Earliest memory of hearing a Motown song?

[lockhartgary]

I was wondering what some of your earliest memories of hearing a Motown song are? My earliest memory is hearing "Jimmy Mack" at around 1967-1968. I was 2-3 years old, but I remember dancing as my mother played the 45.

lockhartgary

[Bluebrock]

I recall hearing "baby love" being sung by my aunt when i was around 5 years old, She was a big Motown fan and around the same time she sang "my guy" to me!
I have made sure that all my children have and will grow up with Motown. My two eldest left home many years ago but from a very early age they could sing "this old heart of mine" back to me, especially my eldest daughter.
My middle two kids did not escape either and my 2nd eldest son is an even bigger Diana Ross fan than i am, and he has converted his partner from a rock chick to a soul girl.
My youngest two are both under school age yet the 4 year old can sing "abc"and "i want you back" almost as well as the J5. My 2 year old gets to hear Motown almost daily and she attempts to sing Mary and Flo's backing vocals on "where did our love go".
Motown is has been alive and well in my household for over 40 years and will continue to be so.
Great subject lockhartgary!

[reese]

I can vaguely recall SOMEDAY WE'LL BE TOGETHER and DO YOU SEE MY LOVE FOR YOU GROWING, although I didn't learn the title of the latter until many years later.

[woodward]

[QUOTE=lockhartgary;330188]I was wondering what some of your earliest memories are of hearing a Motown song are? My earliest memory is hearing "Jimmy Mack" at around 1967-1968. I was 2-3 years old, but I remember dancing as my mother played the 45.

My first purchase and first exposure was Stubborn Kind of Fellow. I used to frequent a city record store in Harrisburg, PA that was run by a lady who lived in the rear of the store. She had a counter and would play the record that you wanted to hear on her oversize Victrola. She always gave me good suggestions and she had a new release that she was certain I would like. She was right on target and it has been uphill ever since. Unfortunately she is no longer with us and towards the end the neighborhood got pretty rough and at times I was scared to frequent there. However, I did survive.

[Ollie9]

My elder sister borrowed Motown Charbuster albums from her boyfriend. From the moment the sound left the speakers i was hooked, especially vol 3. I still adore that cover.
In 76 when i was a very young teenager my parents for christmas bought me the "Mary Scherrie & Susaye" lp when i had asked for a Diana album. I was peeved at first, but played the album to death in my bedroom and grew to love it..........Happy days.

[marv2]

It was either "Money" or "Shop Around" could have been a B-side even given where we grew up.

[nevertoolate]

Come See About Me-@ 9 years old blasting from a jukebox [[kind of scared me, had never heard
music that loud) Dad stopped in bar and didn't want to leave me in the car.

[daviddesper]

I received my first transistor radio for Christmas in 1965 and developed my earliest musical tastes from listening to it. I gravitated almost immediately to Motown and have never looked back. I think the first Motown song I heard was My World is Empty Without You and the I Hear a Symphony album was the first LP I bought.

With many of my Motown albums, I can distinctly remember where I was the first time I saw them, since back in those days, there was little if any way of finding out in advance when something was coming out. So going to a record store at any given time was like being a kid in a candy store!

[robb_k]

Duplicate post.

[robb_k]

The first Motown record I heard was "Come To Me" by Marv Johnson in early summer of 1959, when my family was visiting Chicago, and I was 13. I bought the United Artist pressing of it. I heard "Money" by Barrett Strong, later that summer, and bought the Anna pressing. I bought "Bad Girl" by The Miracles on Chess a few months later. Of course, I bought "Magic Mirror" by Eddie Holland, "I Love The Way You Love" and "You've Got What It Takes" by Marv Johnson on United Artists.

The first record I bought on an actual Motown label was "Way Over There" by The Miracles on Tamla. Soon after was "My Beloved" by The Satintones on Motown, and "Bye Bye Baby" by Mary Wells.

[honest man]

My first Motown song i remember hearing was Someday we'll be together although it went over my head but i still remember hearing it on the wireless on a friend's veranda though it must have done something[i was 9 at the time]but then the big explosion happened a few months later i heard Up the Ladder ,, a lifetime obsession was born,cheers.

[144man]

The earliest memory ii have of hearing a Motown record was the Marvelettes' "Please Mr Postman" at the end of 1961.

I had just turned 14 and used to listen to Radio Luxemburg, where I could hear the American records that never got played on the BBC Light Programme. Individual record companies sponsored their own programmes, so it was not until early the following year when I heard and liked Eddie Holland's "Jamie" and the Miracles' "What's So Good About Goodbye" that I discovered those three tracks were all on Motown or Tamla, released through the U.K. Fontana label.

