Supremes Mysteries

[RanRan79]

One of the interesting things to me about the MJL performance on Dick Cavett is that "Where Did Our Love Go" is back, even if only in medley form. Was Lynda's run when it returned, or did it come back when Cindy was still in the group?

I consider the removal of "Where" from the live act to be one of the biggest mysteries of the Supremes. As far as I can tell, the last time the original trio performed it was at the Copa in 65. I imagine it might have been in the act at Lincoln Center, but maybe not. In any case, we know that after 1965 the Supremes never performed their first monster hit [[and maybe their biggest seller until "Love Child") ever again while Diana was in the group. That's criminal. You would think it would have made an appearance during the last hits medley on Sullivan or at the Farewell.

So what happened? Was it Diana who requested the song be removed, since she supposedly didn't want to do it in the first place, and with her gone, the song was able to come back?

I've seen some fans offer that the song didn't come across well live, but I've always disagreed with that. I love the version on TAMI Show and Hullabaloo, and the 20 Grand performance.

Maybe Diana will tell us.

What's a mystery surrounding the group that you would love to get an answer about?

[Thornton]

I don't know the reason, but I do wish they had kept it in. It certainly would have fit better in the DRATS medley than "My World Is Empty Without You." I love hearing Mary sing the song and wish she hadn't given it to Cindy and Susaye.

[sup_fan]

i think part of the reason Where was dropped was the wonderful problem of having too many hits. Berry, Gil and the others were very focused on having the "right" stage act for the girls and so it had to be a blend of MOR, showtunes, ballads, hits, etc. By 1966 the girls had so many hits that they simply had to start dropping some. certainly tunes that weren't #1 could easily be dropped like Heartaches and Itchin. But in general they did 5 or 6 hits. so they needed to pick a few more to drop

The hits were also significantly rewritten and arranged to sound more like a broadway tune than an HDH song. most seemed to work ok with this, some like In and Out might have even worked better. but some just didn't click with this style. WDOLG probably didn't translate quite as well. it doesn't have the super catchy "oooo" intro of Baby Love, it doesn't have the verses and lyrics like Come See, it doesn't have the iconic "Stop"

[sup_fan]

here's the mystery i want to know about

what happened to the head of Diana's microphone during the hits medley on Sullivan for the final appearance? when they get to Love Child and they go to the closeups of M and C, it's gone. but then when they start Someday, it's back

so it either fell off and they gave D a new mic during the break between the songs or they taped the whole thing 2x using 2 different mics. and for some reason, they needed to splice together the ending of the medley. so what happened during the ending that would warrant splicing?

[reese]

here's the mystery i want to know about

what happened to the head of Diana's microphone during the hits medley on Sullivan for the final appearance? when they get to Love Child and they go to the closeups of M and C, it's gone. but then when they start Someday, it's back

so it either fell off and they gave D a new mic during the break between the songs or they taped the whole thing 2x using 2 different mics. and for some reason, they needed to splice together the ending of the medley. so what happened during the ending that would warrant splicing?

I think the last Sullivan appearance was pre-taped. Even the applause sounds canned. So they did at least two takes of the hits medley, one with the cone head mike and one with the flat, and they did a nice edit. Maybe the cone fell off and that made a second take necessary. Maybe a choreography flub, a flat note, anything could have happened.

This one is probably equal to Diana's wig switch during the TCB open.

[marybrewster]

here's the mystery i want to know about

what happened to the head of Diana's microphone during the hits medley on Sullivan for the final appearance? when they get to Love Child and they go to the closeups of M and C, it's gone. but then when they start Someday, it's back

so it either fell off and they gave D a new mic during the break between the songs or they taped the whole thing 2x using 2 different mics. and for some reason, they needed to splice together the ending of the medley. so what happened during the ending that would warrant splicing?

Maybe that's what Cindy tripped on!

[marybrewster]

i think part of the reason Where was dropped was the wonderful problem of having too many hits. Berry, Gil and the others were very focused on having the "right" stage act for the girls and so it had to be a blend of MOR, showtunes, ballads, hits, etc. By 1966 the girls had so many hits that they simply had to start dropping some. certainly tunes that weren't #1 could easily be dropped like Heartaches and Itchin. But in general they did 5 or 6 hits. so they needed to pick a few more to drop

The hits were also significantly rewritten and arranged to sound more like a broadway tune than an HDH song. most seemed to work ok with this, some like In and Out might have even worked better. but some just didn't click with this style. WDOLG probably didn't translate quite as well. it doesn't have the super catchy "oooo" intro of Baby Love, it doesn't have the verses and lyrics like Come See, it doesn't have the iconic "Stop"

I've always wondered when "dropping" songs, why MY WORLD wasn't dropped also. To your point, there were many other songs that charter much higher; why keep a #5 song when you can do a #1 song?

