The backing music for the song was recorded using the renowned group of Los Angeles session musicians who, in time, came to be known collectively as "
The Wrecking Crew." The arrangement is credited to
Harold Battiste, but Wrecking Crew bassist
Carol Kaye asserts that at the session she devised the distinctive
syncopated bass line that is featured on the released recording, replacing the original
walking bass line in the prepared arrangement:
Songfacts: "What's an example of one of the songs that you guys really added to and made it into a hit?"
Carol Kaye: "Well, "The Beat Goes On" is a biggie. I mean, it was a nothing song, and then the bass line kind of made that. But you'd have to say all of them. There's only a certain song, like "
You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" that was guaranteed to be a hit because it was a great song. But about 95% of that stuff would not have been a hit without us, that's true."[2]
The recording session for the song was held on December 13, 1966 at the
Gold Star Studios in
Hollywood,
Los Angeles with a backing band of 19 musicians from
The Wrecking Crew.[3] After a two and a half hour session to record the song, guitarist
Barney Kessel is reported to have stood up and proclaimed, "Never have so many played so little for so much."[4]
The song was sung at Sonny Bono's funeral, and the phrase "And the beat goes on" appears on his tombstone.[5]
AllMusic highlighted this track in its review of the In Case You're in Love album.[6]
The song's lyrics deal mainly with current events of the time, with the refrain "(And) the beat goes on, the beat goes on" following each verse.
Live performances
Sonny and Cher performed the song many times on their hit 1970s television variety shows, as well as in their live concerts. The song was included in the "Sonny and Cher" video montages during Cher's
Do You Believe? Tour and
The Farewell Tour. Cher performed the song live with Sonny's voice track on her successful
Cher at the Colosseum show as well as her 2014
Dressed to Kill Tour and 2017-2020
Classic Cher shows. It was also performed during her
Here We Go Again Tour (2018-2020). In 2019, Cher performed the song during the season finale of
Dancing with the Stars.[7]
Personnel
According to the AFM contract sheet, the following musicians played on the track.[8]
In 1997, British electronic music group
All Seeing I released a version sampling the vocals from the
Buddy Rich version. When re-released in 1998, it peaked at number 11 on the
UK Singles Chart and No. 1 on the
UK Dance Singles Chart.[19] It also reached the top 40 in Scotland and New Zealand.
All Seeing I also produced a cover version of the song for
Britney Spears in November 1998, as the last track on her debut album, ...Baby One More Time.
Other versions were recorded by jazz pianist/singer
Patricia Barber, Italian singer
Mina, and the French duo Casino Music.
In 1982, an electro cover version was released by Orbit featuring Carol Hall with production by
Don Was. It became a substantial dance club hit in January 1983.
An Australian version, produced by former
Skyhooks guitarist
Red Symons, became a Top 30 hit in 1983; it was recorded by Melbourne cabaret duo the Globos, which featured singers Wendy De Waal and
Mark Trevorrow, the latter of whom later gained renown for his comedic alter-ego
Bob Downe.
The Pittsburgh, PA-based band The Spuds recorded a version for the 2007 tribute album BONOGRAPH: Sonny Gets His Share.[22]
In 2008, a version by the French
acid jazz group Le Cercle was included on their album Magnetic.
The Canadian jazz singer
Emilie-Claire Barlow recorded the song for her
album of the same title, which was nominated for "Vocal Jazz Album of the Year" at the Juno Awards of 2011.
In 2022, an arrangement of the song titled as "Beat Goes On (Rhythm to the Brain)" was released by musical artist
Campbell.[23]
The song is sometimes incorrectly referred to as "And the Beat Goes On", as the closing lyric adds the word "and" to the song's title. R&B vocal group
the Whispers, released an unrelated song titled "
And the Beat Goes On" in 1980.[citation needed]