It's All Over Now

The Rise of "It's All Over Now" by The Valentinos

Picture the summer of 1964, when American soul was bursting with energy and a young songwriter named Bobby Womack was about to learn one of the music business's hardest lessons. The Valentinos, a family group of brothers steeped in gospel and rhythm and blues, cut a song that would soon travel far beyond their own modest chart fortunes. That song was "It's All Over Now," and its story is one of the most fascinating in early-sixties pop, a tale of a great record that became famous in someone else's hands.

A Family Of Singers

The Valentinos were the Womack brothers, a gifted gospel-rooted group led by the precocious talent of Bobby Womack, who would go on to become one of soul music's most respected songwriters and performers. The group had ties to Sam Cooke's SAR Records, the label founded by the soul legend who recognized the family's potential and helped guide their early career. Working under Cooke's wing gave the young brothers access to a world of professional songcraft, and Bobby in particular was developing into a writer of real distinction. The group's gospel grounding gave their secular recordings a fervor and conviction that few of their peers could match, and that intensity ran straight through everything they cut. "It's All Over Now" was one of the fruits of that fertile period.

A Song Built To Last

"It's All Over Now" was a propulsive, guitar-driven number that married gospel fervor to the swagger of rhythm and blues. Written by Bobby Womack, the song carried a sharp lyric about a faithless lover and a narrator finally walking away, set to a beat that practically begged to be played loud. The Valentinos delivered it with the raw conviction of singers who had cut their teeth in church, giving the record a vitality that made it stand out. It was a song with obvious commercial appeal, the kind of tune that could cross over to a wide audience.

A Brief Chart Visit

For the Valentinos, however, the chart rewards were slim. Their version of "It's All Over Now" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on June 27, 1964 at number 99, and it peaked at number 94 the following week, on July 4, 1964. The single spent just 2 weeks on the chart before disappearing. It was a frustratingly modest showing for such a strong song, and the reason had everything to do with a British group that had taken notice from across the Atlantic.

The Cover That Changed Everything

The Rolling Stones recorded their own version of "It's All Over Now" that same year, and their cover became a massive transatlantic hit, reaching the top of the charts in the United Kingdom. For Bobby Womack, the experience was bittersweet: his song became a worldwide success, but in someone else's hands, while his own group's version faded quickly. The songwriting royalties, however, proved enormously valuable over time, and Womack later acknowledged the financial windfall the Stones' version brought him. The episode became a defining moment in his career and a famous lesson in the value of publishing.

A Hidden Gem Worth Hearing

For anyone who knows the song only through its famous cover, the Valentinos' original is a revelation. It has a grit and gospel intensity all its own, the sound of the writer's own group bringing his creation to life first. Put it on and hear where one of rock and soul's great standards truly began. There is a directness to the original that the famous cover, for all its swagger, never quite captured, the sound of a young writer pouring himself into his own creation. The Womack brothers got there first, and their version still crackles with raw energy.

"It's All Over Now" — The Valentinos' singular moment on the 1960s charts.