“Cupid” by Sam Cooke

"Cupid" came out on May 16, 1961, a Sam Cooke song nearly meant for someone else: his producers had asked him for a song for Sandy Stewart after spotting her on The Perry Como Show, then heard more of her and kept it for Cooke. He cut it at his first RCA session, in Los Angeles, producing with Hugo & Luigi, though only Luigi Creatore turned up; Hugo Peretti was afraid to fly.

René Hall dressed it in French horn and strings and played guitar with Cooke's other regulars: Clifton White and Joseph Gibbons on guitars (Gibbons on banjo too), Clifford Hills on bass and Earl Palmer at the drums. Cooke's first plan was for the gospel duo the Sims Twins to mimic an arrow leaving the bow. It did best in Britain, at number seven, and later turned up on The Best of Sam Cooke.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.