Bernadette (song)

"Bernadette"
Single by Four Tops
from the album Reach Out
B-side	"Something About You"
Released	February 16, 1967
Format	7" single
Recorded	Hitsville U.S.A. (Studio A); 1966
Genre	Soul/pop
Length	3:00
Label	Motown M 1104
Writer(s)	Holland–Dozier–Holland
Producer	Brian Holland Lamont Dozier
Four Tops singles chronology
"Standing in the Shadows of Love" 1966 "Bernadette" 1967 "7-Rooms of Gloom" 1967

For other uses, see Bernadette

"Bernadette" is a 1967 hit song recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label. Written and produced by Motown's main production team, Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song is one of the most well-known Motown tunes of the 1960s. Depicting a man's excessive desire for and jealousy over his girlfriend, the song reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was The Four Tops's final Top 10 hit of the 1960s. In 1972, the song "Keeper of the Castle" would return them to the Top 10 charts. "Bernadette" was known for its false ending, when the chorus holds a long cadence note and then Levi Stubbs shouts out the title and goes on with his insecure passions as the song ends in a fade out.

Covers

The song was remade in French and released by Claude François under the same title.

Personnel

• Lead vocals by Levi Stubbs
• Background vocals by Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson, Lawrence Payton, and The Andantes: Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow, and Louvain Demps
• Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers

• Written by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Edward Holland, Jr.
• Produced by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier

Pop Culture references to Bernadette

In Madhouse (1990 film) starring John Larroquette and Kirstie Alley, John Larroquette and John Diehl perform a dance to the song in a bar after reminiscing about high school.

It is also included in the soundtrack of Zodiac (film).

In the episode titled "The Vengeance Formulation" of the third season of The Big Bang Theory. The song was performed freestyle by the character Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) in order to win back the affection of his homonymous girlfriend. In a later episode, the Wolowitz comments that he uses the song as a custom ringtone.