“Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” was the second single from Marvin Gaye’s album, What’s Going On. Following the breakthrough of the title track’s success, the song, written solely by Gaye, became regarded as one of popular music’s most poignant anthems of sorrow regarding the environment. Led by Gaye playing piano, strings conducted by Paul Riser and David Van De Pitte, multi-tracking vocals from Gaye and The Andantes, multiple background instruments provided by The Funk Brothers and a leading sax solo by Wild Bill Moore, the song rose to number 4 on Billboard’s Pop Singles chart and number one for two weeks on the R&B Singles charts on August 14 through to August 27, 1971.
The distinctive percussive sound heard on the track was a wood block struck by a rubber mallet, drenched in studio reverb.
“Heat Wave” was one of many songs written and produced by the Holland–Dozier–Holland songwriting and producing team. It was the second hit collaboration between Martha & the Vandellas and the team, with the first being “Come and Get These Memories”.
Produced and composed with a gospel backbeat, jazz overtones and, doo-wop call and responsive vocals, “Heat Wave” was one of the first songs to exemplify the style of music later termed as the “Motown Sound”. The single was a breakthrough hit, peaking at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, and at number 1 on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart. It also garnered the group’s only Grammy Award nomination for Best Rhythm and Blues Recording for 1964, making the Vandellas the first Motown group ever to receive a Grammy Award nomination.
Written by Robinson and fellow Miracle Pete Moore and produced by Robinson, “Ooo Baby Baby” was a number 4 hit on the Billboard R&B singles chart and reached number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100.
A slow, remorseful number, “Ooo Baby Baby” features Miracles lead singer Smokey Robinson lamenting the fact that he cheated on his woman, and begging for her to overlook his mistakes and please forgive him. The song’s highly emotional feel is supported by the Miracles’ tight background vocal harmonies, arranged by Miracles member and song co-author Pete Moore, and a lush orchestral string arrangement that accents The Funk Brothers band’s instrumental track.
This song is so charged with emotion that I feel like crying myself …
“Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” is one of Stevie Wonder’s most popular early singlesand was the first Stevie Wonder hit single to be co-written by the artist.
A notable success, “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in early 1966, at the same time reaching the top of the Billboard R&B Singles chart for five weeks. It also garnered Wonder his first two career Grammy Award nominations for Best R&B Song and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.
The single was a watershed in Wonder’s career for several reasons. Aside from the US number-one “Fingertips” (1963), only two of Wonder’s singles, “Workout, Stevie, Workout” (1963) and “Hey Harmonica Man” (1964) had both peaked inside of the top forty of the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at #33 and #29 on that chart respectively. And despite receiving a modicum of chart success, the then 15-year-old Wonder was in danger of being let go. In addition, Wonder’s voice had begun to change, and Motown CEO Berry Gordy was worried that he would no longer be a commercially viable artist.
As it turned out, however, producer Clarence Paul found it easier to work with Wonder’s now-mature tenor voice, and Sylvia Moy and Henry Cosby set about writing a new song for the artist, based upon an instrumental riff Wonder had devised. Apparently, Stevie Wonder had also sought something based on the driving beat of the Rolling Stones’s “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”, after playing several dates with the Stones on tour and being impressed with the British band.
At 36, Marvin Gaye & Kim Weston - It Takes Two (1965)
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Produced by Weston’s then-husband, longtime Gaye collaborator William “Mickey” Stevenson, and co-written by Stevenson and Sylvia Moy, “It Takes Two” centered on a romantic lyric that depicted many things in life (dreams, love, wishes, etc.) being better with two people instead of one. The single became Gaye’s most successful duet single to date, later outperformed by Gaye’s duets with Tammi Terrell.[citation needed]
Gaye and Weston’s duet peaked at #14 on the Billboard Pop charts and #4 on Billboard′s Soul Singles chart in January 1967. “It Takes Two” was also Gaye’s first major hit in the UK, where it peaked at #16 on the British singles charts in the spring of that same year.
At 35, The Isley Brothers - This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak for You) (1966)
“This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)” was a hit for the The Isley Brothers during their brief tenure on Motown’s Tamla label before they left in 1969 to restart their own T-Neck label.
The song was originally intended for The Supremes (who later recorded their own version for their 1966 album The Supremes A’ Go-Go).
“Leaving Here” is a song written by Motown songwriters Holland–Dozier–Holland at the beginning of the partnership. Although it was originally released as a single by H-D-H lyricist Eddie Holland, it is notable for being recorded by diverse other artists
In 1965, The Birds (with an “i” and Ronnie Wood) recorded a cover version of “Leaving Here” which inspired heavy metal band Motörhead to produce their debut single with a cover of the song twelve years later (1977).
The Who recorded the song in the studio twice in 1965, and once for BBC Radio, but none of these recordings were released officially for decades; the 1985 compilation Who’s Missing and the 1998 remaster of the Odds & Sods compilation album both included the song, though the latter states it is a previously unreleased version.
There are many others.
ETA I didn’t know this song and I wasn’t sure about it at first but it’s grown on me …
At 33, The Temptations - Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me) (1971)
“Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)” was released on the Gordy (Motown) label, and produced by Norman Whitfield, becoming the third Temptations song to reach number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
It is one of the Temptations’ signature songs, notable for recalling the sound of the group’s 1960s recordings. It is also the final Temptations single to feature founding members Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams. During the process of recording and releasing the single, Kendricks left the group to begin a solo career, while the ailing Williams was forced to retire from the act for health reasons.
