| "Cry to Me" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single bySolomon Burke | ||||
| from the albumRock 'n Soul | ||||
| B-side | "I Almost Lost My Mind" | |||
| Released | 1962 | |||
| Recorded | 1961 | |||
| Venue | New York City | |||
| Genre | Soul | |||
| Length | 2:33 | |||
| Label | Atlantic (45-2131) | |||
| Songwriter | Bert Berns | |||
| Producer | Bert Berns | |||
| Solomon Burke singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Cry to Me" is a song written byBert Berns (listed as "Bert Russell") and first recorded by Americansoul singerSolomon Burke in 1961. Released in 1962, it was Burke's second single to appear in bothBillboard magazine'sHot R&B Sides andHot 100 singles charts. On March 20, 1962, Burke performed "Cry to Me" onAmerican Bandstand.[1]
On December 6, 1961 Burke recorded one of his best known songs, "Cry to Me",[2] "an ode to loneliness and desire"[3] "one of the first songs to unify country, gospel and R&B in one package",[4] that is considered "theparadigm forSouthern soul ballads." "Cry to Me" was written byBert Berns (asBert Russell), conducted and arranged byKlaus Ogermann,[5] and produced byBert Berns,[6] "a roly-poly white New Yorker with a deep love and empathy for black music despite a formal music education at theJuilliard School of Music and a music background far removed from the searing soul in which, by 1963, he specialized",[7] with whom Burke had a difficult relationship. Burke "distrusted the young producer",[8] and often spoke of him disparagingly,[9] but later acknowledged Berns as "a genius" and "a great writer, a great man."[10]Cissy Houston, who provided backing vocals on several of Burke's songs that were produced by Berns, believed "Burke changed his mind about Bert as soon as Sol started working with him in the studio. Bert's emotion-charged songs and Sol's gospel delivery was a marriage made in heaven."[11] Although Burke recognized Berns's skill for crafting hit records, he rejected two Berns compositions, "Hang on Sloopy" (later recorded bythe McCoys), and "A Little Bit of Soap", a recent hit forthe Jarmels. Burke explained in 2004: "I felt a little unsafe about it, because they were pushing me in an ethnic market, so why would I want to say that (about soap) to my people? It didn't have the meaning it needed to have." In frustration after Burke had rejected his song choices, Berns offered him a final song, "Cry to Me", which Berns sang to him very slowly. According to Burke in a 2008 interview: "I said 'That's terrible. It's just too slow for me, I don't like slow songs.' AndMr Wexler says, 'Listen, this guy writes for you, you're pissing him off. You're pissing me off, too.' (Laughs) I tried to sing it a couple of times that way, couldn't even feel it. Then I asked the young man in the studio, the engineerTommy Dowd, 'Could we have them speed this up?'".[12]
The personnel on the Solomon Burke recording included Leon Cohen on alto sax, Jesse Powell on tenor sax,Hank Jones on piano,Robert Mosely on organ, Phil Kraus onvibes, Don Arnone,Al Caiola,Bucky Pizzarelli, andEverett Barksdale on guitars;Art Davis on bass, andGary Chester on drums.[13]
Released in 1962, "Cry to Me", backed with "I Almost Lost My Mind" (Atlantic 2131), became Burke's second entry in the US charts, peaking at number five on the R&B charts,[14] and number 44 on the Hot 100.
| Chart (1962) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| USBillboard Hot 100[15] | 44 |
| US BillboardHot R&B Sides | 5 |
After "Cry to Me", Burke became one of the first performers to be called a soul artist.[16] In "Cry to Me", and in his "most popular recordings from 1962 onward, elements of the African-American folk-preaching style", which incorporated "the fusion of speech and song", "the use of repetition or elongation for emphasis", and the improvisation of "hollers and vocalmelismas", the "flowers and curlicues of gospel singing",[17] are salient.[18] Burke always had hispulpit in the recording studio.[19]
Burke's recording featured in thesoundtrack to the 1987 movieDirty Dancing and the 2015 movieThe Man from U.N.C.L.E.
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom (BPI)[20] | Platinum | 600,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
Several artists have recorded versions of the song. Among them:
