I Cant Help Myself

Song meaning of I Can't Help Myself by The Four Tops, and what it is about

One of Motown’s inspiring anthems, “I Can’t Help Myself” by songwriter Lamont Dozier inspired by his grandfather who would call the women his wife was a hairdresser for “sugar pie” and “honey bunch.” During the recording, engineer Harold Taylor recalled, “People were banging on the door of the studio; they were so ecstatic about what they heard.”

"I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" is a 1965 hit song recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label.

Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, "I Can't Help Myself" is one of the most well-known Motown recordings of the 1960s and among the decade's biggest hits.

The single topped the Billboard's R&B chart for nine weeks (being named the biggest R&B single of the year by Billboard) and also peaked at number one on the Hot 100 for two non-consecutive weeks in 1965. Billboard ranked the record as the second biggest single of 1965.

It was the Four Tops' first Top 40 single in the UK, peaking at 23 in the summer of 1965, then reaching 10 on its spring 1970 re-release.

The song finds lead singer Levi Stubbs, assisted by the other three Tops and The Andantes, pleadingly professing his love to a woman: "Sugar pie, honey bunch, I'm weaker than a man should be!, Can't help myself, I'm a fool in love, you see."

The melodic and chordal progressions are very similar to the Supremes' 1964 hit "Where Did Our Love Go," also written by Holland-Dozier-Holland.

I Can't Help Myself lyrics by The Four Tops

Sugar pie, honey bunch

You know that I love you

I can't help myself

I love you and nobody else

In and out my life (In and out my life)

You come and you go (You come and you go)

Leaving just your picture behind

And I've kissed it a thousand times

When you snap your finger or wink your eye

I come a-running to you

I'm tied to your apron strings (Can't help myself)

And there's nothing that I can do, ooh

Can't help myself (Ooh)

No, I can't help myself (Ooh)

'Cause, sugar pie, honey bunch (Sugar pie, honey bunch)

I'm weaker than a man should be

I can't help myself

I'm a fool in love, you see

Wanna tell you I don't love you

Tell you that we're through

And I've tried

But every time I see your face (I can't help myself)

I get all choked up inside

When I call your name

Girl, it starts the flame

(Burning in my heart, tearing it all apart)

No matter how I try, my love I cannot hide

'Cause sugar pie, honey bunch (Sugar pie, honey bunch)

You know that I'm weak for you (Weak for you)

Can't help myself

I love you and nobody else (Ooh)

Sugar pie, honey bunch (Sugar pie, honey bunch)

Do anything you ask me to (Ask me to)

Can't help myself

I want you and nobody else (Ooh)

Sugar pie, honey bunch (Sugar pie, honey bunch)

You know that I love you (Love you)

I can't help myself

No, I can't help myself (Ooh)

Sugar pie, honey bunch (Sugar pie, honey bunch)

You know that I love you