In an article for Rolling Stone magazine (December, 1973), music critic Jon Landau wrote of the song:
“Let’s Get It On” is a classic Motown single, endlessly repeatable and always enjoyable. It begins with three great wah-wah notes that herald the arrival of a vintage Fifties melody. But while the song centers around classically simple chord changes, the arrangement centers around a slightly eccentric rhythm pattern that deepens the song’s power while covering it with a contemporary veneer. Above all, it has Marvin Gaye’s best singing at its center, fine background voices on the side, and a long, moody fade-out that challenges you not to play the cut again.
True …
“Let’s Get It On” became Gaye’s most successful single for Motown and one of his most well-known songs.
At 31, Stevie Wonder - I Was Made To Love Her (1967)
“I Was Made to Love Her” was written by Wonder, his mother Lula Mae Hardaway, Sylvia Moy, and producer Henry Cosby. Released as a single, it peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in July 1967. The song was held out of the top spot by “Light My Fire” by The Doors and spent four non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart in the United States. The song reached No. 5 in the UK.
In April 1961, the Marvelettes (then known as “The Marvels”) arranged an audition for Berry Gordy’s Tamla label. Marvels original lead singer Georgia Dobbins needed an original song for their audition, and got a blues song from her friend William Garrett, which she then reworked for the group. Dobbins left the group after the audition and was replaced. Gordy renamed the group and hired “Brianbert”—Brian Holland and Robert Bateman’s songwriting partnership—to rework the song yet again. Freddie Gorman, himself a Detroit postman and another songwriting partner of Holland (before Holland became part of the Holland–Dozier–Holland team) was also involved in the final reworking. Accompaniment is provided by the Funk Brothers, including Marvin Gaye on drums.
This debut single by the Marvelettes was the first Motown song to reach the number-one position on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart. The single achieved this position in late 1961; it hit number one on the R&B chart as well.
At 29, Marvin Gaye - Inner City Blues (Makes Me Wanna Holler) (1971)
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“Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)”, often shortened to “Inner City Blues”, is from Marvin Gaye’s 1971 album, What’s Going On. Written by Gaye and James Nyx, the song depicted the ghettos of inner-city America as it discussed how the bleak economic situation would lead to someone wanting to holler and throw ones hands up. The song was recorded with Gaye playing piano.
In its unedited version as it appears on the album, the final minute of the song (and of the LP) is a reprise to the theme of “What’s Going On”, the album’s first song, then segues into a dark ending.
At 28, Four Tops - Standing In The Shadows Of Love (1967)
“Standing in the Shadows of Love” was written and produced by Motown’s main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland and is one of the most well-known Motown tunes of the 1960s. A direct follow-up to the #1 hit “Reach Out I’ll Be There” (even featuring a similar musical arrangement), “Standing in the Shadows of Love” reached #2 on the soul chart and #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967. It also reached #6 in the UK.
Though the song was well-received, it has received some criticism. Author Martin Charles Strong notes that it rehashed the formula of “Reach Out I’ll Be There” and achieved similar success by reaching the Top 10 in both the US and UK. According to author Peter Benjaminson, “Standing in the Shadows of Love” is a reworked version of The Supremes’ 1963 song “Standing at the Crossroads of Love”, which was released as the B-side of their single “When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes”.
The song, a memory of a mother’s words of encouragement telling her daughter that with patience she will find that special someone one day, is an example of the strong influence of gospel music present in much of R&B and soul music. “You Can’t Hurry Love” was inspired by and partially based upon “(You Can’t Hurry God) He’s Right on Time”, a 1950s gospel song written by Dorothy Love Coates of The Original Gospel Harmonettes.
The recorded version of “You Can’t Hurry Love” showcases the developing sound of The Supremes, who were progressing from their earlier teen-pop into more mature themes and musical arrangements. This song and “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” were finished together; when it came time to choose which single would be issued first, Motown’s Quality Control department chose “You Can’t Hurry Love.”
Written and produced by Motown’s main production team, Holland–Dozier–Holland, “You Can’t Hurry Love” is one of the signature Supremes songs, and also one of Motown’s signature releases. The single became The Supremes’ seventh number-one hit, topping the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for two weeks, from September 4, 1966 to September 17, 1966, and reaching number one on the soul chart for two weeks.
At 25, The Temptations - I Can’t Get Next To You (1969)
“I Can’t Get Next to You” was a number-one single on the Billboard Top Pop Singles chart for two weeks in 1969, from October 18 to October 25, replacing “Sugar, Sugar” by The Archies and replaced by “Suspicious Minds” by Elvis Presley. The single was also a number-one hit on the Billboard Top R&B Singles for five weeks.
The single was the second of the Temptations’ four number-one hits on the United States pop charts, and was also one of the best-selling singles the group released. Billboard ranked it as the No. 3 song for 1969.
The applause that starts the song, which is cut short by Dennis Edwards’ spoken “Hold it, hold it, listen” line, was sampled in another Temptations song “Psychedelic Shack.”
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