[Sharpmoves]

Slightly pedantically, I have to ask whether it counts if you heard a cover version. I am sure Please Mr Postman was familiar to me in the Beatles cover version. But the first actual Motown recording I remember was the Four Tops' Reach Out. I remember it on TOTP and then my elder brother bought the album, which he tired of and I played and played. I loved the feeling of passion and poignancy I had when I heard Walk Away Renee, If I Were A Carpenter, Seven Rooms of Gloom, and Reach Out itself. After that there was a bit of a gap for me until 1968, when started a true Motown invasion of the UK charts - all the big names had hits between then and 1972, and most of them toured as well. Great days.

[westgrandboulevard]

I, too, first heard of Motown music [[or Tamla-Motown, as it first became known here in the UK) by listening to Radio Luxembourg...and I recall the signal could be disappointingly poor at times.

I think I was already vaguely aware of Mary Wells, The Miracles, The Contours, The Marvelettes and more by hearing the Oriole releases played on that station, and also by reading the reviews in the music papers. The photos of the artists reinforced an image in my mind which has lasted a lifetime.

I then saw the weekly listing in the American charts, 'Heat Wave' - Martha & The Vandellas, and thought it sounded so glamorous. It was soon played on Radio Luxembourg as the first release from Motown on the Stateside label [[SS 228) , via EMI, in October 1963 [[I was 13) - and that did it for me. It just made me want to get up, sing [[at that age, I could easily match Martha's key) and clap my hands to the beat, and get happy. [[I still do, but nowadays I sometimes also use a tambourine with the middle cut out, which I shake and beat against my body, just like Martha LOLOL)

I didn't buy 'Heat Wave' at the time, as we didn't have a record player at the time, but I had a friend who did. 'Quicksand' was then released in January 1964 [[SS 250 - and by that time, the American charts was the first page I checked with each week's issue) which blasted out of the radio, and I just knew it was going to be something really special. I ordered both 'Heat Wave' and 'Quicksand' from our local record shop, and took them round to play. My friend was instantly converted, as was another friend.

And here I am today, sharing my memories, 52 years later.....

[keith_hughes]

Same song as you, WGB.

Like tens [[hundreds?) of thousands of British teenagers, I became a Beatles fan in 1963. I hadn't even been a pop music fan till then, didn't own any pop records, though I had bought a couple of classical EPs. I wanted to know everything about the Beatles, and if I could, adopt ALL their tastes. In an interview with John Lennon that I read, he said his favourite music was Chuck Berry, the Shirelles and "Tamla Motown". The first two were no problem, I quickly bought records by them and played them constantly. But "Tamla Motown" remained elusive: record shop assistants couldn't help me. What was "Tamla Motown"? Was it a kind of dance? I began to ask for records with titles like "Do The Tamla Motown".

Then towards the end of the year, I was flicking through the racks of 7" records on a market stall in Holloway, North London, and I came across an EMI Stateside EP titled "R&B Chartmakers", featuring four artists I'd never heard of: Martha & the Vandellas, the Miracles, Marvin Gaye and the Marvelettes. I read the sleeve notes and learned nothing that conveyed the fact that a Beatles fan might enjoy this music. [[Extraordinary when you think about - the Beatles were signed to another label in the EMI group, had been national favourites since January, and I think all of them had mentioned Tamla Motown at some point in interview: someone in Marketing just failed to join up the dots ...) Then, belatedly, I noticed these words in the top rh corner of the sleeve: "A Tamla-Motown Production". I parted with my 12/6d on the spot, rushed home and dropped the needle on the disc.

What I heard was unlike anything I'd ever heard before - it actually seemed "alien" in some sense, though I loved it. Even the subject matter of the opening track was alien - sure, I'd heard of heat waves, but we didn't have them in England!

The opening four bars of "Heat Wave" still send shivers up my spine.

[Sharpmoves]

I, too, first heard of Motown music [[or Tamla-Motown, as it first became known here in the UK) by listening to Radio Luxembourg...and I recall the signal could be disappointingly poor at times.

I think I was already vaguely aware of Mary Wells, The Miracles, The Contours, The Marvelettes and more by hearing the Oriole releases played on that station, and also by reading the reviews in the music papers. The photos of the artists reinforced an image in my mind which has lasted a lifetime.

