Burke claims he was the sole writer on the song but was talked into sharing credit by Wexler and Berns.
[2] In an interview Burke recalled the song's origins: "I used to do it in church when I was a kid and it was a march for the offering.
I played it to Jerry Wexler and Bert Berns, who thought that it was too fast, and had the wrong tempo.
Burke described the recording: "Got the band cooking, get a bit of echo, we went through it, came back out, said to Jerry [Wexler], 'Whaddya think?'
[5] Dave Marsh explains that in this song, "the porcine, gilt-fingered lay preacher testifies from the top but what you ought to hear is writ large between the lines, especially in the stentorian opening sermon.
"[6] In 1997, Burke recalled: "When I did it for Jerry Wexler and Bert Burns (sic), they told me that song would never make it.
"[8] Burke's version, while later ranked #429 on the Rolling Stone magazine's 2004 list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, and ranked #447 in Dave Marsh's book, In The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made,[6] which was released in July 1964, and was in the US Pop Charts for 8 weeks, but only reached #58.