Nobody but Me (Isley Brothers song)

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"Nobody but Me"
Nobody But Me isleys.jpg
Single by The Isley Brothers
B-side"I'm Laughing to Keep from Crying"
ReleasedDecember 1962[1]
Recorded1962
Genre
Length2:01
LabelWand
Songwriter(s)Ronald Isley, Rudolph Isley, O'Kelly Isley, Jr.
Producer(s)Bert Berns
The Isley Brothers singles chronology
"Twistin' with Linda"
(1962) 		"Nobody but Me"
(1962) 		"I Say Love"
(1963)
"Nobody but Me"
Nobody but Me.png
Single by The Human Beinz
from the album Nobody but Me
B-side"Sueno"
ReleasedAugust 24, 1967 (1967-08-24)[2]
Length2:17
LabelCapitol
Songwriter(s)
  • Ronald Isley
  • Rudolph Isley
  • O'Kelly Isley, Jr.
Producer(s)Alexis de Azevedo

"Nobody but Me" is a song written by O'Kelly, Rudolph, and Ronald Isley of The Isley Brothers and first recorded by The Isley Brothers in 1962.

The most commercially successful and widely known version to date is the 1968 US Top 10 hit by The Human Beinz, which was their only chart success.

The Isley Brothers[]

The Isley Brothers' original version, released as a single on Wand 131,[3] failed to make the pop or R&B charts.

The Human Beinz[]

The song was covered by Youngstown, Ohio's The Human Beinz[4] and made them one-hit wonders after the song reached number eight on the Billboard pop singles chart in 1968.[5] It was included on some versions of Lenny Kaye's Nuggets compilation.

Dave Marsh, in his Book of Rock Lists[6] named the version by the Human Beinz "The most negative song to hit the Top 40," noting that the word "no" is sung over 100 times in a mere 2:16. Marsh also counts the word "nobody" 46 times more; he adds "for balance, they throw in the word Yeah once".

Other versions, uses, and appearances[]

Liverpool group The Mojos released an early version in 1964 (The Mojos EP, Decca Records).

Experimental group The Residents sampled this song in the track "N-Er-Gee (Crisis Blues)" from their 1974 album Meet the Residents.

The French group The Dogs recorded a version in 1979 included in the album Different.

George Thorogood and the Destroyers would later record a version more faithful to the Human Beinz cover than to the Isleys' original, and released it on 1982's Bad to the Bone.

Canadian band Doug and the Slugs released their own cover of the single in 1983.

The L.A. punk band the Dickies also recorded a lightning-fast version of the song on their 1998 all-covers album, Dogs from the Hare that Bit Us.

Garage/punk musician Nobunny reworked the song for his track "Nobunny Loves You".

A lip-dub of the Human Beinz version was also used in the cold open of the seventh season of the American TV series The Office first episode "Nepotism", featuring all the characters of the show.

A cover of the song was also featured in at least four television commercials: in a 1987 Friskies cat food commercial, where the line "like we do" was changed to "like Friskies",[7] in the mid to late 1980s for Mita Photocopiers and Idaho Potatoes (both with significantly altered lyrics),[8][9] in the early 2010s for Nike,[10] and the mid-2010s for the Dish Network.[11]

A parody of this would be performed by the CBS Orchestra on The Late Show With David Letterman for the "Know Your Current Events" audience participation game (particularly the repeated "no" part, as the homonym "know").

The Human Beinz version has been featured in many movies as well, such as when Mike Sarne sings this in the film Seaside Swingers (1965) under the title "Indubitably Me". It also appears in Troop Beverly Hills, The Departed (when Billy gets into a brawl in a store), Recess: School’s Out (as the students and teachers of Third Street School face off against Phillium Benedict and his henchmen), and Kill Bill Vol. 1 (when the Bride fights the Crazy 88s).

See also[]

  • List of 1960s one-hit wonders in the United States

References[]

  1. ^ "Nobody But Me / I'm Laughing To Keep From Crying - The Isley Brothers". 45cat. Retrieved 2019-12-21.
  2. ^ "Nobody But Me / Sueno - The Human Beinz". 45cat. Retrieved 2019-12-21.
  3. ^ "Wand Records discography". Globaldogproductions.info. Retrieved 2016-09-27.
  4. ^ Stuart Rosenberg (October 10, 2008). Rock and Roll and the American Landscape: The Birth of an Industry and the Expansion of the Popular Culture, 1955-1969. iUniverse. p. 113. ISBN 978-1-4401-6458-3.
  5. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 296.
  6. ^ Dell, October 1981, ISBN 0-440-57580-X
  7. ^ "Friskies Nobody Has The Flavor". YouTube. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  8. ^ "Mita Copiers (1987)". YouTube. 2012-10-26. Retrieved 2016-09-27.
  9. ^ "Idaho Potatoes Spuddy Buddy sings Nobody but me". YouTube. 2016-12-22. Retrieved 2017-01-11.
  10. ^ "nike 20 20throwdown 20DC". YouTube. 2011-03-02. Retrieved 2016-09-27.
  11. ^ "Introducing The New Flex Pack". YouTube. 2004-10-10. Retrieved 2016-09-27.
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