I then saw the weekly listing in the American charts, 'Heat Wave' - Martha & The Vandellas, and thought it sounded so glamorous. It was soon played on Radio Luxembourg as the first release from Motown on the Stateside label [[SS 228) , via EMI, in October 1963 [[I was 13) - and that did it for me. It just made me want to get up, sing [[at that age, I could easily match Martha's key) and clap my hands to the beat, and get happy. [[I still do, but nowadays I sometimes also use a tambourine with the middle cut out, which I shake and beat against my body, just like Martha LOLOL)

I didn't buy 'Heat Wave' at the time, as we didn't have a record player at the time, but I had a friend who did. 'Quicksand' was then released in January 1964 [[SS 250 - and by that time, the American charts was the first page I checked with each week's issue) which blasted out of the radio, and I just knew it was going to be something really special. I ordered both 'Heat Wave' and 'Quicksand' from our local record shop, and took them round to play. My friend was instantly converted, as was another friend.

And here I am today, sharing my memories, 52 years later.....

I remember My Guy too, of course - and in my mind it's grouped with Walk On By, as representing a new sound that I loved [[alongside The Beatles, of course!). Wonderful memories - thanks for sharing. Martha didn't cross my event horizon until 1969, when I kept hearing Dancing in the Street, and wondered who it was. It was the way she sang "it doesn't matter what you wear" for the second time, when she takes it higher, that really got me! Marvin's Grapevine was also around then, and that certainly got me hooked on him!

[westgrandboulevard]

keith_hughes.....

Reading your comment that the music seemed wonderful yet 'alien' to you, reminds me of reading it described at the time as 'new wave, race music' in one of the music papers. It didn't make any difference to me how it was 'classified', or why. It just seemed the most naturally expressed music in the world to me.

And I notice you refer to Tamla Motown, once 'without' the hyphen, and once 'with'....and I seem to recall that one is technically more correct. The version without the hyphen? Or is that just a myth....?

Sharpmoves.....

you can imagine how I felt when Martha, Roz and Betty were on 'RSG!', first visit to UK. I rushed round to my friend.."Did you SEEEE them???!!!!"



Finally, here's a much newer memory....

This very Thursday [[less than 48 hours ago), I was with my partner at a local garden centre in Christchurch [[they do nice 'two 2-course dinners for the price of one' on late-night opening!). The place was packed with 'early elderlies' [[like me!), all chattering and clattering.

As entertainment, a young lady stepped up to a microphone and, using a studio track, worked her way through several pop songs, from different decades. She was receiving applause, but she also had to contend with the general hubhub.

My fork suddenly came to a stop in mid-air as I heard the drum into of 'Jimmy Mack'. The singer was using the exact arrangement, although recently re-recorded in a studio with session singers, but singing it up close to the microphone, in her own style, using her eyes and little gestures to emphasise the lyrics.

As she finished, I stopped in passing to say "You show great taste. I bought that record in the summer of 1967!". She beamed, paused her hand on the cue button, and said "Oh, thank you! I just loooove them and their records!!". I added, with a smile "Well, if you ever get a chance to meet them, they are lovely" and she replied "I HAVE, and you're right!".

Next one up was 'Please Mr Postman' - and not The Carpenters' arrangement, but The Marvelettes, with the same carefully replicated background voices.

Later came ' Dancing In The Street', and one lady instantly put everything down and rose to her feet, swiftly followed by others.

Almost all of that crowd in that packed restaurant was either well over 60 or looked it [[!).....while the singer was 40, at the very most. Young enough to be my daughter.

I still feel a bit ashamed to say it but, to this day I am always amazed, yet thrilled, that so many people of different ages recognise and love the music of Motown.

[Motown Eddie]

My first memory of hearing a Motown song is "Shop Around" by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles. And the first time I became aware of "The Motown Sound" was in 1964 with "The Way You Do The Things You Do", "Where Did Our Love Go", "Baby I Need Your Loving" & "Dancing In The Streets".

[sansradio]

Given that my three siblings closest in age to me were 6 to 12 years old when I was born, I suspect it was a Jackson 5 record. Let's say it was probably something from the Maybe Tomorrow album. Or quite possibly a Gladys Knight & The Pips record like "Neither One of Us [[Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)"; Miss Knight was my dad's favorite female vocalist [["Gladys is the baddest!").

[soulster]

"You've Really Got A Hold On Me" - The Miracles I heard in 1963, and I think we had the 45. I was all of a year old.

[BigAl]

I had taken notice of "Money," "Shop Around," and "Please Mister Postman," but I was only a pre-teen and I didn't connect them to each other in any particular way, nor did I recognize any subsequent Hitsville releases for the next couple of years as being related until I started buying records. They were just songs on the radio which I enjoyed but didn't look into very much. The first time I connected the dots was when "The Way You Do The Things You Do," "My Guy," "Where Did Our Love Go," "Baby I Need Your Loving," and "Dancing in the Street," all came roaring out in stupefyingly quick succession. That's when I started paying attention.

