You Got What It Takes

His first single is called Blues Get Off My Shoulder, released by the VJ label in the summer of 1958.

The track doesn't go very far, but the B-side, You Got What It Takes, gets noticed by Motown, where singer Marv Johnson records it in 1960, sending the song into the US top ten, selling more than a million copies.

This should have been great news, except the song had never been registered for copyright because no one thought it would be a hit.

A hugely expensive mistake that Barry Gordy, the chief of Motown Records, was more than happy to take advantage of as he claimed the song as his own.

Look like a movie star And on your money We won't get far But baby You got what it takes To satisfy You got what it takes To set my soul on fire Whoa Oh yeah You got what it takes for me Now you don't live In a beautiful place

Quoting Bobby Parker

I was busy with the band.

We weren't so interested in the business angle and we were just recording stuff because it was fun.