"You Beat Me to the Punch" is a soul single by Motown singer Mary Wells

Mary Wells

Mary Esther Wells was an American singer who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s...

, released on the Motown label in 1962. It was co-written by Smokey Robinson

Smokey Robinson

William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is one of the primary figures associated with Motown, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy...

 of The Miracles

The Miracles

The Miracles are an American rhythm and blues group from Detroit, Michigan, notable as the first successful group act for Berry Gordy's Motown Record Corporation . Their single "Shop Around" was Motown's first million-selling hit record, and the group went on to become one of Motown's signature...

, who was responsible for the majority of hits released by Wells while she was a Motown artist, and another Miracles member, Ronnie White.

Following the success of the previous single, "The One Who Really Loves You

The One Who Really Loves You (song)

"The One Who Really Loves You" is a single recorded by Mary Wells on the Motown label in 1962. It was written and composed by Smokey Robinson of The Miracles and peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number two on the Billboard R&B chart....

", Motown released this record shortly after it was produced and the song performed similar work as "The One Who Really Loves You" did, becoming a Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Top 10 Pop smash, peaking at number nine on the pop chart and becoming her first number-one hit on the Billboard R&B singles chart

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...

. It also won Wells a Grammy nomination for Best Rhythm and Blues Recording.

Like "The One Who Really Loves You" before it, the song was produced under a mock-calypso

Calypso music

Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...

 beat.
This song inspired an "answer" song by soul singer Gene Chandler

Gene Chandler

Gene Chandler also known as "The Duke of Earl" or simply "The Duke", is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, producer and record executive. He is one of the leading exponents of the 1960s Chicago soul scene...

 called "You Threw A Lucky Punch" which used the same music and different lyrics which became an R&B chart hit that year.

Covers

The Temptations

The Temptations

The Temptations is an American vocal group having achieved fame as one of the most successful acts to record for Motown Records. The group's repertoire has included, at various times during its five-decade career, R&B, doo-wop, funk, disco, soul, and adult contemporary music.Formed in Detroit,...

 did a cover version of the song for their 1965 album The Temptations Sing Smokey

The Temptations Sing Smokey

The Temptations Sing Smokey is a 1965 album by The Temptations for the label. As its name implies, it is composed entirely of songs written and produced by Smokey Robinson, and several other members of the Miracles as well....

. Barbara McNair

Barbara McNair

Barbara McNair was an African American singer and actress.Born Barbara Jean McNair in Chicago, Illinois and raised in Racine, Wisconsin, McNair studied music at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago...

 recorded a version in 1968 for the proposed album "Barbara McNair Sings Smokey." It went unreleased until 2004. Edwin Starr

Edwin Starr

Edwin Starr was an American soul music singer. Starr is most famous for his Norman Whitfield produced singles of the 1970s, most notably the number one hit "War".-Biography:...

 also did a version in 1969, as did Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 singer Charity Brown

Charity Brown

Charity Brown is a Canadian film actress, singer, and voice artist for television animation shorts. She is one of Eastwood Collegiate Institute's notable alumni.-Biography:...

 in 1974.

Personnel

• Lead vocal by Mary Wells
  Mary Wells
  Mary Esther Wells was an American singer who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s...
  
  
• Background vocals by the Love Tones
• Written and produced by Smokey Robinson
  Smokey Robinson
  William "Smokey" Robinson, Jr. is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and former record executive. Robinson is one of the primary figures associated with Motown, second only to the company's founder, Berry Gordy...
  
   and Ronald "Ronnie" White
• Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers
  The Funk Brothers
  The Funk Brothers was the nickname of Detroit, Michigan, session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown Records recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972...