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Just Sing “Baby, Baby”

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In 1964 the Motown songwriting/production team of Brian Holland, Eddie Holland and Lamont Dozier wrote a composition intended for The Marvelettes, who by that time had two top ten pop singles under their belt – “Playboy” and “Please Mr. Postman,” both co-written and co-produced by Brian Holland.

The three men went into the studio and had the instrumental track recorded, but when Lamont Dozier played the song and presented the chorus to The Marvelettes’ Gladys Horton, he got a response he wasn’t expecting. “Oh, honey, we don’t do stuff like that. And it’s the worst thing I ever heard,” she told him. In case he was still unsure how she felt, she added “No way am I gonna sing any junk like that!”

Dozier went through the Motown roster to see who he could get to record this number. He ended up with the group at the very bottom of the list, a trio of women signed to Motown several years earlier, but who had no big hit records to their name. Originally a quartet called The Primettes, the group had released nine singles, only one of which, a song written by Holland-Dozier-Holland entitled “When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes,” made the top 40, reaching #23. Initially they declined Dozier’s offer to record the song, finding it childish, repetitive and too slow, but they soon changed their mind, as they had no other material to record.

The three women in the trio, known around the Motown offices as “The No-Hit Supremes,” all sang lead vocals. As the instrumental version of this new track had already been recorded in the register in which Gladys Horton sings, the producers thought Mary Wilson, who sang in the same range as Horton, should handle the lead vocals, but Motown head Berry Gordy, Jr. wanted one of the other Supremes, Diana Ross, to be the group’s lead vocalist.

Ross complained that the music was in the wrong key, but was told to sing it the lower key. She wasn’t crazy about doing so, nor were the other two women eager to learn the intricate background vocals that had been written. Because of their bad attitude, Dozier told them to just sing “Baby, baby.”

On June 17, 1964, Motown released the track, entitled “Where Did Our Love Go,” as a single. As the “No-Hit Supremes” toured as part of Dick Clark’s American Bandstand Cavalcade of Stars, where they received credit at the bottom of the poster as part of “And Others,” the song climbed the charts. It hit #1 in August 1964, and by the time the tour ended, the Supremes had top billing.

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Holland-Dozier-Holland went on to write many more songs for the Supremes, including their next four singles, all of which went to #1. The women scored twelve #1 pop hits between 1964 and 1969, ten of which were written by the same trio of men who came up with “Where Did Our Love Go,” which made Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

Today Tunes du Jour celebrates the woman who may not have become a household name had she not given in to recording the now classic tune. Happy 70th birthday, Diana Ross!

But Then Again, No

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Sometimes an awkward lyric shows up and mars an otherwise perfectly reasonable song. I don’t mean songs such as Paul McCartney’s “Spies Like Us” or Stevie Wonder’s “I Just Called to Say I Love You” or Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder’s “Ebony and Ivory.” Those songs are just plain bad.

Wings’ “Live and Let Die” is one of my favorite of Sir Paul’s post-Beatles songs, but I refuse to sing along with the phrase “this ever changing world in which we live in.” Poor grammar makes me want to give in and cry.

John Mellencamp’s “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.” pays tribute to many rock and soul greats of the 1960s. It’s a crackin’ little number but I always cringe when he sings “let’s don’t forget James Brown.” “Let’s not” uses just as many syllables, is grammatically-correct, and doesn’t detract from the message of not forgetting James Brown.

There are times when lyrics are bad not because of their grammar, but because they sound like place holders that remained in the song because the lyricist couldn’t come up with anything with which to replace them. Take Elton John’s classic hit “Your Song.” “If I was a sculptor, but then again, no.” Why is that in the song? You’re not a sculptor. You weren’t a sculptor. What would happen if you were a sculptor? Instead of giving the object of your affection the gift of song, would you make a bust of their face, a la Lionel Richie’s “Hello” video?

One of my favorite bad lyrics is in the Diana Ross and the Supremes hit “I’m Livin’ in Shame,” in which Diana sings “Came the telegram – Ma passed away while making homemade jam.” Telegram messages were charged by the letter, so including the details of what Ma was doing when she died is a bad choice lyrically and financially. What lyrics were discarded in favor of that? “Came the telegram – Ma passed away while carving up the ham?” “Came the telegram – Ma passed away with her finger in a dam?” “Came the telegram – Ma passed away serving in Viet Nam?” “Came the telegram – Ma passed away from an attack by a ram?” “Came the telegram – Ma passed away from choking on a yam?” That last one is good, but then again, no.