[Ngroove]

Either "Money" when played in an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures, or "Superstition" / "I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watching Me" when it was on the Halloween DTV [[Disney TV), early nineties.

[robb_k]

Either "Money" when played in an episode of Tiny Toon Adventures, or "Superstition" / "I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watching Me" when it was on the Halloween DTV [[Disney TV), early nineties.

One of my best friends [[now deceased), was a storyboard artist on "Tiny Toon Adventures". I worked on 3 films in USA for Warner Brothers Feature Animation. I'm glad that Disney likes Motown. I've worked about 33 years for Disney, and I worked about 10 for Motown, and consulted on several Motown-related projects since I left. Quite a coincidence that those are the 3 firms you mentioned. Actually, Motown engineer, Mike McLean, also worked at Warner's [[Cartoon Network). I wouldn't be surprised if he also worked for Disney during his long career.

[keith_hughes]

keith_hughes.....

And I notice you refer to Tamla Motown, once 'without' the hyphen, and once 'with'....and I seem to recall that one is technically more correct. The version without the hyphen? Or is that just a myth....?

WGB: I used the hyphen just once in my post, when transcribing, in quotes, what appeared on the back of the 1963 Stateside EP. Whoever designed the graphic used in the logo for UK Tamla Motown releases from 1965 onwards didn't use a hyphen, so I think that became the "proper" way to write it, and I guess that's why I left it out the other five times I used the words. But I wasn't really conscious of that as I wrote, just did what seemed natural ...

[westgrandboulevard]

KH : that's what I thought it might be. If anyone had asked me before, I would have been just a little unsure, without first checking, if there was a hyphen between 'Tamla' and 'Motown' on those old 'orange' 45 sleeves.

Same as I was never quite sure why the colour of the 45 single sleeves was later changed to a different colour [[more green?) - and didn't we also have, at one point, white sleeves for the singles, bearing pics of covers for recent TM album/'long-player' releases [[same images as seen on the inner sleeves of those 12" records?) - which I thought was a neat marketing idea, but already in use in the US- ?

[arr&bee]

I guess it would be[money].

[marybrewster]

I missed the "golden era" of Motown, but if I were to guess, I'd say the song that drew me in was "You Can't Hurry Love" by the Supremes. This for sure was the first Motown album I had: DRATS "Greatest Hits" [[although I still to this day can't figure out why it was credited to DRATS when everything was "Supremes".) I had found this at a rummage sale; in fact, of the double LP set, there was only one: the 2nd LP. Honey, if that thing wasn't scratched already, I played it until it was almost unlistenable, LOL.

This prompted me to dig through my parents record collection, where I found "Where Did Our Love Go", "I Hear a Symphony", and "Love Child". The "LC" LP was interesting in the fact that both sides have a Side A label. So when you played it, you never knew which side you were going to hear.

My real find, however [[and I'm sure I've told this story before) was finding "New Ways But Love Stays" at the thrift store. I for the life of me could not pick out which Supreme was Diana Ross, LOL. This would have been in the mid-80's so remember, there weren't a lot of Motown books out there; certainly no internet as we have it today, so I had NO IDEA that Miss Ross had left the group, and that they continued on. Imagine my confusion when I later found "High Energy", LOL.

[jobucats]

I think the first Motown song I remember was the Supremes' "Back in My Arms Again." After that, I was captivated. From then on, I would only purchase Motown related albums/singles up to around 1970.

[mowest]

It was early in 1961 while riding in the car with my brother. Mary Wells is on the radio belting out "Bye Bye Baby." She quickly became my favorite recording artist.

[mowsville]

My earliest memory of hearing a Motown song was when I was 2 years old and my mum had left a few of her records by the side of her record player and I had watched her before playing them so I knew how to operate the record player believe it or not...the record I pulled out and put on was "Always In My Heart" the B side of "Come See About Me"...I remember the haunting drums at the beginning mesmerising me and staring at the label so I could remember which record it was by the label design...the song is still one of my favourites and surely must have paved the way for my love of Motown.

[franjoy56]

My earliest memory of hearing a Motown song was when I was 2 years old and my mum had left a few of her records by the side of her record player and I had watched her before playing them so I knew how to operate the record player believe it or not...the record I pulled out and put on was "Always In My Heart" the B side of "Come See About Me"...I remember the haunting drums at the beginning mesmerising me and staring at the label so I could remember which record it was by the label design...the song is still one of my favourites and surely must have paved the way for my love of Motown.

thecfirst record i hesrd on t radio was shop around by the miracles and playboy by the marvelettes. Then became aware of motown with heat wave mickeys monkey, can i get a witness, and you lost the sweetest boy when t lovelites start shinning.