The week of January 12, 1965, saw The Supremes and The Beatles atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Come See About Me‘ and ‘I Feel Fine,’ respectively.
At #3 was The Searchers with ‘Love Potion No. 9,’ their take on a song first released by The Clovers in 1959. This is an example, one of many, of a white group finding more success than a Black group with the same song.
I’ll admit I prefer the vaguely surf rock sound of this version to the doo-wop original, though both are great.
I took my troubles down to Madame Rue
You know that gypsy with the gold-capped tooth
She’s got a pad down on Thirty-Fourth and Vine
Sellin’ little bottles of Love Potion Number Nine
[Verse 2]
I told her that I was a flop with chicks
I’d been this way since 1956
She looked at my palm and she made a magic sign
She said “What you need is Love Potion Number Nine”
[Verse 3]
She bent down and turned around and gave me a wink
She said “I’m gonna make it up right here in the sink”
It smelled like turpentine, it looked like India Ink
I held my nose, I closed my eyes, I took a drink
[Chorus]
I didn’t know if it was day or night
I started kissin’ everything in sight
But when I kissed a cop down on Thirty-Fourth and Vine
He broke my little bottle of Love Potion Number Nine
[Pre-Chorus]
I held my nose, I closed my eyes, I took a drink
[Chorus]
I didn’t know if it was day or night
I started kissin’ everything in sight
But when I kissed a cop down on Thirty-Fourth and Vine
He broke my little bottle of Love Potion Number Nine
[Outro]
Love Potion Number Nine
Love Potion Number Nine
Love Potion Number Nine
Meet Me In Montauk 
I had not heard the original before, but, on first listen, I think I like it a bit more than the Searchers’ version.