So, What Was The Deal Behind Motown's 'WORKING TITLES'?

[Methuselah2]

I've often wondered what was the rationale behind Motown's use of its 'working titles' for so many of its tunes while they were 'in progress'. From the ones I've seen written about, they always seem so far removed from the final product that it's difficult to think they ever actually had something to do with the song--at any time. Could they really have been lyrics early on? Were they deliberately chosen as a pre-emptive guard against other Motown writers--or writers outside of Motown, for that matter--getting wind of a song's intended title and using it for themselves? Or were there other considerations for these hard-to-imagine working titles? Whatever info you might have about this would be greatly appreciated and I'd be very interested to read whatever light you can shed on the subject.

This evening, I was listening to MotownConnoisseur30's YouTube posting of:

The Marvelettes/I NEED SOMEONE [1967],

written by James Dean & William Weatherspoon

[[the B-side of MY BABY MUST BE A MAGICIAN).

It's simply one of those tunes that gets me every time, right to my core. And the terrific Gladys Horton lead is easily one of my favorites.

I thank MotownConnoisseur30 for his YouTube posting, his notes about it, and especially for mentioning its working--or perhaps I should say surprising working--title:

CAN CRYIN' WASH THE HURT AWAY

Here's the great final product:

https://youtu.be/TSsFj-o5uUM

[144man]

Aren't things like Smile/What Becomes of the Broken Hearted; It's All Your Fault/Mother Dear; Purple Snowflakes/Pretty Little Baby; Counting On You, Babe/Baby A Go Go proof that lyrics could change radically? If you listen to the Tempts' Last One Out Is Broken Hearted, the title seems to have nothing to do with the song, nor do the previous working titles.

In other cases, it's more of an evolutionary process, as the alternative but inferior lyrics to "These Things Will Keep Me Loving You" demonstrate, or "Your Loss, My Gain" which morphed into "You Lost the Sweetest Boy".

Whether complete lyrics at one time existed for all the working titles, which were then discarded as the song was developed and improved, is surely something Ralph would be able to shed light on.

[Methuselah2]

144man - All interesting points you make and certainly valid, I'd say. Songs could be revisited, and anything could change in a song's evolutionary process, as well. Perhaps a working title was sometimes merely assigned as an 'identifier' before any lyric had been written so that the writer/writers had something to refer to. I appreciate your response and thank you for it. Your viewpoint is well-taken and appreciated.

[supremester]

As the world's worst song writer, I can still admire other's work. Often they have an idea of a lyric - or just a title and build it from there. At some point, they can't flesh out the idea lyrically, no longer like it or something else pops up. Like Penny Pincher/Lovelight, No Matter what Sign You Are/The Paper Said Rain, I prefer the working title to this track - which I'd never heard before and really enjoyed, so thanks!

[Sharpmoves]

I love I Need Someone too - indeed the whole "Pink" album is a Desert Island Disc for me. There are some interesting working titles for some of the Vandellas lost and found stuff too:

I'll Take A Raincheck - [[A love like this)
Standing Ovation - [[Ill be somewhere searching)
Too Far gone To Save Myself - [[I'm thinking baby)
I Got It Bad - [[Listen to my heart; Sometimes I have to cry)

And here's a rare picture of Gladys with Martha and Annette [[of the Vandellas), clearly in party mode!

[Methuselah2]

Holy smokes, Sharpmoves! What a sensational photo! Thank you for posting that. [[P.S.: And thanks for "I'll Take a Raincheck"--hadn't heard about that one.)

[theboyfromxtown]

When A Good Man Comes Along - Velvelettes can surely only be.......

Bird In The Hand [[Is Worth Two In The Bush)

lol

I think my favourite has to be The Paper Says Rain for No Matter What Sign You Are

[theboyfromxtown]

I love I Need Someone too - indeed the whole "Pink" album is a Desert Island Disc for me. There are some interesting working titles for some of the Vandellas lost and found stuff too:

I'll Take A Raincheck - [[A love like this)
Standing Ovation - [[Ill be somewhere searching)
Too Far gone To Save Myself - [[I'm thinking baby)
I Got It Bad - [[Listen to my heart; Sometimes I have to cry)

And here's a rare picture of Gladys with Martha and Annette [[of the Vandellas), clearly in party mode!

