Like Don't Bug Me Baby , Baby I Don't Care and Down The Line, this Ray Charles song goes to the very roots of Cliff's love of rock 'n' roll and was one of the earliest numbers he performed in 1958. It featured in his repertoire during his four-week season at the Butlins Holiday Camp in Clacton, Essex, England during August 1958, and was one of the nine songs in Cliff's set recorded by senior Redcoat Stan Edwards during one of their quieter morning performances.
Cliff featured it sporadically in his early set. Although never officially recorded at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, it was recorded live during his performance at the Kingston ABC Cinema in Surrey England on 7 March 1962 (a planned 1962 album which was shelved and only released in 2002). Belgium television station RTBF also recorded the 'Cliff and The Shadows Live' show from the Forum, Liège, on 8 May 1964, on which Cliff performed I Got A Woman, and this show survives on film in their archives, albeit in poor condition. This rhythm and blues classic is memorable for holding the viewers' attention with a slow start, with Cliff's staggered delivery of the opening lines, before bursting into a fast paced rocking tempo.
This performance for the 'Me and My Shadows' shows was made in 1962 at Radio Luxembourg's London recording studios and is of only average sound quality. There is little distortion or interference throughout however.
MC: an interesting survival, not a patch on the cleverly paced Kingston version. The prominent characteristic of this RL outing is not drive but the chirpy in-your-face supporting vocals, which sounds on the quaint side for a number of this complexion.