Yield Not To Temptation - MERV BENTON (1965) - Pop Archives - Sources of Australian Pop Records from the 50s, 60s and 70s

MERV BENTON
Yield Not To Temptation
(Deadric Malone [Don Robey])
Australia 1965
#6 Melbourne #27 Adelaide

Single on W&G, B-side of Twenty Flight Rock, also on Mar-vel (USA) #401.

Merv Benton was a popular rock'n'roll singer in the heart-throb mould, backed by The Tamlas. He did especially well in his home town of Melbourne, where he had 15 charting records 1964-67 (see I Got Burned), but retired from music after suffering disabling voice problems.

Further reading: Tony Wilkinson's account of Merv Benton, reprinted at Black Cat Rockabilly.

THE NIGHT-TIMERS FEATURING HERBIE GOINS
Yield Not To Temptation
(Deadric Malone [Don Robey])
UK 1965

Single on Parlophone, October 1965, B-side of The Music Played On. Herbie Goins (like Geno Washington) was a US serviceman who stayed on in the UK. The Night-timers were a club band who played, for example, at the Flamingo Club in Soho.

Jazz-rock guitarist John McLaughlin, was a Night-timer for a while and played on this record (see Johann Haidenbauer's John McLaughlin Discography).

Same song: Confirmed by Snowy Bowie via Multiply.com; thanks to Walter for the heads up.

Reference: Herbie Goins & The Night-timers page at British Beat Boom.
Thanks to Terry Stacey for version alert.

BOBBY 'BLUE' BLAND
Yield Not To Temptation
(Deadric Malone [Don Robey])
USA 1962
Original version

Single on Duke by gospel-influenced soul-r&b singer from Tennessee (b.1930).

The writer credit is to Don Robey, owner of the Duke and Peacock labels, who used the pseudonym Deadric Malone.

See also Normie Rowe - Call On Me, another Bobby Bland original and Deadric Malone composition.

Further reading:
1. Bobby Bland discography (1951-2001) at SoulfulKindaMusic.net.
2. Sean Elder's comprehensive 2000 appreciation of Bobby 'Blue' Bland at Salon.com.
3. Snowy Bowie has a playlist at Multiply.com (registration required) that includes a number of later versions by artists including The Cate Brothers (1977), Marcia Ball, Irma Thomas & Tracy Nelson (1998 on Sing It!) and Derek Trucks Band (1999, on Wintertime Blues: Benefit Concert).
4. Notes on Don Robey's songwriting credits at Year of the Blues. Main article: Don Robey and Duke-Peacock Records by Christine M. Kreiser.

HENRY BURR
Yield Not To Temptation
(Horatio Palmer)
USA 1906
Red herring

Same title but not the same song as 'Yield Not To Temptation' by Merv Benton.

Hymn written in 1868, recorded by numerous artists including Edgar Kiefer (1923), Jed Tompkins (1928), Aretha Franklin (1956, on her first album, aged 14), Pat Boone (1957), Bobby Womack & The Valentinos (1961) and Al Green (1987).

References:
1. Playlist and background by Snowy Bowie at Multiply.com (registration required).
2. Versions listed at The Originals by Arnold Rypens (footnote to Bobby Bland entry).