"You Send Me" by The Manhattans

Song#:  2233
Date:  03/02/1985
Debut:  89
Peak:  81
Weeks:  5
Genre:  R&B



Pop Bits:  Two years after their last album, Forever By Your Side, spawned the #4 R&B hit "Crazy," The Manhattans returned with their new album Too Hot to Stop It. This first single got things started. The cover tune (see below) just barely made the Top 20 at R&B (#20), but the high nostalgia factor got folks hooked at AC and the song peaked at #8 on that chart. The action at AC most likely helped the single get on the Pop chart for a few short weeks. It would be the group's final song to chart at Pop. They managed to get six more low-peaking singles on the R&B chart throughout the remainder of the decade, but their albums stopped charting after Too Hot to Stop It.

ReduxReview:  If you are gonna revive a chestnut like this (especially in the 80s), you'd better add something new to it. Otherwise, why bother? The original is just fine and an unremarkable remake just ain't gonna do the song (or the covering artist) any favors. The Manhattans try to dress up the tune by adding a sax section along with some modern production touches, but it's really not enough to make it stand out. It's nothing that hadn't already been done by countless cover bands. Basically, they didn't make the song their own and it resulted in a forgettable single.

ReduxRating:  4/10

Trivia:  Double Shot!  1) This is a remake of an original song written and recorded by R&B legend Sam Cooke. It would be Cooke's debut single and in 1957 the song would reach #1 at both R&B and Pop. It would be the first of nineteen R&B Top 10's for Cooke that including four #1's. The song would later be included on the list of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. It would also make Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (at #115).  Cooke's life would be cut short when he was shot to death in December of 1964.  2)  Manhattans member Gerald Alston left the group in 1987 for a solo career. From 1988 to 1995, Alston got ten singles on the R&B chart with three of them hitting the Top 10. Unfortunately, none of the songs could cross over to the Pop chart.

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