(Dan Penn - Spooner Oldham)
Australia
#17 Melbourne #26 Brisbane
Single on Festival by Melbourne band with soul and psychedelic inclinations, popular as a live act. The band’s name was a modification of the original concept, ‘Camp-Act’.
Further reading: 1. For an account of the band’s history and personnel changes see Milesago’s Cam-Pact page. 2. Keith Glass’s website has an active introductory page but the rest of the site seems to be in hiatus (last checked September 2011).
See also Zoom Zoom Zoom and Midnight Bus.
See below* for a connection between Keith Glass, Bobby Purify and Dan Penn.
Thanks to Keith Glass.
(Dan Penn - Spooner Oldham)
USA
Influential version
#6 USA
Single on Bell label.
The duo were James Purify and Robert Lee Dickey.
For the 1976
re-recording (see below), ‘Bobby’ was Ben Moore.
Keith Glass confirms that this was the point of reference for Cam-Pact’s version.
(Dan Penn - Spooner Oldham)
USA
Original version
Single on MGM by co-writer.
Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham were notable contributors to the soul genre as songwriters, producers and musicians (Spooner Oldham played the organ on Percy Sledge’s When A Man Loves A Woman). They worked in Memphis in collaboration with Chips Moman of American records, and then at Atlantic Records in Muscle Shoals.
Other Penn-Oldham compositions include Cry Like A Baby (The Box Tops) and Sweet Inspiration (The Sweet Inspirations). With Chips Moman, Dan Penn wrote Do Right Woman, Do Right Man (Aretha Franklin) and the much-recorded At The Dark End Of The Street (James Carr).
I’m Your Puppet was also recorded, for example, by Sam & Dave (1967), Dionne Warwick (1967), Mel & Tim (1972), Paul Young & Elton John (1993), Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham (1999), Irma Thomas (2000).
(Dan Penn - Spooner Oldham)
USA
Later version
#12 UK #14 Netherlands
Single on Mercury. Re-recording of the 1966 hit, this time by James Purify with Ben Moore, who replaced Robert Lee Dickey, the original ‘Bobby’.
*The song Forever Changed, on the 2005 album Better to Have It by Bobby Purify (Ben Moore, the second ‘Bobby Purify’), was inspired by the meeting and marriage of Cam-Pact’s Keith Glass and his wife. It was written by Keith’s friend Bucky Lindsey with Dan Penn, producer of the album and co-writer of I’m Your Puppet. Keith has also gigged with Penn’s collaborator Spooner Oldham.
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Website by Lyn Nuttall. © Lyn Nuttall 2004-2024. Chart positions courtesy of Gavin Ryan’s Australian Chart Books and Dean Scapolo’s Complete NZ Music Charts. Special thanks to Terry Stacey for information, corrections and suggestions. Thanks also to Tony Watson, Philippe Edouard, Dave Overett.., More…