This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)

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"This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)"
Single by The Isley Brothers
from the album This Old Heart of Mine
B-side	"There's No Love Left"
Released	January 12, 1966
Recorded	Hitsville U.S.A. (Studio A); 1965
Genre	Soul, pop
Length	2:46
Label	Tamla 54128
Songwriter(s)	Holland–Dozier–Holland Sylvia Moy
Producer(s)	Brian Holland Lamont Dozier
The Isley Brothers singles chronology
"Love Is a Wonderful Thing" (1966) "This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)" (1966) "Take Some Time Out for Love" (1966)

"This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)" is a Holland–Dozier–Holland song recorded by The Isley Brothers in 1965 that was a hit for them in January 1966 during their brief tenure on Motown's Tamla label. Featuring Ronald Isley on lead vocal, "This Old Heart of Mine" peaked at number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100, and at number six on the Billboard R&B Singles chart.^[1]

In the UK, the song originally reached number 47 in April 1966, but it re-charted in late 1968 and reached number three for two weeks in November, making it the group's highest charting UK single.^[2]

Written by Motown's main songwriting team Holland–Dozier–Holland alongside Sylvia Moy, "This Old Heart of Mine", produced by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier, was originally intended for The Supremes (who later recorded their own version for their 1966 album The Supremes A' Go-Go). The single was the group's only major hit while on Motown, whom they left in 1969 to restart their own T-Neck label.

Tammi Terrell also recorded and released the song as a part of her Irresistible album released in January, 1969.

The song was prominently featured in an episode of the hit 1980s show Moonlighting and was one of the tunes included on the show's hit soundtrack.

Personnel[]

• Lead vocals by Ronald Isley
• Background vocals by O'Kelly Isley Jr. and Rudolph Isley
• Additional background vocals by The Andantes: Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow and Louvain Demps
• Written by Holland–Dozier–Holland and Sylvia Moy
• Produced by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier
• Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers
  • Baritone saxophone by Mike Terry^[3]

Rod Stewart versions[]

In 1975, Rod Stewart released a remake of this song that charted in several markets. In 1989, Stewart released another version—this time a duet of the song with Ronald Isley that reached number two on Canada's RPM Top Singles chart, number 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100, number one on the Adult Contemporary charts of both Billboard and RPM. The later version was produced by Bernard Edwards and Trevor Horn and was released on Warner Records.

Charts[]

1975 solo version[]

1989 version with Ronald Isley[]

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Luv' version[]

"This Old Heart of Mine"
Single by Luv'
Released	1992
Recorded	1991
Genre	Dance
Length	4:03
Label	JAM
Songwriter(s)	Holland–Dozier–Holland Sylvia Moy
Producer(s)	Jacques Zwart (a.k.a. E. Mergency)
Luv' singles chronology
"The Last Song" (1991) "This Old Heart of Mine" (1992) "Megamix '93" (1993)

"This Old Heart of Mine" is the twenty-fifth single by Dutch girl group Luv', released in 1992 by the Dutch label JAM. It is the last record involving the line-up including Marga Scheide, Carina Lemoine and Diana van Berlo before the reunion of the original trio in 1993.

The 1991 album Sincerely Yours and the singles released from it were far from being hit records, though the female pop formation was frequently invited to perform live at clubs and discos. Because of the lack of commercial success, Luv' and RCA Records/BMG ended their legal relationship. The trio later signed a contract with the Dutch label JAM for the release of one single in 1992, a Dance cover version of "This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)" (originally performed by The Isley Brothers). Luv's rendition of this Motown hit failed to top the charts. This attempt to successfully remake a song from the Holland-Dozier-Holland repertoire is not the first one for Scheide, one of Luv's members. In 1983, she recorded as a solo artist a Supremes medley that was aired on Black American radio stations despite its disappointing record sales.

Soon after promoting "This Old Heart of Mine", the group disbanded. One year later, the original formation (José Hoebee, Patty Brard and Marga Scheide) reunited and returned to the Dutch albums and singles charts.

Other versions[]

• In 1966 it was covered live by The Zombies and was later included on their 1985 album Live on the BBC 1965-1967.^[20][21]
• In 1975 recorded by Bettye Swann but unreleased until 2014 on her compilation album The Complete Atlantic Recordings.^[22][23][24]
• In 1975 recorded by Rod Stewart on the "slow side" of his Atlantic Crossing album
• In 1978 by the US group on their second album Flame.^[25]
• In 1985, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers recorded a version on their album Pack Up The Plantation: Live! Pack Up the Plantation: Live!.
• In 1990 by The Contours on their album Flashback.^[26][27]
• In 2010 by American pop punk band A Loss for Words.^[28]
• In 2012 by Swiss singer Stefanie Heinzmann on her third album Stefanie Heinzmann.
• In 2014 by Irish boy band Boyzone on their sixth studio album Dublin to Detroit.
• Soul group The Impressions released their song "Can't Satisfy" in 1966. Motown thought the song sounded like "This Old Heart of Mine" and sued; it was deemed to be similar enough to the Isleys' song and Curtis Mayfield was made to share writing credits with Motown songwriting-production team Holland-Dozier-Holland and Sylvia Moy for his song. Nevertheless, "Can't Satisfy" became a Top 20 R&B hit for the group, peaking at number 12, as well as a favored record on the Northern soul scene.
• In 2018, it was covered by Cynthia Erivo for the Bad Times at the El Royale soundtrack.

References[]

External links[]

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics