DIANA ROSS PROJECT

A TRACK-BY-TRACK ANALYSIS OF THE DIVA'S DISCOGRAPHY


Sep212013

Diana Ross Sings “Home” [[A Retrospective)


Diana Ross Home


“Maybe there’s a chance for me to go back…”

There’s no denying that if anyone lays claim to the song “Home,” it’s the great Stephanie Mills. In 1975, the teenager created the role of Dorothy in Broadway’s The Wiz, shooting to stardom by belting out songs like “Be A Lion,” “Ease On Down The Road,” and the show’s classic 11 o’clock number, “Home.” Even with eventual popular success as an R&B singer [[she beat out Diana for a Grammy in 1982), Mills would remain closely identified with the role of Dorothy — she returned to the stage to perform the part a few times, and even re-recorded “Home” in 1989 and took it to #1 on the R&B charts.

That said, Diana Ross also owns a piece of “Home,” thanks to her starring role in the 1978 film version of The Wiz. Her raw, emotional performance of the song in the film was a striking departure for the singer; years later, “Inside The Actor’s Studio” host James Lipton remarked of it, “At the end of the film, Dorothy recounts what she has learned in one of the loveliest songs Diana has sung, and in a definitive acting performance. Students, take careful note.” Though never released as a single from the film’s soundtrack, Diana chose to perform it often on stage, keeping the song as part of her act well into the 1980s; this resulted in several performances of the ballad being captured on tape and preserved for future audiences.

Because of her powerful reading of the song [[it’s a ballad that truly stretches the singer’s range and forces her to do some “belting”) and her obvious fondness for it, “Home” has long been a fan favorite. In her 1993 memoirs Secrets Of A Sparrow, Miss Ross writes of the song, “…it always brings me back to my beginnings. It’s a song that reminds me never to lose myself in the brilliance of the lights. It returns me to my roots” [[179). Here, then, is a look back at some of Diana’s performances of the song; she might not have lost herself in the brilliance of the lights, but when she was at her best performing “Home,” we did.

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Here I Am: An Evening With Diana Ross [[1977 Television Special): An extremely interesting, pre-The Wiz performance of this song; the inclusion in this special is clearly a promotional “teaser” for Diana’s upcoming film project, which would be released the next year. Diana’s An Evening With Diana Ross stage show was a one-woman spectacular that would go on to win the singer a Tony award; a double-LP live album was also released, capturing the incredible energy and excitement of the show. The show’s lineup didn’t originally include “Home” [[the song does not show up on the LP), but by the time it was transformed into this Emmy-nominated, 90-minute NBC TV special, Miss Ross was preparing for her role as Dorothy and likely learning the music for the film. Presented initially as a pre-taped segment here, Diana sings the song as a little girl, out on a street corner and wearing a sweatshirt and pigtails [[perhaps an early attempt to battle criticism that she was too old for the Dorothy role?). Her performance here is completely different from what we’ll ever hear from her again; singing it as a young girl, she delivers the lines in character, appropriating a slight, fragile tone on the song’s opening lines. Quickly, the music changes, morphing into a Broadway-esque Motown medley [[including songs “How Sweet It Is [[To Be Loved By You)” and “For Once In My Life”) as Diana and dancers showcase some interpretive moves and “street scene” narration. The energetic, colorful sequence is an interesting interpretation of the stage show’s “Motown Story” — during which the singer herself performed a lengthy medley of Hitsville classics. When the dancing finally ends, Miss Ross returns to “Home,” the pre-taped portion dissolving back into footage of the singer performing the song in a theatre. Now singing as an adult, Diana performs a smooth, velvety rendition of the number, far in contrast to the raw and explosive version she’d offer up in the film. She almost seems to be feeling her way through the piece here, not yet injecting it with the pure emotion she’d later discover in the lyrics. Listen, particularly, to her tentative delivery of the lyrics, “…we must look inside our hearts to find…” — she doesn’t seem sure how to sing the words yet, whereas in later performances she’ll seize upon the word “find” as a key musical moment. Though this isn’t the “Home” Diana fans would became familiar with, it is an interesting early take worth listening to.

Live In Japan: There is a video floating around the Internet of Diana Ross performing “Home” during her An Evening With Diana Ross World Tour; it’s got Japanese subtitles and was apparently taped during a stop in Japan. Diana introduces the song by describing the movie, saying “It’s a beautiful fairy tale. It’s about a girl named Dorothy — me — and her wish to go back home.” What follows is an absolutely spectacular performance of the song, with Diana looking breathtakingly beautiful in shimmery, draped dress and her hair slicked back into a bun. She clearly knows the song here; she sings it with the studied perfection of an artist who’s thought about the words and related them to her own life. The strength in Diana’s vocals is undeniable; her lower notes are full-bodied but relaxed, and her sustained belting on the high notes is as soulful and powerful as she’d ever sounded on stage. Note the way she reaches even higher than normal when wailing the line, “…it’s real to me…and I’ve learned…” — she is really going for it here. Diana brings the performance to a smashing conclusion by repeating the final “Like home!” and is greeted by a thunderous crowd reaction. This isn’t the most easily available of Diana’s “Home” performances, but it’s one of the very best — she’s clearly energized by the song and the optimism associated with her new film project. It’s worth seeking out.

The Wiz [[Original Soundtrack) [[1978): [From the original Diana Ross Project review] This is the most famous song from The Wiz; it was the standout from the original Broadway production, and helped make Stephanie Mills [[who originated the role of Dorothy) a star. Mills, incidentally, would record the song again in the 80s and take it to #1 on the R&B charts, and it remains the song most associated with her. Diana Ross, meanwhile, also appropriated the song into her career and performed it often, notably during the first of her infamous concerts at Central Park in 1983 [[she sang it before the rain started falling!). “Home” is the closing tune on the soundtrack; it’s a classic “11 o’clock number” that provides an emotional climax and ends the musical on a dramatic high note, and Diana Ross’s recording of the song is certainly a highlight of the project. She takes every aspect of her vocal performances thus far – the rawness, the passion, the strength and power – and pushes each full-throttle here; this is the most natural and unrefined she would ever sound in her career. She’s not so much singing the song as she is experiencing it; as the instrumental track builds and builds, Diana’s voice gets rougher and rougher, as she growls and belts out certain lyrics [[her repetition of the word “real” at 2:50, for example) in a way that’s downright shocking considering this is the same singer whose glossy vocals sold us “Touch Me In The Morning” a few years earlier. It’s not a classically “pretty” vocal performance, but it’s a captivating one and is one of the most striking vocals of Diana’s career.