"The Beat Goes On" | ||||
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Single by Sonny & Cher | ||||
from the album In Case You're in Love | ||||
B-side | "Love Don't Come" | |||
Released | January 1967 | |||
Recorded | December 13, 1966 | |||
Studio | Gold Star Recording Studio, Hollywood | |||
Genre | Psychedelic pop | |||
Length | 3:18 | |||
Label | Atco | |||
Songwriter(s) | Sonny Bono [1] | |||
Producer(s) | Sonny Bono | |||
Sonny & Cher singles chronology | ||||
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Official audio | ||||
"The Beat Goes On" on YouTube |
"The Beat Goes On" is a song written and composed by Sonny Bono and recorded by Sonny & Cher. [1] It was issued as a single and appeared on their 1967 album In Case You're in Love. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart on January 14, 1967, peaking at number six.
The backing music for the song was recorded using the renowned group of Los Angeles session musicians who, in time, came to be known collectively as "The Wrecking Crew." The arrangement is credited to Harold Battiste, but Wrecking Crew bassist Carol Kaye asserts that at the session she devised the distinctive syncopated bass line that is featured on the released recording, replacing the original walking bass line in the prepared arrangement:
The recording session for the song was held on December 13, 1966 at the Gold Star Studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles with a backing band of 19 musicians from The Wrecking Crew. [3] After a two and a half hour session to record the song, guitarist Barney Kessel is reported to have stood up and proclaimed, "Never have so many played so little for so much." [4]
The song was sung at Sonny Bono's funeral, and the phrase "And the beat goes on" appears on his tombstone. [5]
AllMusic highlighted this track in its review of the In Case You're in Love album. [6]
The song's lyrics deal mainly with current events of the time, with the refrain "(And) the beat goes on, the beat goes on" following each verse.
Sonny and Cher performed the song many times on their hit 1970s television variety shows, as well as in their live concerts. The song was included in the "Sonny and Cher" video montages during Cher's Do You Believe? Tour and The Farewell Tour. Cher performed the song live with Sonny's voice track on her successful Cher at the Colosseum show as well as her 2014 Dressed to Kill Tour and 2017-2020 Classic Cher shows. It was also performed during her Here We Go Again Tour (2018-2020). In 2019, Cher performed the song during the season finale of Dancing with the Stars. [7]
According to the AFM contract sheet, the following musicians played on the track. [8]
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
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"Beat Goes On" | ||||
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Single by All Seeing I | ||||
from the album Pickled Eggs and Sherbet | ||||
B-side | "Booty in the I" | |||
Released | 1997 | |||
Length | 4:03 | |||
Label | Earth Records, FFRR | |||
Songwriter(s) | Sonny Bono | |||
All Seeing I singles chronology | ||||
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In 1997, British electronic music group All Seeing I released a version sampling the vocals from the Buddy Rich version. When re-released in 1998, it peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 1 on the UK Dance Singles Chart. [19] It also reached the top 40 in Scotland and New Zealand.
All Seeing I also produced a cover version of the song for Britney Spears in November 1998, as the last track on her debut album, ...Baby One More Time .
Other versions were recorded by jazz pianist/singer Patricia Barber, Italian singer Mina, and the French duo Casino Music.
The song is sometimes incorrectly referred to as "And the Beat Goes On", as the closing lyric adds the word "and" to the song's title. R&B vocal group the Whispers, released an unrelated song titled "And the Beat Goes On" in 1980.[ citation needed ]
Sonny & Cher were an American pop and entertainment duo in the 1960s and 1970s, made up of spouses Sonny Bono and Cher. The couple started their career in the mid-1960s as R&B backing singers for record producer Phil Spector.
Hal Blaine was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. His drumming is featured on 150 US top 10 hits, 40 of which went to number one.
The Wrecking Crew is a loose collective of US session musicians based in Los Angeles whose services were employed for a great number of studio recordings in the 1960s and 1970s, including hundreds of top 40 hits. The musicians were not publicly recognized in their era, but were viewed with reverence by industry insiders. They are now considered one of the most successful and prolific session recording units in music history.
Carol Kaye is an American musician. She is one of the most prolific recorded bass guitarists in rock and pop music, playing on an estimated 10,000 recordings in a career spanning over 65 years.
