Sixty Years Of Where Did Our Love Go

Tiggerlion on Where Did Our Love To by The Supremes released 31st August 1964

Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson and Diane Ross were all brought up in Detroit’s Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects. Ballard and Wilson met at Northeastern High School. Ross went to Cass Technical High with the intention of becoming a fashion designer. Even as a youngster, Flo had a powerful, expressive voice and boundless enthusiasm. With her best friend, Mary, she formed a girl group called The Primettes to complement The Primes, a group containing two future Temptations. In turn, Mary, forever in the role of go-between, recruited her neighbour, Diane, to contribute some poise. As teenagers they auditioned for Berry Gordy, chief of Tamla Motown. He told them to come back after they’d graduated. In the meantime, they regularly visited the Hitsville U.S.A. studio, sometimes making themselves useful but mostly making their presence felt. Eventually, they were allowed to provide handclaps and, more excitingly, backing vocals to some records. Finally, in 1961, Berry was persuaded to sign them on condition they changed their name. The girls selected The Supremes from a short list of six.

The first half dozen singles got nowhere. Gordy wrote and produced most of them. Smokey Robinson had a go. They tried a Clarence Paul song. The girls worked hard. They gigged extensively, honing their stagecraft. The legendary Maxine Powell styled their look and their presentation: high fashion gowns, glamorous wigs and an elegant demeanour. Cholly Atkins taught them choreography to match their graceful femininity. Most of all, they had a deeply ingrained chemistry. They were and continued to be close friends who experienced the trials and tribulations of their formative years together. As a result, their harmonies were soul-stirring and tight, as though they shared the same thoughts. These three young, black women from poor backgrounds became fit to perform before kings and queens under the brightest lights, lights that expose every flaw. It was the American Dream made flesh. If only they weren’t The No-Hits Supremes.

Salvation came in the form of a couple of brothers, Brian and Eddie Holland, whose own careers as singers had stalled. When they got together at Tamla Motown with Lamont Dozier, another journeyman singer going nowhere, a kind of alchemy occurred. The songs they wrote became sharper and more catchy, their productions focussed and purposeful. At first, they seemed to gel with Martha and The Vandellas with Come And Get These Memories and Heatwave, but the magic really started to happen with The Supremes. When The Lovelight Starts Shining In His Eyes is a blatant imitation of Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound. “Pistol” Allen’s drum sound is huge, James Jamerson’s bassline a powerhouse, the horn section, anchored by a baritone saxophone, is fierce and the handclaps are infectious. In the verses, Diane’s lead vocal is almost overwhelmed, as she is emotionally by the realisation that someone loves her. Her friends high pitched gospel “Ooo-ooo”s just about prevent her from swooning. The Four Tops and Holland-Dozier-Holland (HDH) themselves lend a hand. It’s raw and rough at the edges, it could be a Martha and The Vandellas record but it made the top forty and secured the Supremes/HDH partnership. Run, Run, Run was rush released as a follow up in an attempt to keep The Supremes in the chart. It repeats the Wall Of Sound style, this time organ-led, but poppier. Diane’s vocal finds its place in the mix rather better, Flo and Mary sigh with rapt attention and the gentlemen live up to the background descriptor for their contribution. Nevertheless, it’s still busy and loud. It was less of a success, merely skirting the Billboard Top 100, and there were fears that the gains made with Lovelight could be lost.

HDH struck upon the right formula almost by accident. Bear in mind Hitsville U.S.A. was designed as a factory. Mass appeal was the goal. Berry Gordy set up Tamla Motown not to make black music but to produce music for everybody. Only chart position mattered. Where Did Our Love Go was written for The Marvelettes, more specifically, Gladys Horton, but they rejected it. They felt it was too corny. The Supremes were unhappy about being offered a castoff, a situation that confirmed their lowly position in the Motown heirarchy. Besides, the song is written in a low key for Horton’s voice. Only Mary seemed to fit, yet Diane was the designated lead singer. Flo, the undoubted leader of The Primettes had, surreptitiously, been demoted in favour of Diane by Gordy. He claimed that she had a voice that was more Pop and, therefore, more likely to cross over to a white audience, but the real reason was that he was infatuated with her. In the vocal booth, she complained, she groaned, she shed tears, she got angry as Holland and Dozier made her sing the song again and again, outside her comfort zone. She flew out of the studio, distraught, to persuade Gordy to intervene. However, he could only hear cash registers ringing. The beat is a slower, more dignified pace, perhaps with a hint of New Orleans Iko Iko, the sax smoulders and the piano is almost funky. Diane is the sexiest she has ever been on record. She is mournful and sensuous, a fully-rounded adult coming to terms with her loss, speaking a personal truth. Whatever the machinations inside and outside the control booth, the three Supremes presented a unified, harmonic front when the microphones were on. The backing vocals and footstomps are simply perfect, effectively The Supremes’ signature sound. Many have tried to replicate them and failed. Where Did Our Love Go was The Supremes and Holland, Dozier, Holland’s first number one.

