WCSX Classic Cuts
Grand Funk Railroad: “Some Kind of Wonderful”
The Hook: They used to sing the obscure soul number in the limo to warm up on the way to shows.
Album: All the Girls in the World Beware!!!
Year: 1974
Writer: John Ellison
Stats: Peaked at number-three on the Billboard Hot 100
Background: Grand Funk Railroad were recording their All the Girls in the World Beware album with producer Jimmy Ienner in 1974, when their manager at the time, Andy Cavaliere, suggested they record an obscure old soul song. Bassist Mel Schacher and frontman Mark Farner recalled the circumstances during their late-’90s reunion.
During their 1998 reunion, Mel Schacher and Mark Farner on how their manager, Andy Cavaliere, urged them to record “Some Kind of Wonderful.” OC:…became ours. :26
“’Some Kind of Wonderful’ was our little song that we always sang in the limousine on the way to the show, or after the show, or whatever. And it was like warm-up or a thing, maybe, to break the ice or the nerves or whatever again. It was an old Soul Brothers Six song that we remembered growing up playing on the black station in Flint. It was a regional hit. We just loved the song, and we never really thought about doing it until we were in the studio with Ienner. I remember Andy Cavaliere saying you guys need to cut that, that song is just too good. So we did and it became ours.”