As Long As I Have You

Song: As Long As I Have You
Artist: Garnett Mimms
Written: Bob Elgin / Norman Meade
Year : 1964
Album/Single: Warm and Soulful

Cobra's Version

Song : As Long As I Have You
Released : April 24th, 2007
Album : Tied & True


Hello ?
Is this thing on ?

Sorry for the posting lag. After my last post, the wife and I left for an Easter trip to Florida. Now you need to understand, when we travel to Florida we don't travel like normal folks - down the freeway as fast as you can drive. No, our trip was scheduled for 2-1/2 days - no freeways allowed - just state highways and county roads. First day went fine and the second day was going great until we ran into a little problem in Dandridge, Tennessee. Thankfully the only casualty of the accident was my laptop. Now that the laptop's been replaced (thanks State Farm!) and I've caught up at the office hopefully I can get back to regular postings.

I thought I would start back up again with the hottest track off of "Tied & True", the Cobra's new disc.

Garnett Mimms biggest hit, with his backing group The Enchanters, was in 1963 with "Cry, Baby" - Janis Joplin covered it 1971 and had a minor posthumous hit with it. Today's selection was released in 1964 and shared a writer with "Cry, Baby" - Norman Meade (real name : Jerry Ragovoy). Ragovoy penned other rock/soul classics as well - "Piece of My Heart", "Time is On My Side" to name two. By the way, Garnett Mimms' producer was none other than our old friend Bert Berns. "As Long As I Have You" amazingly was not released as a single, be relegated to being album filler. I am not the first to point this out but it deserves repeating - he should have sued for career mismanegement - this song is too good to have never seen the light of day. I am particular fond of the "Give me mountains to crumble . . ." stanza.

Lyrics:
Born in darkness
but I fought my way up to the sun
Had a lot of battles
some I lost and some I've won

But let me tell you, girl
you ain't seen nothing yet
There's nothing in this world
that I can't get
As long as I have you (long as I have you)
Long as I have (long as I have you) you
As long as I have you

Give me mountains to crumble
and I'll turn them to sand
Let me put this world
in the palm of your hand

Find some teardrops
but I sang my way out of the blues
Had to learn to stand up
even when they scared me out of my shoes

But let me tell you, girl
you ain't seen nothing yet
There's nothing in this world
that I can't get
As long as I have you (long as I have you)
Long as I have you (long as I have you)
As long as I have you

Give me mountains to crumble
and I'll turn them to sand
Let me put this world
in the palm of your hand

Say you love me
and I know that half the battle is won
Don't cha worry about nothing
in your mind the best is yet to come

But let me tell you, girl
you ain't seen nothing yet
There's nothing in this world
that I can't get
As long as I have you (long as I have you)
Long as I have you (long as I have you)
Every thing's gonna be alright (long as I have you)
And I won't have to cry no more (long as I have you)
All my troubles will be over (long as I have you)
Yeah

If you are unfamiliar with the genre of "Northern Soul", this is a textbook example of it. Driving beat, punching horn arrangement, impassioned vocals, tight instrumentation. Of course the Cobras strip the song down the garage basics - ripping guitars and and driving rhythm section. And Rachel's perfectly matched vocals.

The opening lyric - "Born in Darkness" - is significant here. The Cobra's have been playing this song in concert since at least June of 2006. It would show up on their playlist as "Darkness" or "Born of Darkness". I have also posted a video of them doing the song on YouTube from their November 22, 2006 show at the Magic Stick in Detroit.

It seems that the Cobras are not the first to see the value of this song - Led Zeppelin used to cover the song in their early days.

Download it now:
As Long As I Have You - Garnett Mimms - 1964
Available on - Talcum Soul: 26 Stonking Northern Soul Greats

The Cobra's version is available as a free download from Bloodshot records
As Long As I Have You - Detroit Cobras - 2007
You need to buy "Tied & True" by the Detroit Cobras