I remember playing a marching band version of this tune in the the early 70’s. It was one of the few pop songs adapted to that kind of format that actually worked, and was a joy to perform. Now, for the history lesson.
This instrumental was actually the backing track for another tune, “Am I the Same Girl” by Barbara Aklin. The record wasn’t a hit, so the producers stripped out the vocals and replaced them with a piano track covering the melody. Oddly enough, even though it was released as part of the Young-Holt album “Soulful Strut”, there is no evidence that either Young or Holt actually played on the cut.
To make things even weirder, the original producers restored Aklin’s vocal track and the following year re-released the song as the “vocal version” of “Soulful Strut”. It was a modest hit this time around, and was subsequently covered by Dusty Springfield, Swing Out Sister and several other artists.
