[3] Cooke made a demo recording of the song featuring only his own guitar accompaniment in the winter[clarification needed] of 1955.

The classic version of "You Send Me" was cut in Los Angeles in June 1957 and was issued as a single with another track from the same session: a version of "Summertime", as the debut release on the Keen label[4] founded by two brothers, John and Alex Siamas; this release marked the first single credited to "Sam Cooke" (whose true surname was Cook).

Although "Summertime" was the intended A-side, disc jockeys favored "You Send Me", which broke nationally that October to reach No.

"Overnight, with a single song, Sam Cooke"—who had spent the summer of 1957 living in his producer's apartment—"became a secular superstar, with audiences consisting of black and white, men and women, young and old.

115 by representatives of the music industry and press in Rolling Stone magazine's The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The B-side of the 7" single contains the song "You're Gonna Love Being Loved By Me"[9] which was also recorded by The Manhattans in 1985 for the album Too Hot to Stop It[10] It was written by lead vocalist Gerald Alston, with Barbara Morr and Mark Chapman,[9] and produced by the musicians John V. Anderson and Steve Williams,[9] authors of "Crazy".

[18] "You Send Me" has been covered by a number of artists across different fields of music, including Jesse Belvin (1957), Nat King Cole, Teresa Brewer, Michael Bolton, The Drifters, The Everly Brothers, The Four Seasons, Bobby Vee (1960), José Feliciano, Aretha Franklin, Steven Houghton, Nicolette Larson, Steve Miller Band, Van Morrison, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Percy Sledge, Roy Ayers, Paul & Paula (1963), The Supremes, The Manhattans, Rachelle Ferrell, Fairground Attraction, Marcia Hines, Whitney Houston, Gregory Porter (2016), the Chicks, Ponderosa Twins Plus One, Lynda Carter from At Last (2009) and Judie Tzuke on The Beauty Of Hindsight (2003).

Stewart later recorded the song with Chaka Khan for his 2005 album Thanks for the Memory: The Great American Songbook, Volume IV.