Gladys and the Martharettes....

lol

[supremester]

"The paper said, "rain today'
I'm going out anyway
Can't stay inside and mope
And smoke too much killer dope.

The paper said, "rain today'
I'm going out anyway
I got me a brand new plan:
Find a new loving man"

Ugh..... I can see why they changed it! LOL

When A Good Man Comes Along - Velvelettes can surely only be.......

Bird In The Hand [[Is Worth Two In The Bush)

lol

I think my favourite has to be The Paper Says Rain for No Matter What Sign You Are

[Methuselah2]

"Gladys & the Martharettes"?! Tbfxt - !!!!!!!

Supremester, you're frightening the kids!

[144man]

It's quite good fun trying to write your own lyrics to the working title and seeing if you can fit them to the finished record.

For instance, for "You Can't Please Everybody" ["Ain't Too Proud to Beg"], the chorus might have gone:
You can't please everybody,
But baby can't you see
That if you can't please everybody,
Why not try pleasing me?

[Methuselah2]

That's actually quite good, 144man. Very good. Kinda reminds me of what the carrot might have said to the string bean: "If you can't peas everybody, why not try peasing the Forum. At least."

[bradburger]

One thing to remember is that often a backing track would be cut with no title or a specific artist in mind, so maybe a working title was a way for the completed track to fit in with, and be identified in the Motown tape filing system, and I guess also for the Jobete paperwork/records.

That said, doesn't a working title also occur from time to time with films, books, and plays?

So I guess like a film or a play, [[and if no track for the song was cut), it could be because the song started out as just an idea by one or maybe two writers, and as input from others was received, or the original writers worked on it more, getting developed and refined, the lyrics and the title of the song needed to be changed as well [[as has been pointed out above).

Cheers

Paul

[Methuselah2]

Very good points, Paul. Sound reasonable to me. Thanks. I'm wondering if this has ever been addressed in any of the books on Motown.

[bradsupremes]

I'm fascinated by the songs that had three or more working titles. A good example is "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby." It started off as "Stop Leading Me On" which then became "I Know How To Love Her" which was recorded by Jimmy Ruffin and then a second song was also created using the same instrumental track and became the legendary "Too Busy Thinking About My Baby."

I know many tracks were cut without a title or lyrics, but there had to have been a song structure at least developed for the Funk Bros. to follow. I would have loved to have sat in on the different songwriting teams in how they developed a song.

[144man]

I wonder if lyrics were ever written for Saundra Edwards' "A True Fine Boy". The band track is excellent.

[kenneth]

A most interesting discussion of something I've always wondered about as well!

[144man]

The Motown band tracks that have appeared over the years on acetates or collectors' tapes give an insight into the haphazard and inconsistent way that working titles were given during the various stages of a song's creation.

Are we expected to believe that the working title of the Miracles' "Do Da Do Da Day" would have survived as that once lyrics were added, but the name perfectly fits it at the instrumental stage? As I mentioned earlier, the band track "I've Been Loving You", assigned to the Marvelettes but with no backing vocals, ended up as the basis for Frances Nero's "Keep On Loving Me". This can be contrasted with the Vandellas' band track "Don't Take Advantage of Me", on which there are overdubs by backing vocalists [[who, in order to avoid arguments, I shall call the Vandantellas) singing the title. This again differs from Shorty Long's "Dust Has Settled Around My Heart" which has no lyrics whatsoever, but consists of Shorty dooby-doobying along to the band track.

When it comes to the release of archived material, working titles are not much help. Sometimes they confuse the issue even further when the final title does not bear any relation to the song. On the Temptations' "Last One Out Is Broken Hearted" [Lost & Found - You've Got to Earn It], the track originated as "In This Room", then "Just Your Love", then "Don't Take Your Love Away", yet none of theses four titles have anything to do with the chorus: "Never will I love again. There's no love left since she is gone".

On "Nobody But You" [From the Vaults], the Tempts do not sing that title anywhere in the song, so is that really just a working title? What they do however sing is "The Way I Feel About You", a title which appears on the acetate and in the Jobete catalogue, so there is little doubt that this should be the correct name of the track.

[Methuselah2]

Very interesting observations, 144man. Thank you. And I think you've just coined some new musical terminology, too: 'the Vandantellas'.