Gordy, himself, compiled the album. There are twelve tracks. The more danceable songs are on side one and the softer, more romantic ones on side two. Lovelight, Run Run Run and their B sides are included. Almost all the songs tap into Diane’s skinny girl insecurities. The boy leaves her because his love has died or it was never there in the first place. She spends the LP devastated, heartbroken and alone, cooing plaintively like a lost chick, yet she retains an inner strength, a coolness in the face of adversity, bolstered by her two friends standing at her shoulder. Lovelight is the only truly positive. You could argue that the longing in He Means The World To Me has a kernel of hope but Diane is in her lonely room. Smokey’s A Breathtaking Guy is a cheeky shimmy. Ross extolls her guy’s qualities after spending the night with him but frets that she has just been used for a one night stand. The breathtaking guy in question is, of course, Berry Gordy himself. The excited flush of a first kiss on Run, Run, Run is tempered by her friends’ dire warnings about the boy’s character. Similarly, Your Kiss Of Fire is all-consuming but, for some obscure reason, the boy has left and Diane has to resort to pleading for him to come back. She still manages to retain her dignity, sounding as though she is reaching a logical conclusion as opposed to desperately offering herself up on a plate. Standing At The Crossroads Of Love suggests at least half of it might be life affirming. However, the choice turns out to be between being treated badly and being bereft. The rejection and abandonment in the rest of the songs are unremitting. Just the titles of Long Gone Lover and I’m Giving You Your Freedom spell things out. The songs are sung from the heart and music is played with great skill. The lyrics are obsessively concerned with the exquisite agony of romantic infatuation, the heartbreak, misery, rejection and loss, but, at least, the music concentrates on the ecstacy. If not for the Funk Brothers, the bright Pop production and the girls’ doughty backing vocals, Where Did Our Love Go would be as introspective and tortured as Frank Sinatra Sings For Only The Lonely. Instead, it’s ideally suited for a party where you can dance and throw your head back, open the throat and bellow-a-long to some great choruses.

HDH and The Supremes had struck gold. It was a sound that crossed over its appeal both from black to white and teen to adult. It’s a mature kind of Pop Music whose first crush has turned sour, yet is delivered with a sprinkling of soothing sugar. Diane’s voice is perfect with its sorrowful tone, reflective and measured, graceful under pressure. Flo singing these songs would be rich and soulful but probably too intense. With the album at number two just behind The Beatles, they followed up the triumph of the title track with another single from the more danceable side one. HDH were never too proud to repeat an idea if it works. Baby Love has the same rhythm as Where Did Our Love Go, similar ‘baby baby’ backing vocals and Diane again singing in a lower register. Berry wasn’t happy and made them record it again. They simplified the saxophone and adjusted the foot stomping so that it is easily mistaken for handclaps. Mike Terry’s baritone sax solo was given more prominence. Crucially, Diane added a sultry ‘Oooooooh oooooooh’ at the start. How could any man resist her call for him to come back? The answer was no-one as it became a second American number one. Baby Love was also a true global hit, one of only two number ones in the UK by an American act between 1963 and 1965. For many, it’s their most memorable song.

The third number one in a row from the album was Come See About Me, propelled by an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show that had almost as much impact as The Beatles’. At a time of widespread racial fear and bigotry, The Supremes were the first Black act in the star slot. In 1964, the Whisky A Go Go opened, Cassius Clay became world champion and promptly changed to Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X left The Nation Of Islam, Sidney Poitier won the Oscar for best male lead, students demonstrated for the first time against the Vietnam war, the Mississippi Burning murders were carried out by the Klu Klux Klan, Lyndon Johnson signed The Civil Rights Act banning racial segregation, there were race riots in Harlem and Philadelphia, Martin Luther King Jr was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, The Berkeley Free Speech Movement was formed and Sam Cooke was shot and killed in Los Angeles. The Supremes on the Ed Sullivan Show is regarded as an equally significant historical event. They were the girl group of the civil rights movement. Once more, Diane is purring for attention from a man and Mike Valvano works his wizardry with his footstomps, making them sting far more than any amount of handclaps. Earl Van Dyke adds classy piano to blend with Jack Ashford’s vibraphone. The sexual undertone is difficult to miss. It vied with I Feel Fine at Christmas.

