"(You Can) Depend on Me" is a 1959 song by Motown Records group The Miracles, which also appeared on the group's first album, Hi... We're The Miracles (1961). It also appeared as the B-side of the group's hit single, "Way Over There". It was written by Motown Records' President and founder Berry Gordy and Miracles member William "Smokey" Robinson. While not charting nationally, this song was a very popular regional hit tune in many areas of the country, so much so, in fact, that it was included on the group's first greatest hits album, Greatest Hits from the Beginning, and Smokey still sings it, by request, in his live shows today.
A slow, intimate ballad number, with relatively sparse orchestration compared to much of their later work, "You Can Depend on Me" starts with the singular guitar of Miracles member Marv Tarplin. Recorded in the popular doo-wop style, Miracles lead singer Smokey Robinson, as the song's narrator, then takes it from there, singing to the woman he loves, promising her eternal devotion:
If you....need a love like mine that you can depend on...
When your whole world's closing in...and you need a friend...
"(You Can) Depend on Me" was first released in September 1959 as the B-side of "The Feeling Is So Fine", which was quickly withdrawn.[1] A re-recording of this song[2] was issued as the B-side of the Miracles' next single, "Way Over There", but it was the first version which appeared on Hi ... We’re The Miracles and most subsequent compilations.
