I'll Take Care of You

In 2011, Toronto-based pop star Drake named the album ‘Take Care’ but only a few people have caught the original reference. Produced by British indie darling Jamie xx, "Take Care" is a sultry “club number that features Rihanna sweetly murmuring a verse that begins with a memorable couplet: I know you've been hurt by someone else / I can tell by the way you carry yourself." Echoing her words is the ghost of Gil Scott-Heron, whose brooding piano-based version of a song called "I'll Take Care of You" was one of several Jamie xx reworked for the remix album ‘We're New Here,’ released shortly before Scott-Heron died this past May. The energetic but oddly somber beat mixes with those melancholy vocal hooks and Drake's own emotional vocalizing to effectively deliver the song's message of belief in damaged yet redeemable love.

I'll Take Care of You

"I'll Take Care of You" is a song written by Brook Benton, a gifted vocalist and songwriter. Beginning in 1959, and over the next 10 plus years, Benton had 49 charted singles on Billboard Magazine’s Hot 100 chart…which was established on August 4, 1958 to track and rank singles from all genres of pop music (including rock and roll). In the U.S., 24 of Benton’s single records entered the Top 40.

Drake feat. Rihanna - 'Take Care'

Brook Benton was born Benjamin Franklin Peay on September 19, 1931, in Camden, South Carolina. He became a gospel singer at a young age and was a member of the Camden Jubilee Singers. Benton moved to New York City at age 17 in 1948 to try his luck as a songwriter. When he first arrived in New York he sang with such gospel groups as Bill Langford's Spiritual Singers, The Langfordaires, The Golden Gate Quartet, and The Jerusalem Stars. He eventually went back to South Carolina, drove a truck for a while and joined the R&B singing group The Sandmen prior to returning to New York again in search of a big break. This time Benton found a successful career co-producing albums and writing songs for such artists as Nat 'King' Cole, Clyde McPhatter (he penned the hit song "A Lover's Question" for McPhatter), and Roy Hamilton.

Brook Benton, 1959

Benton enjoyed his first minor hit with "A Million Miles from Nowhere." He then switched to Mercury Records and achieved his greatest commercial success recording a steady string of hit songs with that label. In 1959 Brook scored two major breakthrough successes: "It's Just A Matter of Time" peaked at #3 on the Billboard charts and "Endlessly" went all the way to #12 on the charts. Benton sustained this winning streak with such equally excellent tunes as "Thank You Pretty Baby," "So Many Ways," "Hotel Happiness," "The Boll Weevil Song," and "Kiddio." Brook cracked the Top 10 one last time in 1970 with a beautifully moving rendition of Tony Joe White's lovely ballad "Rainy Night in Georgia."

Brook Benton, 1970

Benton seems to have never recorded "I'll Take Care of You", however. Instead, blues lion Bobby "Blue" Bland claimed it as his own, cutting it for Duke Records in 1959. The original record is a slow 6/8 ballad with soothing Blue Bland vocals gliding over the top. Bland's version is a lesson in getting to tshe depths of a seemingly simple song – melodramatic but classy, it perfectly balances nurture and seduction with just a dash of sexy menace. Like many of Bland's recordings from this era, it's the epitome of sophisticated blues. It reached number 89 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1960.

Bobby 'Blue Bland - 'I'll Take Care of You', 1959

"I'll Take Care of You" subsequently became a blues classic. With its dramatic pacing and a melody singers could climb like a golden staircase, the song offers the chance to show off, but it also has an inherent gravitas; it's a Big Number, but grittier, more down home. It's a mountain of a song, and artists try to climb it in order prove their mettle.

Bobby 'Blue Bland

The song has been covered many times since by artists such as Van Morrison, Elvis Costello, Roy Hamilton, Etta James, Mick Hucknall, Irma Thomas, O. V. Wright, Mark Lanegan, Gil Scott-Heron, Beth Hart and Rebecca Ferguson.

Irma Thomas sings 'I'll Take Care of You'

I'll take care of you by Brook Benton

I know you've been hurt by someone else
I can tell by the way you carry yourself
But if you let me, here's what I'll do
I'll take care of you

I've loved and I've lost the same as you
So you see I know just what you've been through
And if you let me, here's what I'll do
I'll take care of you

You won't ever have to worry
You won't ever have to cry
For I'll be there beside you
To dry your weeping eyes

So darling tell me that you'll be true
There's no doubt in my mind, no, what I want to do
And just as sure as one and one is two
I know I'll take care of you

I'll take care of you
I'll take care of you
I'll take care of you