The album cover is an example of how tricky it is to capture a group photo. The girls are beautifully coiffured, their hair bountiful and glossy, wearing tasteful lime green dresses to match the block capital font. They are set against a chocolate background, arranged in an ‘L’ shape to accommodate the text in the right and centre. Steps of some kind must have been deployed. They are all gazing at a point to the photographers right. Flo is at the top, looking glum. Diane is at the bottom, forcing a grin that comes across as a scowl. Only Mary, in the middle, looks content, with a half smile that appears E to be genuine. There is a good reason most cover shots feature the band with moody, smile-free expressions. Film was a precious commodity back then. There would not be hundreds of shots taken at one sitting. Each photograph needed to be developed to judge its quality, which couldn’t be carried out during the shoot itself. It was far easier to keep the facial expressions neutral.

In the UK, it was Beatles versus Stones but, worldwide, The Supremes were the main competition, more than rewarding Berry Gordy’s perseverance. In the sixties, they enjoyed twelve Billboard number ones, Where Did Our Love Go being the first in a run of five. They outsold everybody. Diane Ross became Diana and continues to luxuriate in superstar status to this day, having been Billboard’s female entertainer of the 20th century. Florence Ballard was sacked from the group in 1967 for unreliability and spent years as a destitute alcoholic, dying tragically at the age of thirty-two. Mary Wilson was somewhere in between, making a solid living out of singing and keeping The Supremes flame alive until her death aged seventy-six. Her two very well written autobiographies were best sellers.

The final song, Ask Any Girl, concludes the album on a sober note and points to the future. Yet again, Diane is abandoned by her man but this time she is supported by more than her two closest friends and the band.The Supremes are defiant, steadfast in their camaraderie but represented by a string section, there is a multitude of women on Diane’s side. This song, and the LP as a whole, recruits a massive audience to The Supremes cause, opening a dialogue that would continue for decades. Where Did Our Love Go, the album, firmly established Tamla Motown as a major label, Holland-Dozier-Holland as its finest songwriting and production partnership and The Supremes as its premier act. Berry Gordy’s fingerprints are all over it. He didn’t write any of the songs, nor was directly involved in its production but his method, his Hitsville system, is responsible for the result. His genius was to marry the urban Black experience with White, middle class aspiration. Pleasingly, for him and Tamla Motown, it didn’t just yield hit singles. The Where Did Our Love Go album proves that young, vibrant Pop Music wisely put together and well sequenced is sustainable over the full twelve inches of vinyl and could be a commercial viability. Not only did The Supremes fulfil his target of large sales, the team built around them had the talent to produce music of the highest quality that has endured for decades. These are not frivolous songs to be forgotten after a brief surge of popularity. They continue to connect emotionally with listeners all over the world more than half a century later.

Where Did Our Love Go is a landmark LP for Pop Music, Black American music in particular, and for women generally. Girl groups were no longer limited to seven inch singles. There are those who think that it isn’t proper Black Music, somehow inferior to or less authentic than Blues, Gospel, Soul or Jazz, but that’s a kind of snobbery, the same kind of snobbery that values Rock above Pop. There is no reason a black teenage girl can’t enjoy Pop music as much as a white one and The Supremes managed to tap into the huge well of yearning, desire and insecurity that forms the core of a young girl’s heart, obsessed as it is with boys and the fear of rejection. Some sneer at the girls because they didn’t write any songs themselves but the songwriting and production exploited their talent and are exemplars in their field, as worthy of being described as artistic as any other kind of music. Most great music is the result of complex collaborations between multiple people. You may think the men wielded all the power but the three women contributed the charisma, the magic, the relatability. The clear message of this album, at a time of overt racism and misogyny, is that these young women are just as important as any of the men. Diana, in particular, outshone all of them, transcending Motown itself.

All music needs an audience and The Supremes quickly became icons, sex symbols and true international stars. They brought together people of all races and creeds across the globe, representing their heritage with pride. Destiny’s Child, TLC, The Pointer Sisters, Sister Sledge, Whitney Houston, Oprah Winfrey, Janet Jackson, Bananarama and The Spice Girls are among those inspired. Where Did Our Love Go should be discussed with the same awe as A Hard Days Night. Its influence and its power is timeless, just as strong as it was in 1964. If you play it at a party today, it is guaranteed to fill your floor with toddlers to pensioners and all ages in between. In the final analysis, Where Did Our Love Go is the sound of three young friends, Flo, Mary and Diane, loving life, revelling in each other’s company and living in the moment, totally oblivious to the fact they were breaking new ground in the history of Pop Music, leading the way for many to follow and making the world a better place.

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