The Miracles Doin' Mickey's Monkey

The Miracles Doin' Mickey's Monkey is an album by the Miracles, released in 1963 by Tamla Records.^[3] It includes the group's Top 10 smash single "Mickey's Monkey", written and produced by Holland-Dozier-Holland, which was later recorded by several other artists. "Mickey's Monkey" popularized "The Monkey" as a novelty dance.^[5] Also included is another H-D-H dance-oriented single, "I Gotta Dance to Keep From Crying", a Billboard Top 40 hit. The album peaked at No. 113 on the Billboard 200.^[6]

The Miracles Doin' Mickey's Monkey
Studio album by the Miracles
Released	November 11, 1963
Recorded	1963 at Hitsville USA
Genre	Soul, pop
Length	28:42
Label	Tamla[1]
Producer	Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Smokey Robinson
The Miracles chronology
Christmas with The Miracles (1963) The Miracles Doin' Mickey's Monkey (1963) I Like It Like That (1964)
Singles from The Miracles Doin' Mickey's Monkey
"Mickey's Monkey" Released: July 26, 1963 "I Gotta Dance to Keep from Crying" Released: October 31, 1963

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[3]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[4]

Much of the rest of the album is made up of popular dance songs, including "The Twist", "Twist and Shout" and The Contours' Motown hit "Do You Love Me". Miracles member Bobby Rogers co-wrote a song, "Dancin' Holiday", for the album. Miracle Claudette Robinson takes the lead on the Miracles' remake of The Orlons hit, "The Wah-Watusi".

The Miracles Doin' Mickey's Monkey was released on CD by Motown Records in 1986, in a two-for-one set with their Away We A Go-Go album, and again by itself in a 1992 release.

Cover art

The album cover art is by Stanley Mouse; it was the artist's first album assignment.^[7] Berry Gordy often chose not to use pictures of his performers on the album covers of Motown's early releases, in order that the label not be defined strictly as a "black" record company.^[8]

Track listing

Side one

1. "Mickey's Monkey" (Holland-Dozier-Holland) – 2:46
2. "Dance What You Wanna" (James Alexander, Sam Cooke, Clifton White) – 2:45
3. "The Wah-Watusi" (Dave Appell, Kal Mann) – 2:38
4. "The Twist" (Hank Ballard) – 2:29
5. "Dancin' Holiday" (Diane Rogers, Fred Smith, Zelda Samuels) – 2:14
6. "Land of a Thousand Dances" (Chris Kenner) – 2:26

Side two

1. "I Gotta Dance to Keep From Crying" (Holland-Dozier-Holland) – 2:39
2. "The Monkey Time" (Curtis Mayfield) – 2:51
3. "The Groovey Thing" (Smokey Robinson) – 2:43
4. "Twist and Shout" (Phil Medley, Bert Russell) – 2:03
5. "Do You Love Me" (Berry Gordy, Jr.) – 2:39

Personnel

The Miracles

• Smokey Robinson - lead vocals
• Claudette Rogers Robinson - lead vocals (on "The Wah-Watusi"), background vocals
• Bobby Rogers - background vocals
• Ronnie White - background vocals
• Pete Moore - background vocals
• Marv Tarplin - guitar

Production

• The Funk Brothers - instrumentation
• Smokey Robinson - producer
• Brian Holland - producer
• Lamont Dozier - producer

References

1. Popoff, Martin (September 8, 2009). "Goldmine Record Album Price Guide". Penguin – via Google Books.
2. "Doin' Mickey's Monkey - The Miracles | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.
3. Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 5. MUZE. p. 795.
4. The Rolling Stone Album Guide. Random House. 1992. p. 594.
5. Cooper, B. Lee (Dec 2007). "From the Bunny Hop to the Funky Chicken: An American Dance Song Discography, 1945-1975". Popular Music and Society. 30 (5): 651–666, 691.
6. "The Miracles". Billboard.
7. Miller, Stanley Mouse (May 1, 2015). "California Dreams: The Art of Stanley Mouse". Catapult – via Google Books.
8. "Berry Gordy: The man who built Motown". The Telegraph. Retrieved 12 June 2021.