Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While) – Kim Weston | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning

Chart Performance: Pop (#50) and R&B (#4); 1965

Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne

As a teenager, Kim Weston wanted to be a professional swimmer; a goal she pursued until her coach recommended singing as a way of improving her breath control. She joined the Wright Specials after high school and entered the Motown studios for the first time in 1962 when the group recorded two gospel singles.

Her vocalizing on a songwriter’s demo caught the ears of staff writers Eddie and Brian Holland, who got her a label deal. Her 1963 single, Love Me All The Way, reached #24 R&B, and a pairing with Marvin Gaye on What Good Am I Without You reached #28 in the fall of ’64.

By then she’d already missed a chance to record Dancing In The Street (Kim claims her husband, A&R boss Mickey Stevenson, gave it to Martha & The Vandellas instead of her because he was mad).

Whatever the reason, the red-hot hitmaking team of Holland-Dozier-Holland came up with Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While) for Kim: her biggest-ever solo single.

This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.

Produced by:

• Brian Holland
• Lamont Dozier

Lyrics Written by:

• Brian Holland
• Lamont Dozier
• Eddie Holland

Awards:

• Inducted into the Official Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame in 2013
• Included in the debut album “Rock Me” by Charity Brown, released in 1975