In fall 2014, I listened to a two-disc set of the Isley Brothers a few times because I'd noticed a motif that was in the vocal parts of a couple of their songs:
Last January, I wrote about it, and I briefly mentioned that I'd also found that Isley motif in Smokey Robinson & the Miracles' "Christmas Everyday." I found it again in this regional version of "Shop Around" and the live version of "Way Over There."
The Isley Brothers songs I found that motif in are "Shout" (starting at about 3:44), two versions of "Respectable" (at about 1:41 in the single version and at about 1:40 in the other version, which I'm assuming is an album version), and "Twistin' with Linda" (at about 2:12). All of the songs are in F major, and the chord progression for each mostly alternates between the tonic chord and the relative minor (I and vi). "Christmas Everyday" has that feature too, but since it's in D major, it alternates between D major and B minor. Also because it's in D major, the Isley motif (at about 2:25) is slightly different, but only in the key; the intervals are the same:
"Shop Around" is in G major, so again the motif in that second regional version (at about 1:52, right after the solo) is a little different, but only because it's in a different key:
The chord progression is different too. Instead of alternating between the tonic and the relative minor, it alternates between the tonic and the sub-dominant (I and IV).
"Way Over There" has the tonic/relative minor chord progression (in A flat major), but the live version seems to indicate that influence by the Isley Brothers more strongly than either the studio version or either of the other two Miracles songs I found the Isley motif in because it has more in common than just that four-note Isley motif and that I/vi chord progression. In "Shout," after the Isley motif, there's an-other phrase:
"Way Over There" has that same phrase:
Both also have a sort of echo. After the four-note Isley motif, it's repeated either in the backing vocals (in "Shout") or by the audience (in the live version of "Way Over There"). That section (with its echo) is repeated again, and then there's the new six-note phrase, which is repeated in the backing vocals or the audience.
When I first found the Isley motif in "Christmas Everyday," I wasn't sure if it really was the Isleys' influence. Almost all the Isley Brothers songs I'd found that motif in are from 1959 ("Twistin' with Linda" is from 1962), but "Christmas Everyday" is from 1963. These songs from Depend on Me in which I found that phrase are chronologically a little bit closer to the Isleys. The second regional version of "Shop Around" is from September 1960, and this live version of "Way Over There" was recorded at the Apollo on 17 December 1962. Because "Way Over There" also has the six-note phrase and the echoing that's in the Isley Brothers' "Shout," I'm more convinced that the Miracles took the four-note phrase in that regional version of "Shop Around" and "Christmas Everyday" from the Isleys.
