DIANA ROSS AND THE SUPREMES "The Young Folks"

[captainjames]

Always loved this song as well written by [[H. Gordy and A. Story).
The Jackson 5 went on to record it as well. If The Supremes had continued with Diana I think Motown and Gordy would have decided to make this a single release instead of a B side.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFHejln_Nyc

[daviddh]

always liked this song,my top 5 b sides

[smark21]

Don't care for the song; the lyrics are very preachy and didactic.

[rrussi]

I liked the song and it did chart. In fact that summer I spent with cousins in Alabama in Montgomery and the song was played a lot on the pop stations. I never did hear them play the actual A side of the record, which I think was No Matter What Sign You Are. Another B side I also liked around this time was The Beginning of the End.

[milven]

always liked this song,my top 5 b sides

I remember No Matter What Sign You Are flopping [[ maybe they expected another Aquarius) and the song was re-serviced with a new number with The Young Folks as the A side and No Matter as the B side. Am I crazy or does someone else remember this?

[marv2]

The Jackson 5 had the best version of this song.

[reese]

I remember No Matter What Sign You Are flopping [[ maybe they expected another Aquarius) and the song was re-serviced with a new number with The Young Folks as the A side and No Matter as the B side. Am I crazy or does someone else remember this?

I don't know whether or not the single was actually re-serviced. But after djs flipped the record and started playing THE YOUNG FOLKS, Motown reissued it to disc jockeys as a promo in red vinyl.

[milven]

I don't know whether or not the single was actually re-serviced. But after djs flipped the record and started playing THE YOUNG FOLKS, Motown reissued it to disc jockeys as a promo in red vinyl.

I know it was re-serviced to dee-jays , but I also thought that it was available in record stores with a different number. I have a vivid imagination, and maybe it happened in my imaginary life , because I just checked and there is only one number for the record and it is MOTOWN 1148

Here is a link to the numerical Motown 45 catalogue

http://www.globaldogproductions.info/m/motown.html

[Bokiluis]

This would have been a good fit for the once discussed social-themed "Love Child" album along with "I'm Livin' in Shame", "Does Your Moma Know About Me" and "Shadows of Society". But the desire to get an album out for the lucrative '68 holiday season prohibited that from happening.
Too bad Motown got shy of following through on this thematic idea....especially since "Love Child" became their biggest selling single to date and audiences approved of their stripped down earthy look that won raves on Ed Sullivan. We were ready for a serious Diana Ross & The Supremes album in the turbulent 60s.
[[That $50 sweatshirt sold at "Motown, the Musical" is a steep price...I hope I don't regret not buying it. But there's always the upcoming Detroit run to give it one more consideration. I mean the "Workin Overtime" sweatshirt was $50 and I scooped that one up).

[Bokiluis]

Oh and I don't recall an "A" side commercial single of "The Young Folks" though it was definitely re serviced to radio.

[honest man]

Don't care for the song; the lyrics are very preachy and didactic.

One of my least fave songs so boring and drab by DRATS AND j5 as bad with Michael ,think i;ll pass on this song.cheers.

[florence]

It's really interesting to see how people's perspectives on songs differ.

I always followed the US charts [[Billboard) in the 60s and remember being gobsmacked at the time when The Young Folks charted as it didn't appear to be released as a single in its own right.

Stations must have started playing it and copies of No Matter What Sign would probably have still been available to buy.

I'm afraid I'm the camp that this is quite a dreary and uninspiring song but it obviously must have some appeal to have achieved the modicum of success it did.

[BayouMotownMan]

I thought this song was just awful. I still dislike it. After the surprising failure of No Matter What Sign, Motown really had nothing to come back with. I don't think that mI dany stations played the flip because at this point Motown only sent the A side to radio stations, same song on both sides so as not to split sales. Enough people liked Young Folks to write into Motown asking that it be released. So it was, and went nowhere fast. I don't even think this song made it into their live repertoire. It wasn't even deemed good enough to be on the Let The Sunshine In lp so it as held up for Cream Of The Crop. I heard it a few times on the radio.

[thomas96]

I always hated this song for some reason.Still do to this day.

[smark21]

The lyrics are addressed to the Supremes MOR, middle aged nightclub and Vegas audience. Some of the lines are really corny: They're standing in lines, they're marching with signs. Oh dear.

[bradsupremes]

I always found it strange "The Young Folks" actually charted on Billboard, yet a kick ass song like "Going Down For The Third Time" was never flipped and treated like a double A-side single.

[mowest]

I always found it strange "The Young Folks" actually charted on Billboard, yet a kick ass song like "Going Down For The Third Time" was never flipped and treated like a double A-side single.

Even more absurd, bradsupremes, was the fact that Motown didn't save "Going Down For The Third Time" and release it as the A-side of a Supremes' single. Definitely one of their best!

[bradsupremes]

Even more absurd, bradsupremes, was the fact that Motown didn't save "Going Down For The Third Time" and release it as the A-side of a Supremes' single. Definitely one of their best!

Definitely should have been the follow-up to "You Keep Me Hangin' On."

[Philles/Motown Gary]

I liked the song. Another B side I also liked around this time was The Beginning of the End.

I, too, like Diana's version of "The Young Folks". She sang it in a lower register which made the song especially intriguing. I love "The Beginning Of The End", too. Really bluesy track with great back-up vocals from The Andantes [[or whomever).

