Little Ole Man (Uptight, Everything's Alright)
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| "Little Ole Man (Uptight, Everything's Alright)" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Bill Cosby | ||||
| from the album Silver Throat: Bill Cosby Sings | ||||
| B-side | "Don' Cha Know" | |||
| Released | 1967 | |||
| Genre | R&B, comedy | |||
| Length | 4:10 | |||
| Label | Warner Bros. | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Henry Cosby, Sylvia Moy, Stevie Wonder | |||
| Producer(s) | Fred Sledge Smith | |||
| Bill Cosby singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Little Ole Man (Uptight, Everything's Alright)" is a single by comedian Bill Cosby, released in 1967 from the entertainer's first musical comedy album, Silver Throat: Bill Cosby Sings. On the 1968 album 200 M.P.H., Cosby states that the song was dedicated to his grandfather.
Background
[edit]A comedic parody which Cosby narrated about "a little ole man" whom he discovers three times, first getting hit by a train, later being run over by elephants, and lastly having no recollection of either incident.[1] The musical instrumental, chorus, and accompanying background vocals were a direct lift of the Stevie Wonder 1965 song "Uptight (Everything's Alright)", which had been a recent hit, and the authorship of "Little Ole Man" is credited solely to the authors of "Uptight". "Uptight" co-author Henry Cosby has no relation to Bill Cosby.
Chart history
[edit]The single became an unexpected hit for Cosby, reaching number four on the Billboard Hot 100.
| Chart (1967) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada RPM[2] | 2 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[3] | 4 |
| U.S. Billboard Top Selling R&B Singles[4] | 18 |
References
[edit]- ^ "That Was A Hit?!? : Grab Bag Edition". WNYC.org. May 3, 2013.
- ^ "RPM Top 100 Singles - October 21, 1967" (PDF).
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2013). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955-2012. Record Research. p. 195.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 136.