“I Started a Joke” by the Bee Gees is an okay song that would be better if Johnny Marr played guitar on it. Then it may sound like a Smiths song. Not a Smiths single. Maybe an album track. I’m not sure what the over-the-top lyrics are about. It seems Robin Gibb is not a gifted comedian and his joke made everyone cry and then he cried and everyone started laughing and then he died but kept singing this song. That’s all well and good. The line that made me include it in this blog entry is “I fell out of bed hurting my head from things that I said.” I think you hurt your head when you fell out of bed and banged said head on a jar of homemade jam.

Let’s don’t forget Robin and Maurice Gibb on their birthday.

An Atheist Jew’s Guide To Christmas Music, Part 3

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You may have heard that last week on Fox Megyn Kelly said the real title of the song “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” is “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town and He’s White and Just Because It Makes You Feel Uncomfortable Doesn’t Mean It Has To Change.” She also said “Here Comes Santa Claus” is actually “Here Comes Santa Claus and He’s White and Just Because It Makes You Feel Uncomfortable Doesn’t Mean It Has To Change.” She was fine with “White Christmas.”

Kelly, who is white and just because that makes you feel uncomfortable doesn’t mean it has to change, will enjoy today’s playlist. It’s part 3 of An Atheist Jew’s Guide to Christmas Music. (Click to listen to parts 1 and 2.) She may take issue with an atheist Jew selecting Christmas songs, but she’ll be happy I’m white, just like Santa and Jesus and Frosty and Rudolph. Artists on today’s playlist include such great white folks as Pet Shop Boys, Erasure, James Brown, The Jackson 5, The Beach Boys, Stevie Wonder, Rufus Wainwright, The Supremes, Eagles, Whitney Houston, The Temptations, Paul Simon, Pearl Jam, Boy George, Elvis Presley and Joan Jett, among others. There are classic songs and some you may not have heard before. I doubt Kelly is familiar with Pansy Division’s “Homo Christmas” and she may not like what the band suggests one does with a candy cane, but just because that makes her feel uncomfortable doesn’t mean it has to change. Besides, Pansy Division is white, just like everyone is at Christmas time.

Enjoy! May your days be merry and bright and may all your Christmases be white with a capital W.

Happy Berry Gordy Jr.’s Birthday!

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Today is the 83rd birthday of Berry Gordy, Jr., the aspiring pugilist turned songwriter turned record executive/entrepreneur. After penning hits for Jackie Wilson and Etta James in the late 1950s, Gordy went on to launch the Motown Record Corporation. The company’s first pop hit was Barrett Strong’s “Money (That’s What I Want),” a song written by Gordy with Janie Bradford, in 1960. From then on the hits kept coming.

Today’s playlist is a small sampling of great Motown releases. If you have a favorite Motown record, let me know what it is in the Comments. Enjoy!

Happy Hanukkah!

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Tonight is the first of the eight nights of Hanukkah, so I thought I’d treat my readers to a Hanukkah playlist, with the hope that you’re not tired of all the Hanukkah music played on the radio and in stores this time of year.

I wanted to start with Beck’s “Little Drum Machine Boy,” which tells the little-known story of the Robot Funk, who does the blessing over the menorah candles, and the Hanukkah Pimp. Unfortunately, this holiday classic is not on Spotify.

As I couldn’t use the Beck song, I decided to kick off with the classic “Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel” as performed by the cast of South Park. Unfortunately, this holiday classic is not on Spotify.

Does Spotify have “Hanukkah Rocks” by Gefilte Joe & the Fish? No? Okay, then. Clearly Spotify is taking sides in the War On Hanukkah.

Suffice to say I have enough Hanukkah songs for each night of the holiday, save the last five.

Running out of Hanukkah-specific tunes, I turn to holiday fare associated with that other big holiday that’s coming up. Many of these songs are considered Christmas classics; however, they don’t mention Jesus or Santa, so for our purposes they now will be considered Hanukkah classics.

With those songs in the mix, our playlist clocks in at just over a half hour. Sigh. I’m adding in Thanksgiving tunes. Enjoy your holidays!