Work with Me, Annie

Album: Midnight with The Midnighters (1954)
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  • Oooh!
    Work with me, Annie
    (a-um, a-um)
    Work with me, Annie
    Ooo-wee!
    Work with me, Annie
    Work with me, Annie

    Work with me, Ann-ie-e
    Let's get it while the gettin' is good

    (So good, so good, so good, so good)

    Annie, please don't cheat
    Give me all my meat, ooo!
    Ooo-hoo-wee
    So good to me

    Work with me Ann-ie-e
    Now, let's get it while the gettin' is good

    (So good, so good, so good, so good)

    A-ooo, my-ooo
    My-ooo-ooo-wee
    Annie, oh how you thrill me
    Make my head go round and round
    And all my love come dow-ow-own
    (Ooo!)

    Work with me, Annie
    (a-um, a-um, a-um, a-um)
    Work with me, Annie
    Don't be 'shamed
    To work with me, Annie
    Call my name
    Work with me, Annie

    Work with me, Ann-ie-e
    Let's get it while the gettin' is good

    (So good, so good, so good, so good)

    So Good!

    (guitar & instrumental)

    Oh, our hot lips kissing
    Girl, I'll beg mercy
    Oh, hugging and more teasing
    Don't want no freezing

    A-work with me, Ann-ie-e
    Let's get it while the gettin' is good

    (So good, so good, so good, so good)

    Ooo-ooo-ooo
    Umm-mmm
    Ooo-ooo-ooo

    FADES

    Ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo.
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 6

  • Tony Arioli from Guerneville,ca"Work With Me Annie" was initially released with the group's former name on it (The Royals), but in the process of Federal Record's continued pressings of the disk, the labelling of the group was changed to The Midnighters.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn May 13th 1961, Hank Ballard and the Midnighters appeared at the Keil Auditorium in St. Louis, Missouri...
    At the time the group's song "The Continental Walk" was at #35 on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; the following week it would peak at #33 {for 1 week} and it spent 8 weeks on the Top 100...
    It reached #12 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart...
    Between 1953 and 1969 the group had twenty-two songs on Billboard's R&B Singles chart; fourteen made the Top 10 with three reaching #1; "Work With Me, Annie" in 1954, "Annie Had a Baby" in 1954, and "Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go" in 1960...
    They just missed having five #1 records when "Sexy Ways" in 1954 and "Finger Poppin' Time" in 1960 both peaked at #2 on the R&B Singles chart...
    Hank Ballard, born John Henry Kendricks, passed away on March 2nd, 2003 at the age of 75...
    May he R.I.P.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn March 4th 2003 at a concert at the Jacksonville Coliseum in Jacksonville, FL Bruce Springsteen performed "Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go"*...
    He dedicated it to Hank Ballard, who had passed away two days earlier on March 2nd, 2003 at the age of 75...
    *Hank's original version entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart on Sept. 19th, 1960; and on Nov. 21st, 1960 it peaked at #6 {for 1 week} and spent 16 weeks on the Top 100...
    And on Nov. 7th, 1960 it reached #1 {for 1 week} on Billboard's R&B Singles chart...
    May Mr. Ballard, born John Henry Kendricks, R.I.P.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn September 19th 1960, "Let's Go, Let's Go, Let's Go" by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #87; at the time Hank & the boys had two other records on the Top 100, "The Twist" at #28 and "Finger Poppin' Time" was at #19...
    As a result they became the first group to have three records on the Top 100 all at the same...
    And at the time the #1 record was a covered version of "The Twist" by Chubby Checker...
    R.I.P. Mr. Ballard, born John Henry Kendricks, {1927 - 2003}.
  • Nick from London, United KingdomThe Midnighters - Work With Me Annie
    (Ballard)
    Hank Ballard (b. Al 1927-2003)
    Recorded in Cincinnati Jan 1954 - Federal 12169 (Billboard R&B #1)
    The Royals were a Detroit-based group with a repertoire consisting predominantly of ballads like their original version of the Gladys Knight & the Pips hit Every Beat Of My Heart. Lead vocalist Hank Ballard (John Kendricks) came up with a racy little number titled Get It which squeezed into the top ten in August 1953 and from then on they would record mainly in the uptempo style with a new name, the Midnighters. Federal's A&R head, Ralph Bass had an idea for a song with the hook 'work with me' and he and Hank worked up lyrics that left nothing to the imagination. Very little risqué stuff ever got any radio play but despite this, Work With Me Annie managed to hit the top spot in February 1954 merely through jukebox sales. What's more it leaped over into the pop charts and created an almighty stir in the process, even more so than the Crows' Gee, which was out at the same time. Nobody in the music business batted an eyelid about off-colour lyrics until white teenagers started buying black music in their droves. A campaign was started by New York DJs to get 'dirty' records off the airwaves which largely achieved its objective. 1954 was the peak year for risqué R&B but the future was very much Moon in June. (Celebrated R&B commentator Marv Goldberg credits Work With Me Annie as having more to do with introducing white teenagers to R&B than any other song.)
  • John from Nashville, Tn"Work With Me Annie" was banned by some radio stations in the US due to its sexual content. "Work" was ghetto slang for sexual intercourse. When somebody was asked "Did you get any work last night?", it didn't mean that he or she worked in a fast food joint at night.
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