Excerpt from Cooler Than Ice: Arctic Records and the Rise of Philly Soul liner notes:
Mike & Ike updated the 1961 New Orleans hit "Ya Ya" for 1965 audiences. The duo seems to have been named after a brand of fruit-flavored candy that was introduced in 1940 by Just Born, Inc. of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
The instrumental flip “Sax On the Track” is a funky, horn-dominated instrumental houserocker not far removed from what Jr. Walker was up to at Motown that bears no obvious sign of Mike or Ike, unless one of them doubled on sax. Its writers include Johnny Daye, a blue-eyed Pittsburgh soul singer whose actual name was John Di Bucci. He operated Pittsburgh-based Eko II Productions with Barbara Landis; they brought Mike & Ike’s masters to Arctic.
Daye’s spectacular stage shows were likened to those of James Brown. He made scattered mid-‘60s singles for Blue Star, Jomada (“Marry Me,” produced by Johnny Nash), and Parkway before Otis Redding brought him to Stax. There he cut “What’ll I Do For Satisfaction” and “Stay Baby Stay,” but Redding died before he could boost Daye’s career to the next level. Johnny faded away for decades before briefly resurfacing in 2007. What involvement he had on “Sax On The Track” apart from co-writing it is unknown.
