“WHERE DID OUR LOVE GO”

LAMONT DOZIER

Written by Holland-Dozier-Holland

Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland, Brian Holland

Recorded by the Supremes

I originally cut this track with the Marvelettes in mind. In fact, I cut it in Gladys Horton’s key, the lead singer, which was much lower than Diana Ross’. At that time, at Motown, the policy was that the songwriters had to pay for the tracks we cut if it didn’t get recorded by one of their artists. It never entered my mind that the Marvelettes wouldn’t like the song. I had the chorus and went to the office to talk with Gladys and played it for her. She said, “Oh, honey, we don’t do stuff like that. And it’s the worst thing I ever heard.” She was adamant about it. I was shocked.

I knew I was in deep trouble if I didn’t hurry and get someone to do the song because I wasn’t about to pay for the track. I went through the Motown artist roster and went all the way to the bottom of the list and there were the Supremes, better known in those days as the “no hit Supremes.” I told them it was tailor made for them, knowing that they had nothing going on at the time and needed a song. Much to my surprise, they said no. Gladys (Horton of the Marvelettes) told them I was looking for someone to record it. I wasn’t giving up. Brian (Holland), Eddie (Holland) and I finally persuaded them to do it, convincing them that it was their saving grace and they couldn’t refuse it. We had already had Top 40 hits with Martha and the Vandellas but they hadn’t had recordings of any significance yet.

They were so annoyed that they agreed to do it that, in the studio, they had a really bad attitude. Diana (Ross) said it was in the wrong key, that it was too low. (Of course it was – I wrote it in Gladys’ key.) Since the track was already cut, she had to sing it in that key and she’d never sung that low before. It turned out that her bad attitude and the low key were exactly what the song needed! I’d worked out intricate background vocals but the girls refused to learn them. Finally I said, “Just sing `Baby, baby, baby’.” It worked to their advantage and worked perfectly.

They didn’t necessarily agree. Diana and I were throwing obscenities back and forth and she went running to Berry (Gordy, Jr.) and told him I said something off color about him. He came down to the studio to see what was wrong and while he was there, he asked to hear the song. He thought it was really good, but said that he didn’t know if it was a hit, but that he thought it would be Top 10.

The song was released and flew up the charts to #1. From then on, one hit followed another. It was the first of 13 consecutive #1s we did on the Supremes. The next time the Hollands and I saw the girls was at the airport. They were getting off a plane with their Yorkshire terriers, in mink stoles. We started laughing. It was so funny to see them turn into stars overnight.

Once again Berry was wrong

Begin'n to question his knowledge for music

funkpill said:

He also didn't think these songs would be big hits:

"Jimmy Mack"
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (either version)
"For Once in My Life" (Stevie's famous pop-soul version)
"Baby I'm for Real"
"The Bells"
"What's Going On" (both song and the album)
Stevie's Where I'm Coming From album
Diana Ross' version of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"
The Supremes' "Stoned Love" (because of the title)
Thelma Houston's version of "Don't Leave Me This Way"

----
I'm sure there's more.

The hell was he right about??

funkpill said:

in my opinion berry was more about the money than the music....he also overworked a lot of groups like the jackson 5.....dat dude was corrupt and crooked like a businessman

Timmy84 said:

He also didn't think none of the songs on Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5 had no potential singles aside from I Want You Back

GOOD ONE TIM!!!

Keep them coming! The Drama!

interesting article on "The Same Old Song":

http://www.recordingeq.co...town3.html

I love that story.