The Vibrants - The Letter Song (1967)

Joe Tex - S.Y.S.L.J.F.M. (The Letter Song) (1966)

(Joe Tex)
 USA
Original version
#39 USA

Single on Dial (distributed by Atlantic).

S.Y.S.L.J.F.M. = Save your sweet love just for me

Joe Tex (Joe Arrington Jr, 1933-1982) was a Texan R&B-soul singer and songwriter. He was an associate of soul greats Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Solomon Burke, Arthur Conley, Ben E. King and Don Covay, all of whom were, at various times, with Tex in the Soul Clan collective. As Dave Marsh puts it, Tex was arguably, the most underrated of all the 60s soul performers associated with Atlantic Records (All Music).

Tex had nine Billboard Top 40 hits, beginning with the slow and tender Hold What You've Got (1965, #5 USA). His biggest hit was I Gotcha (1972, #2 USA), followed in 1977 by his last, a disco novelty song that got to #12 in the US but was a quite a hit in Australia: Ain't Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman) charted #2 in Sydney, our biggest market, and #4 Melbourne, #4 Brisbane, #2 Adelaide, #7 Perth. Although he was well-known down here as part of the late-1960s wave of soul music, the only other Joe Tex record that charted in Australia was Show Me (1967, #34 Melbourne). In New Zealand he had one charting single, Don't Cry Over Spilt Milk (1979, #27 NZ).

Reference, further reading: 1. Dave Marsh's biography of Joe Tex at AllMusic. 2. The Soul Clan at wikipedia.