When John Ellison was 17, he moved from his hometown of Montgomery, West Virginia to Rochester, New York in 1959 where he became the sixth member of the Soul Brothers Five featuring siblings Sam, Moses, Harry, Gene, and Charles Armstrong. Many years later, when he was in Soul Brothers Six, Ellison was dating a woman named Ann White, who wanted to settle down. At the time, Ellison was set on his music career and couldn’t give White what she wanted.
Soul Brothers Six had just signed a recording contract with an independent label in Philadelphia and was heading out there to record. “The day we were leaving for Philadelphia, I stopped by the apartment of the girl I was dating, to say goodbye,” recalled Ellison. “She had packed me a lunch in a brown paper bag. We stood there in silence for a moment just looking at each other. I knew this was the last time I would see her. I knew she wanted more from me than I could give her, but she understood. She knew I had dreams that nothing could get in the way of. I gave her a hug, and we kissed.”
He added, “I looked at her and said, ‘You are some kind of wonderful. I’m gonna write a song about you.’”
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Written on a Sandwich Bag
Ellison had bought a rusty old 1960 Ford for the journey to Philadelphia. “You could see the highway through the rusted-out holes in the floor,” he said. About four hours into the journey to Philadelphia, Ellison ate the sandwich White had made for him and started writing the lyrics to the song on the sandwich bag.
I don’t need a whole lots of money, I don’t need a big fine car
I got everything that a man could want
I got more than I could ask for
“This is the reason for those first three lines,” added Ellison. “The first line was because, at that moment, money could not make me feel the way I was feeling. Although I did not want a relationship with Ann, I did have feelings for her. This was something that money could not buy.” He added, “Regarding the big fine car, I knew I could be just as happy with her in the old rusted-out Ford, as I would be in a brand new car because I would have everything that I could hope for. That’s how she made me feel.”
And I don’t have to run around
I don’t have to stay out all night
‘Cause I got me a sweet, a sweet loving woman
And she know just how to treat me right
But my baby, she’s alright
Oh, my baby’s clean out of sight
Don’t you know that she’s
She’s some kind of wonderful
Released in May 1967, “Some Kind of Wonderful” peaked at No. 91 for the Soul Brothers Six on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the first time the group charted.
[RELATED: Behind the Song: “We’re An American Band,” by Grand Funk Railroad]
Grand Funk Railroad
By the early ’70s, Grand Funk Railroad drummer Don Brewer would sing Ellison’s hit while the band traveled around the country playing shows.
“We all grew up in Flint, Michigan,” said Brewer. “We used to listen to a station called WAMM, which was a black station in Flint. We all grew up on R&B, gospel, and soul music, and they used to play the Soul Brothers Six version of that song all the time on WAMM radio in the ’60s. When we were traveling around the country, I used to start singing that song in the back of the car a cappella, and everybody would just kind of jump in and sing along with me.”
Brewer added, “We’d kind of shear off on the choruses and stuff, and our manager said, ‘That’s a great song, why don’t you record it,’ so we recorded the song and it became a huge hit.”
Released on Grand Funk Railroad’s 1974 album All the Girls in the World Beware!!! their cover of “Some Kind of Wonderful” went to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Along with Grand Funk Railroad’s rendition, “Some Kind of Wonderful has been covered more than 70 times by Conway Twitty, Rod Stewart, Buddy Guy and Paul Rodgers, Huey Lewis and the News, Joss Stone, and more.
Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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