[reese]

I, too, like Diana's version of "The Young Folks". She sang it in a lower register which made the song especially intriguing. I love "The Beginning Of The End", too. Really bluesy track with great back-up vocals from The Andantes [[or whomever).

I love THE BEGINNING OF THE END. I think it is Mary and Cindy, with Syreeta, on backing vocals.

[Bokiluis]

Though I wasn't crazy about the song, the message did resonate. If you look at Ferguson, MO, it is indeed "the young folks" protesting for justice today. It can be a challenge to capture such sentiment in a pop song. An "A" for effort, and by consensus here, an "incomplete" for delivery.

[Jimi LaLumia]

I think the "Going Down" reference scared them off...seriously..amazingly great track though..

[jobeterob]

It sounds old, it was weak, preachy; not a good song no matter who sang it.

[supremester]

I liked The Young Folks at the time - [[except the yeah yeah yeah) and like her vocal on it. It had potential but was never pushed beyond being serviced as an a -side. I have a red vinyl promo of The Young Folks on both sides. I think that had DR&TS done The Young Folks on several TV shows in their dressed down look [[that I disapproved of in concert that summer) in muted lighting, that a fervent and serious Miss Ross could have sold that song into the top ten. For the single, I'd have had Deke work some additional magic with The Andantes for a fuller bg - clearly this had not been finished for radio - but - there was some life in it even as spare as it was. The lyric wasn't corny to me back then and her vocal is spot on.

I can see why Motown rushed the Love Child album, but it shows how little care DR&TS' records were being given. As the flagship act for the label, there should have been a concept LP ready by fall '68. Reflections, a pleasant hodge-podge for the most part was 8 months old when this came out and this was all they had???? I was SO disappointed in the album that I tried my hand at songwriting that week [[dismal....no, much much worse than dismal.) BG should have been suspended w/o pay for putting that mess out with a triple platinum single on it - Its' relatively poor showing says a lot about the LP than I ever could. I wish Gordy had ordered Norman Whitfield and Johnny Bristol/Fuqua do do some tracks specifically for DR&TS. The A&S thing didn't work - but they could have tried some more. Losing HDH hurt everyone at Motown except The Tempts & Stevie. BG was nuts to wait until September to sequester the writers for Love Child. He knew a year prior the cupboard was bare and with HDH gone for 7 months - well, there's just no excuse.

This would have been a good fit for the once discussed social-themed "Love Child" album along with "I'm Livin' in Shame", "Does Your Moma Know About Me" and "Shadows of Society". But the desire to get an album out for the lucrative '68 holiday season prohibited that from happening.
Too bad Motown got shy of following through on this thematic idea....especially since "Love Child" became their biggest selling single to date and audiences approved of their stripped down earthy look that won raves on Ed Sullivan. We were ready for a serious Diana Ross & The Supremes album in the turbulent 60s.
[[That $50 sweatshirt sold at "Motown, the Musical" is a steep price...I hope I don't regret not buying it. But there's always the upcoming Detroit run to give it one more consideration. I mean the "Workin Overtime" sweatshirt was $50 and I scooped that one up).

[stephanie]

Good message but a crappy song. Good vocal by Ross I agree with Supremester the background sucks.

[Bokiluis]

I can see why Motown rushed the Love Child album, but it shows how little care DR&TS' records were being given. As the flagship act for the label, there should have been a concept LP ready by fall '68. Reflections, a pleasant hodge-podge for the most part was 8 months old when this came out and this was all they had???? I was SO disappointed in the album that I tried my hand at songwriting that week [[dismal....no, much much worse than dismal.) BG should have been suspended w/o pay for putting that mess out with a triple platinum single on it - Its' relatively poor showing says a lot about the LP than I ever could. I wish Gordy had ordered Norman Whitfield and Johnny Bristol/Fuqua do do some tracks specifically for DR&TS. The A&S thing didn't work - but they could have tried some more. Losing HDH hurt everyone at Motown except The Tempts & Stevie. BG was nuts to wait until September to sequester the writers for Love Child. He knew a year prior the cupboard was bare and with HDH gone for 7 months - well, there's just no excuse.[/QUOTE]

i don't think it was necessarily that Motown didn't care. During the holiday season, sales can as much as 50%-60% of its total. Motown was extremely hot Christmas '68 with 5 of the Top 10 singles at one point during December. Album sales were just as brisk, holding down the #1 & #2 with "T.C.B." Join The Temptations".
Berry always worried about being too controversial. "Cloud Nine" was excellent, but, almost 2 separate albums, Side 1 socially themed/Side 2 an excellent throwback to their Fabulous Five days. Look how he fretted over "What's Going On". To me that single was a no brainer and the public responded instantly. As you know, the album has become arguably the best album of all time by critics from Rolling Stone to Time.
They would repeatedly do that with The Temps...making a great social statement, but, then temper the album with love songs, albeit great ones.
Philadelphia International did that also with The O'Jays "Survival" and Harold Melvin & The Blu Notes "To Be True" and "Wakeup Everybody".
Even Stevie blended social greatness with timeless love songs. Marvin seemed to be the most adventurous with the aforementioned "What's Going On" to the bold "Here My Dear".