All I Really Want to Do is the debut solo studio album by American singer-actress Cher and was released on August 16, 1965, by Imperial Records. The album was produced for Cher by her then husband and singing partner, Sonny Bono, with contributions from arranger Harold Battiste. The album is by-and-large a collection of cover versions but does contain three songs written by Bono. In 1992, All I Really Want to Do and Cher's follow-up solo album, The Sonny Side of Chér, were reissued on one CD by EMI Records. Later, in 1995, EMI released a collection titled The Originals, which included All I Really Want to Do, The Sonny Side of Chér, and Cher's third solo album, Chér. The album was again reissued on one CD with The Sonny Side of Chér by BGO Records in 2005 in the UK only. The original twelve track All I Really Want to Do album has never been issued on Compact Disc on its own. Upon its release, the album was well received by critics and garnered positive reviews.
The Sonny Side of Chér is the second studio album by American singer-actress Cher, released on March 28, 1966, by Imperial, as her second album, Cher again collaborated with Sonny Bono and Harold Battiste. The album is by-and-large a covers album and contains two songs written by Bono. The title of the album is a pun on the name of Cher's first husband Sonny Bono. Cher's second successful album of the sixties, it was released on CD in 1992 by EMI together with Cher's first album as a 2fer. In 1995 EMI re-released this 2fer with the album Chér. The last version of the album was released in 2005 only in UK by BGO Records. These editions feature a different track order than the original LP.
"I Got You Babe" is a song performed by American pop and entertainment duo Sonny & Cher and written by Sonny Bono. It was the first single taken from their debut studio album, Look at Us (1965). In August 1965, the single spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States where it sold more than one million copies and was certified Gold. It also reached number one in the United Kingdom and Canada.
With Love, Chér is the fourth studio album by American singer-actress Cher, released on October 23, 1967 by Imperial Records. The album was a moderate commercial success and reached number 47 on the US Billboard 200
Chér is the third studio album by American singer-actress Cher, released on September 5, 1966 by Imperial. Cher collaborates again with Sonny Bono, with Harold Battiste and with Stan Ross. The album is by-and-large a covers album and contains only one song written by Bono. This album was a moderate commercial success, peaking at number 59 on the Billboard 200.
Backstage is the fifth album by American singer-actress Cher, released on May 27, 1968 by Imperial Records. This album was her first commercial failure, failing to chart. The album is by-and-large a covers album.
The discography of American pop rock duo Sonny & Cher consists of five studio albums, eight compilation albums, one soundtrack album, two live albums and twenty-three singles. Sonny and Cher had released three albums and one single which achieved Gold status in the United States: Look At Us, Sonny & Cher Live, All I Ever Need Is You and I Got You babe. In the decade they spent together, Sonny and Cher sold over 40 million records worldwide.
"You Better Sit Down Kids" is a major hit single by American singer/actress Cher in 1967 from her fourth studio album With Love, Chér, released in November 1967 by Imperial Records. The song was written by her then-husband Sonny Bono. Sung from a father's perspective, the lyrics tell the story of a divorce as explained to the couple's children. The song is featured on the compilation albums Cher's Golden Greats (1968), Superpack Vol. 1 (1972) and Gold (2005).
The Wrecking Crew is an American documentary film directed by Denny Tedesco, son of guitarist Tommy Tedesco. It covers the story of the Los Angeles–based group of session musicians known as the Wrecking Crew, famed for having played on numerous hit recordings throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. The film premiered at the 2008 South by Southwest Film Festival.
"Elusive Butterfly" is a popular song written by Bob Lind, released as a single in December 1965, which reached number 5 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the adult contemporary chart in the spring of 1966. In Australia, Lind's "Elusive Butterfly" entered the charts on April 10, 1966, and spent three weeks at number 2 during July of that year.
Look at Us is the debut album by American pop duo Sonny & Cher, released in 1965 by Atco Records. The album reached number two on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold.
"Baby Don't Go" is a song written by Sonny Bono and recorded by Sonny & Cher. It was first released on Reprise Records in 1964 and was a minor regional hit. Subsequently, following the duo's big success with "I Got You Babe" in the summer of 1965, "Baby Don't Go" was re-released by Reprise later that year and became another huge hit for Sonny & Cher, reaching the top ten in the U.S. and doing well in the UK and elsewhere, going as far as reaching number one in Canada.
"Laugh at Me" was Sonny Bono's only hit song as a solo artist under the name Sonny. The song was written and produced by Bono.
In Case You're in Love is the third studio album by American pop duo Sonny & Cher, released in 1967 by Atco Records.
The Wondrous World of Sonny & Chér is the second studio album by American pop duo Sonny & Cher, released in 1966 by Atco Records.
This Diamond Ring is the debut studio album by American band Gary Lewis & the Playboys, and was released in 1965 on Liberty Records, LRP-3408. It is the first of three charting albums released by the band in 1965.
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