Today, we begin a new series based on the most successful covers of other artists songs. However they will be some omissions from the list if the song has already been referred to within the One Hit Wonders compilation. I shall post both the original version and then the cover or covers that became more well known.
“Got My Mind Set on You” (40) is a song written and composed by Rudy Clark and originally recorded by James Ray in 1962. An edited version of the song was released later in the year as a single on the Dynamic Sound label credited to James Ray with Hutch Davie Orchestra & Chorus. In 1987, George Harrison released a cover version of the song as a single, and released it on his album Cloud Nine, which he had recorded on his own Dark Horse Records label. In the UK, the single spent four weeks at number two becoming the 5th best selling single of 1987.
The first time Harrison heard the song was during a visit to his sister in the United States in 1963–five months before the Beatles first appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show His sister lived in the countryside of Illinois. While there, Harrison visited record shops and bought a variety of albums. One was James Ray’s 1962 album that contained the song “I’ve Got My Mind Set on You.” In January 1987, Harrison began recording the song at his Friar Park home studio, with Jeff Lynne producing and playing bass and keyboards, Jim Keltner on drums, Jim Horn on sax, and Ray Cooper on percussion.
Two music videos were released for the single, both directed by Gary Weis. The first features Alexis Denisof trying to win the heart of a girl in an amusement arcade. While the girl watches Harrison and his band in a movie viewer, the young man tries to win a toy ballerina for the girl. He succeeds, but the ballerina somehow drops into Harrison’s performance, to the girl’s amusement. The second video, inspired by the then-recently released comdey horror film Evil Dead II, depicts Harrison playing a guitar while seated in a study. As the song progresses, furniture and knick-knacks (including a stuffed squirrel, sentient chainsaw, a statue, and mounted stag and warthog), begin to sing or dance along with the song. In the middle of the video, Harrison (through the use of a stunt double) performs a backflip from his chair and follows it with a dance routine before jumping back to his seat. It was choreographed by Vincent Paterson.
