"Fortune Teller" is a song written by Allen Toussaint

Allen Toussaint

Allen Toussaint is an American musician, composer, record producer, and influential figure in New Orleans R&B.Many of Toussaint's songs have become familiar through numerous cover versions, including "Working in the Coalmine", "Ride Your Pony", "Fortune Teller", "Play Something Sweet ", "Southern...

 under the pseudonym

Pseudonym

A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

 Naomi Neville and first recorded by Benny Spellman

Benny Spellman

Benny Spellman was an American rhythm and blues singer, best known for his 1962 hit "Lipstick Traces ," written by Allen Toussaint and the original version of "Fortune Teller", covered by The Rolling Stones among others. "Lipstick Traces" reached #28 on the US Billboard Black singles chart and #80...

 (single B-side on Minit Records

Minit Records

Minit Records was a record label originally based in New Orleans and founded by Joe Banashak. After making a distribution deal with Imperial Records, the label released its biggest hit, the #1 Mother-in Law by Ernie K-Doe. A number of Allen Toussaint productions were issued on Minit, including...

 644)

Cover version

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

s exist by The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

 (on their first live album, Got Live If You Want It! but overdubbed with screaming girls- the scream-free version can be found on the compilation More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies)

More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies)

More Hot Rocks is the second compilation album of Rolling Stones music released by former manager Allen Klein's ABKCO Records after the band's departure from Decca and Klein...

 ), The Hollies

The Hollies

The Hollies are an English pop and rock group, formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from throughout East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and 1970s...

, The Who

The Who

The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...

 (on their famous Live at Leeds

Live at Leeds

Live at Leeds is The Who's first live album, and is the only live album that was released while the group were still recording and performing regularly. Initially released in the United States on 16 May 1970, by Decca and MCA and the United Kingdom on 23 May 1970, by Track and Polydor, the album...

), The Merseybeats

The Merseybeats

The Merseybeats are a Merseybeat band that emerged from the Liverpool scene in the early 1960s, performing at The Cavern Club along with The Beatles, Gerry & The Pacemakers and other similar artists....

, Tony Jackson

Tony Jackson (bass player)

Tony Jackson was an English bass guitar player and singer who was a member of The Searchers.-Biography:...

, The Downliners Sect

Downliners Sect

The Downliners Sect were a British rhythm and blues band of the beat boom era, formed in 1963 when the existing Downliners band split up.Stylistically, they were similar to The Yardbirds, The Pretty Things and the Rolling Stones, playing basic R&B on their first album The Sect...

, the Hardtimes, the Stellas (stereo CBS Germany 1965 and still found on new compilations), Strawberry Alarm Clock

Strawberry Alarm Clock

Strawberry Alarm Clock is a psychedelic rock band from Los Angeles best known for their 1967 hit "Incense and Peppermints". The group took its name as an homage to the Beatles' psychedelic hit "Strawberry Fields Forever", reportedly, at the suggestion of their record company Uni Records.They are...

 (recording as Thee Sixpence), and many others, including more recently the October 2007 album Raising Sand

Raising Sand

Raising Sand is a collaboration album by rock singer Robert Plant and bluegrass-country singer Alison Krauss. It was released on October 23, 2007 by Rounder Records...

, performed by Robert Plant

Robert Plant

Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...

 and Alison Krauss

Alison Krauss

Alison Maria Krauss is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in...

.

The song was also a hit in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, recorded by The Throb. Rumour has it that the Australian band were played the Rolling Stones version by their studio producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

before they recorded their version, to get an idea of how it should sound.

External link

• Text of the song