Reach Out I'll Be There



"Reach Out I'll Be There" (also formatted as "Reach Out (I'll Be There)") is a 1966 song recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label. Written and produced by Motown's main production team, Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song is one of the best known Motown tunes of the 1960s, and is today considered The Tops' signature song. It was the number one song on the Rhythm & Blues charts for two weeks, and on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks, from October 15–22, 1966. It replaced "Cherish" by The Association, and was itself replaced by "96 Tears" by Question Mark & the Mysterians. Billboard ranked the record as the number four song for 1966.

Rolling Stone later ranked this version number 206 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". This version is also currently ranked as the 56th best song of all time (as well as the number four song of 1966) in an aggregation of critics' lists at Acclaimed Music.

The track also reached number one in the UK Singles Chart, becoming Motown's second UK chart-topper after The Supremes' 1964 release "Baby Love". It replaced Jim Reeves' "Distant Drums" at number one in October 1966, and stayed there for three weeks before being replaced by The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" in November.

Style
Lead singer Levi Stubbs delivers many of the lines in the song in a tone that some consider straddles the line between singing and shouting, as he did in 1965's "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)". AllMusic critic Ed Hogan praises Stubb's vocal, as well as the song's "rock-solid groove" and "dramatic, semi-operatic tension and release." Critic Martin Charles Strong calls the song "a soul symphony of epic proportions that remains [the Four Tops'] signature tune."

In 2014, interviewed by The Guardian, Four Tops singer Duke Fakir said:

"Eddie realised that when Levi hit the top of his vocal range, it sounded like someone hurting, so he made him sing right up there. Levi complained, but we knew he loved it. Every time they thought he was at the top, he would reach a little further until you could hear the tears in his voice. The line "Just look over your shoulder" was something he threw in spontaneously. Levi was very creative like that, always adding something extra from the heart."

Personnel

 * Lead vocals by Levi Stubbs
 * Background vocals by Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson, Lawrence Payton, and The Andantes: Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow, and Louvain Demps
 * Instrumentation by the Funk Brothers
 * Written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland, Jr.
 * Produced by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier

Weekly charts
1Remix

2Michael Bolton with the Four Tops