If a song is a minor hit as an instrumental, why not add some lyrics and see if you can make it a major hit? Half the work is already done!

The Classics formed in Jacksonville, Florida in 1965, primarily as an instrumental group playing surf songs and popular hits. But people like lyrics, and they like to hear bands play songs just like the originals they hear on the radio, so when audiences requested the group find a singer, drummer Dennis Yost stepped up. Now they decided they needed a new home. And, unfortunately, a new name.

It turned out another group already existed called The Classics, so the Jacksonville group rebranded as Classics IV after moving to Atlanta, the hub of a burgeoning Southern rock scene. They hooked up with a songwriter/producer named Buddy Buie who would prove crucial in their success. Buie had a good ear, and he put it to good use.

One day in 1967 after a round of golf, Buie and Classics IV guitarist J.R. Cobb were driving back to the studio when a recent song by local saxophonist Mike (Shapiro) Sharpe titled “Spooky” came on the radio. The track was getting a lot of airplay down South and Buie suggested it could be a Top 40 hit if they wrote some spooky lyrics for it. So the two of them proceeded to do so.

Once ensconced in the studio, in order to achieve a certain guitar sound, Buie had Cobb layer the instrument so many times they could almost see through the tape. He added an eerie whistle for effect and brought in Mike (Shapiro) Sharpe, the originator of the tune, to play the distictive sax solo. He also found it necessary to coach singer Dennis Yost through the tune since Yost thought of himself as a James Brown-style shouter and didn’t know how to project the seductive and spooky vibe.

Released as a single just before Halloween in 1967, “Spooky” slowly crept up to #3 in the US early in 1968. In 1970, after a couple more huge hits, Buie and Cobb and the band’s keyboardist left to form Atlanta Rhythm Section and scored even more hits, including taking a new version of “Spooky” into the Top 20 in 1979. The pair certainly did a good job of outdoing the original. Twice. No tricks here — only treats.

So be sure your little eye will be a-winkin’ … with Classics IV.

They didn’t change the arrangement all that much from the original instrumental:

The mellowed-out Atlanta Rhythm Section version: