"Love Child" by Diana Ross & the Supremes (and bonus tracks)

Motown's sixties supergroup - November, 1968

Rock ’n’ Roll with Me is a daily email newsletter (except Sunday) presenting one or more of my favorite danceable rock ’n’ roll songs, from the sixties onwards, along with some fun facts and memories.

Important disclaimer: If you dance to the music, which is hard not to do, it’s at your own risk, dude. (‘Dude’ means you.)

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Our song of the day

This is a true story. I had a job as a nanny on Long Island in the summer of 1976 and was ecstatic when I scored a ticket to “An Evening with Diana Ross,” her sold-out one-woman show at the Palace Theater in New York. I was so-o-o-o looking forward to it as a break from taking care of two preschool ‘monsters’ six days a week. (Don’t even get me started on that job.) Right before I left to catch the train into Manhattan, my boyfriend called and we got into a big fight. Long story short, I didn’t make it to the show until Act 2, something I regret to this day. The boyfriend only lasted another few years, but my love for Miss Ross and her musical contribution— with the Supremes and solo — has gone on for six decades.

Today we focus on Diana’s sixties songs with the Supremes. (I’ll cover Diana’s solo career in a later post.) One of my favorites for dancing is “Love Child,” which the group performed on the Ed Sullivan show on September 29, 1968:

How can anyone not groove to that? I mean, really.

And did you notice? Even barefoot and dressed down (in synch with the love child theme), these ladies had such cool and class. Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong were sporting that late sixties look — the culottes and bellbottoms, turtlenecks and satin shirts, leather vests and suede jackets — that would grace the hallways in my first year at Endwell Junior High School. Diana somehow managed to look elegant even in an oversized sweatshirt and faux torn jeans shorts.

As you’ll see in the fun facts below, Motown was a professional operation from top to bottom — everything planned and managed to perfection, and Diana was at the very pinnacle of their hit-making peaks.

Bonus tracks

The Supremes, as the Motown group was originally called (renamed Diana Ross & the Supremes in 1967), had a string of hits throughout the sixties. How to choose among them is the question.

I know, I know. You love to do the ‘stop gesture’ while you dance to “Stop in the Name of Love.” I do too, but that is not one of my top favorite Supreme songs, so we will not be doing our signature stop gesture today. (Go directly to Spotify or YouTube and do not stop at ‘Go.’ The video is there, waiting for you.)

One of my Supremes favorites is that quintessential theme song of the teenage girl with an unrequited crush, pining after Bill in homeroom or one of those sun-kissed Beach Boys — “Someday We’ll Be Together.” This next video from December 1969 showcases the Supreme’s legendary glamor, something Motown was known for with both its guy and girl groups.

Also notice what a great song this is for dancing in either a floaty way, as the Supremes are doing, or in a more energetic and choppy way in time with the underlying beat. An inclusive and surefire hit for getting everyone of all dance styles and levels of confidence on the gymnasium dancefloor.

Another theme song of the teenage girl, and another of my favorites, is “You Can’t Hurry Love.” It makes me laugh now, how I thought this was a song about good things coming to those who are willing to be patient and wait. Whereas now I hear it as Mom saying to her boy-crazy daughter, “I don’t want you having sex with some hound dog from school, getting in the family way, and saddling me with 24/7 grandma duties in my mid-thirties — on top of having to deal with a moody teenage girl. No way, no how.” Of course, we never thought about something like that, or what was going on with Mom, when drooling over that dreamy linebacker on the high school football team.

Herewith the Supremes on Ed Sullivan in September 1966:

There are so many more Supremes hits that are great dance songs, you could be dancing to them for hours. If you haven’t explored the Supremes catalogue, you’re in for a real treat.

Some fun facts

• The influence of the Supremes has been, in a word, ‘supreme.’ The original members all came out of Detroit’s public housing projects, and with twelve singles reaching number one in the Billboard 100, the group became Motown’s most successful act during the 1960s. Their success is credited with paving the way for other Motown and African-American pop, soul, and R&B artists and groups.

• The group started as the Primettes in 1959, but became the Supremes when they signed a contract with Motown in 1961. The hit-making trio until 1967 was composed of three founding members — Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, and Diana Ross. Only Mary would remain a constant member of the group, with Florence replaced by Cindy Birdsong, a member of Patti LaBelle and the Blue Belles, in 1967, and Diana leaving for a solo career in 1970.

• The Supremes were unsuccessful and known as the ‘no-hit Supremes’ until the in-house songwriting and production team called Holland-Dozier-Holland penned and produced their first hit, “When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes” (corny title but great tune!), in late 1963. Eddie Holland wrote the song lyrics and did the vocal arrangements, while Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland composed the music and produced the songs. This powerhouse team was behind the success of the Supremes until they departed Motown over profit-sharing and royalties issues in 1967.

• Playing the music for the Supremes’ songs, as well as most Motown recordings until 1972 (when Motown moved from Detroit to Los Angeles), were the amazing session musicians known as the Funk Brothers. James Jamerson, for example, is considered one of the best, if not the most important, bass guitarists of all time. Well worth watching is the documentary about the Funk Brothers called Standing in the Shadows of Motown. (Available on YouTube here.)

• There were also some musical ‘sleights of hand’ — or should we say ‘sleights of mouth’ — going on behind the Motown scenes. Supremes Mary and Cindy appeared with Diana singing “Love Child” on the Ed Sullivan show, but it wasn’t their voices on the single. It was the Andantes, a group of three women who sang backup on many Motown singles from 1962 onwards, including hits for such artists as the Temptations, the Four Tops, Martha and the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder, and Marvin Gay.

• “Someday We’ll Be Together” was the last Supremes hit before Diana’s departure to become a solo artist, and also the last number one hit of the sixties on the Billboard Hot 100. Again, Mary and Cindy did not sing on the single, but joined Diana for their final appearance as a group on the Ed Sullivan Show.

• The Supremes without Diana, and with changing line-ups and producers, went on to have more hits until disbanding in 1977. (We’ll hear some of these in a future post.)

Questions for discussion in the Comments

1. Does it take a village to raise a song?

2. If you came back as a Motown artist in the 60s, who would you be?

3. Were the sixties too obsessed with love? Is that what made the seventies the seventies?

4. Does your mama dance and your daddy rock ‘n’ roll?