Song Of The Day 1/26/2015: Doris Troy - "You Give Me Joy Joy"

Apple Scruffs: A record company as ballyhooed as Apple was, no matter the sometimes confused state of its inner workings, is frequently well-positioned to undertake a reclamation project – an artist who’d already had a hit or two but could have used some rejuvenation or new thinking. Prime example: what Philadelphia International accomplished with Lou Rawls in the ’70s. Less obvious but maybe better example: what Sanctuary did with Nancy Sinatra in 2004.

Apple Records, for whatever reason, chose Doris Troy (1937–2004) for that operation. She’d had one monster hit, the pretty much perfect “Just One Look,” which she co-wrote and has been reinterpreted by everyone from Lulu and Linda Ronstadt to Klaus Nomi and Lynda Carter. An intriguing choice, Troy was. She co-wrote all but three of the songs on her self-titled Apple album from 1970, with one resulting in the interesting-looking songwriting credit “Doris Troy-Klaus Voorman.” George Harrison oversaw most of the arrangements on the project and undoubtedly hung around as company representation, but Troy, according to discogs.com, was the producer. Imagine hovering around the lair of the massively popular Beatles beast, granted in the throes of its demise but still well-regarded, and successfully negotiating for sole production credit. Well, I’m impressed, anyway. “You Give Me Joy Joy” was co-written by Troy, Harrison, Richard “Still Quite Useful In Collaborative Settings” Starkey and Stephen Stills, who knew a guy who was in the Hollies, who also covered “Just One Look.”