You Got What It Takes - Marv Johnson / Dave Clark Five, The (cover-live by Bill Sharkey)

You Got What It Takes (Bobby Parker, 1958; Mark Johnson, 1959; Dave Clark Five, The, 1967). Live cover performance by Bill Sharkey, Home Studio, Hawaii Kai, HI. 2022-10-16. "Keeping the Oldies & Classics Alive"

"You Got What It Takes," written by Tyran Carlo Davis, Gwen Fuqua Gordy and Berry Gordy Jr., was Marv Johnson's 2nd top 40 hit rising to the no. 10 position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1959, while the Dave Clark Five's version was their last top 10 hit landing at the no. 7 position in 1967 (disc dog, 2022; Whitburn, 2013). There is a bit of a controversy about who actually wrote the song, although Tyran Carlo Davis, Gwen Fuqua Gordy and Berry Gordy Jr are listed as the writers of the song on the original Marv Johnson release (1958), the Dave Clark Five's version (1967) and Showaddywaddy's version (1977) and others, Bobby Parker's original recording of the song, one year earlier in 1958 on Vee-Jay Records (VJ 279), lists Bobby Parker as the writer of the song (archive, 2022; discogs, 2022; globaldogproductions, 2022). In fact, in an interview with Forgotten Hits, Parker said: "I wrote 'You've Got What It Takes,' that was MY song. . . . Berry Gordy just stole it out from under me, just put his name on it. And what could I do? I was just trying to make a living, playing guitar and singing, how was I going to go on and fight Berry Gordy, big as he was, and Motown Records? There wasn't really nothing I could do about it - it was just too big and I didn't have any way to fight them" (songfests, 2022).

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Lyrics:

Ow! You don't drive a big fat car, no
You don't look a-like a movie star
And on your money we won't get far
But baby, you got what it takes, Oh! to satisfy
You got what it takes to set my soul on fire
But oh, oh, whoa-oh, whoa-oh whoa-oh-oh yeah
You got what it takes for me

Ow! You don't live in a beautiful place
And you don't dress in the best of taste
Oh! Nature didn't give you such a beautiful face
But baby, you got what it takes, Oh! to satisfy
You got what it takes to set my soul on fire
But oh, oh, whoa-oh, whoa-oh whoa-oh-oh yeah
You got what it takes for me

Now when you're near me, ooo-wee
My head goes around and around
And when you kiss me, a-little girl
My love comes tumblin' down, you send me

You don't live in a beautiful place
Oh, you don't dress in the best of taste
And nature didn't give you such a beautiful face
But baby, you got what it takes, Oh! to satisfy
You got what it takes to set my soul on fire
But oh, oh, whoa-oh, whoa-oh whoa-oh-oh yeah
You got what it takes for me

Now when you're near me, mmm-mmm
My head goes around and around and around and around
And when you kiss me, a-little girl
My love comes tumblin' down, you send me

You don't live in a beautiful place, no
You don't dress in the best of taste
And nature didn't give you such a beautiful face
But baby, you got what it takes
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Yeah, you got what it takes
Baby, I'm tellin' you
You got what it takes