it was as established hitmakers that they released their first single from
The Stylistics that had been recorded specifically for the album. That was
Betcha By Golly, Wow.
It proved to be their biggest hit so far, topping out at #3 on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart. The Stylistics continued producing hits for the next several years, but eclipsed
Betcha By Golly, Wow only once, with 1974’s
You Make Me Feel Brand New, which placed at #2 on the Hot 100.
Since its first release the song has been covered over fifty times by various artists. Only the Connie Francis original used the
Keep Growing Strong title. All the others used
Betcha By Golly, Wow, with the exception of one version titled only
Betcha By Golly, and one that added an exclamation point after the title. The version called
Betcha By Golly, Wow! was released by Prince on his 1996 album
Emancipation.
Betcha By Golly, Wow, The Stylistics, 1972
View: https://youtu.be/sGTqw4S1dXI
Keep Growing Strong, Connie Stevens, 1970
View: https://youtu.be/Jn7yN5NOiA4
Betcha By Golly, Wow!, Prince, 1996
View: https://youtu.be/2Cg_1OsabIc
Tomorrow: Lonely days are gone