Say You (Temptations song)
| "Say You" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by The Monitors | ||||
| from the album Greetings! We're The Monitors | ||||
| B-side | "All For Someone" | |||
| Released | November 1965 | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Recorded | July 1965 | |||
| Genre | Soul | |||
| Label |
V.I.P. (Motown) V.I.P. 25028 | |||
| Writer(s) | Robert Staunton, Robert Dobyne, Charles Jones | |||
| Producer(s) | Robert Staunton, Robert Walker | |||
| The Monitors chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Say You" is a 1965 soul song, written by Robert Dobyne, Robert Staunton and Charles Jones, and recorded by both The Monitors and The Temptations.
The Monitors' version was recorded in July 1965 and released as the group's debut single for Motown Records. Their previous single, "Hello Love", was planned for release on Motown's VIP subsidiary (as VIP 25010) but cancelled. That single was scheduled for release under the group's original name, The Majestics. "Say You" was also released initially as crediting The Majestics before a name change was forced upon them by the existence of another Majestics group. Upon release, the song became a minor R&B hit, making #36 on the Billboard Soul Charts. "Say You" is also included on The Monitors' debut (and only) album for Motown, Greetings! We're The Monitors, released in November of 1968.
Motown's The Temptations had originally recorded the song about one month before The Monitors (in June 1965), and their version was released on the group's fourth album, 1966's Gettin' Ready.
In the song itself, the narrator pleads to his lover asking her to confirm their love. The song's title is in answer to a question the narrator asks of her in the first verse:
- Say you
- Who do you belong to?
- Say you
- I've been longing to need you
Some 46 years after the single release of "Say You", a Monitors compilation album entitled Say You! The Complete Motown Recordings was released, containing all of the group's recordings for Motown from 1963 to 1968. It was released by Ace Records' soul subsidiary label Kent Soul, in June of 2011.