Let’s take a trip to Hitsville, USA with one of Motown’s biggest hits by one of the label’s most successful production and songwriting teams: Holland-Dozier-Holland.

HDH wrote I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch) in 1965 for the Four Tops. It was a smash hit. I’m skipping the parenthetical part of the title because I can.

We begin with the OG version of this legendary song: The Four Tops with the great Levi Stubbs on lead vocals.

Johnny Rivers’ jam was covering hit soul songs and seeing if they made the charts. This one did.

The Soul Queen Of New Orleans cut the HDH classic in 1979:

Dolly Parton. Say no more.

Lets get bluesy with Henry St. Clair Fredericks Jr. DBA Taj Mahal:

Co-writer Lamont Dozier recorded I Can’t Help Myself in 2002. He helped himself to an excellent version. It’s unsure if he dined on sugar pie after the session.

What would the Friday Cocktail Hour be without instrumental versions of the week’s song?  This time, Earl Van Dyke & The Funk Brothers followed by Gene Ammons.

That’s it for this week. It’s the first day of December, let’s drink to it. It’s what Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland, and Eddie Holland would want. Never argue with them.