[marybrewster]

My Supremes Mystery is:

When DRATS played the Hollywood Bowl during Cindy's debut, who's bright idea was it to keep BACK IN MY ARMS AGAIN in the set? Did anyone realize that Diana calls Mary and Flo out by name? Was Diana sh*tting in her gown when she got to that line? OR.....was keeping the song in a part of the "conspiracy theory" to lead the audience to believe it was Flo Ballard onstage?

[bradsupremes]

One of the interesting things to me about the MJL performance on Dick Cavett is that "Where Did Our Love Go" is back, even if only in medley form. Was Lynda's run when it returned, or did it come back when Cindy was still in the group?

I consider the removal of "Where" from the live act to be one of the biggest mysteries of the Supremes. As far as I can tell, the last time the original trio performed it was at the Copa in 65. I imagine it might have been in the act at Lincoln Center, but maybe not. In any case, we know that after 1965 the Supremes never performed their first monster hit [[and maybe their biggest seller until "Love Child") ever again while Diana was in the group. That's criminal. You would think it would have made an appearance during the last hits medley on Sullivan or at the Farewell.

So what happened? Was it Diana who requested the song be removed, since she supposedly didn't want to do it in the first place, and with her gone, the song was able to come back?

I've seen some fans offer that the song didn't come across well live, but I've always disagreed with that. I love the version on TAMI Show and Hullabaloo, and the 20 Grand performance.

Maybe Diana will tell us.

What's a mystery surrounding the group that you would love to get an answer about?

I think one of the reasons was that it really didn't work live. On record, it grabs you instantly with the foot stomps and hand claps, but that excitement doesn't transfer over to the live setting. The girls couldn't stomp and clap the whole time. The drums couldn't. It's a simple song so there wasn't much for the live band to do. Other than the baritone sax, there was no brass or strings. I guess they could have been written for a live setting but with other hits they had more to choose from. Frankly, I don't miss it from the live shows. It never worked for me. The only time was the TAMI Show, but everything else it falls flat.

[RanRan79]

I don't know the reason, but I do wish they had kept it in. It certainly would have fit better in the DRATS medley than "My World Is Empty Without You." I love hearing Mary sing the song and wish she hadn't given it to Cindy and Susaye.

I don't think I've heard Cindy or Susaye sing it. I think Mary sang it in Japan in 75.

I agree about "My World". I have no problem with the song being in the act, but it was wasted in that supper club medley style. It was a missed opportunity for Diana to really put her chops on display, keeping to the original vibe of the song.

[RanRan79]

i think part of the reason Where was dropped was the wonderful problem of having too many hits. Berry, Gil and the others were very focused on having the "right" stage act for the girls and so it had to be a blend of MOR, showtunes, ballads, hits, etc. By 1966 the girls had so many hits that they simply had to start dropping some. certainly tunes that weren't #1 could easily be dropped like Heartaches and Itchin. But in general they did 5 or 6 hits. so they needed to pick a few more to drop

The hits were also significantly rewritten and arranged to sound more like a broadway tune than an HDH song. most seemed to work ok with this, some like In and Out might have even worked better. but some just didn't click with this style. WDOLG probably didn't translate quite as well. it doesn't have the super catchy "oooo" intro of Baby Love, it doesn't have the verses and lyrics like Come See, it doesn't have the iconic "Stop"

Yeah, with all those hits, it makes sense that some have to be dropped. What doesn't make sense is why they weren't swapped in and out. I imagine it had to suck to be a Supreme fan after 1965 who loves "Where Did Our Love Go" but never gets to see the Supremes sing it again. Lol You'd think the song that set the group up for a legendary run would be something that was brought back in at least sometimes.

[RanRan79]

My Supremes Mystery is:

When DRATS played the Hollywood Bowl during Cindy's debut, who's bright idea was it to keep BACK IN MY ARMS AGAIN in the set? Did anyone realize that Diana calls Mary and Flo out by name? Was Diana sh*tting in her gown when she got to that line? OR.....was keeping the song in a part of the "conspiracy theory" to lead the audience to believe it was Flo Ballard onstage?

Diana actually says "and OH, she don't know". I'm betting this was the set up for quite some time for the show and since Flo was suspended last minute, it may not have made good logistical sense to drop "Back" and add something else, so remixing the verse was probably the best idea. Diana could sing "oh" instead of Flo to both throw off anyone who didn't realize Flo wasn't there and those who did.

[sup_fan]

Maybe that's what Cindy tripped on!

hahaha!!!!

[sup_fan]

Diana actually says "and OH, she don't know". I'm betting this was the set up for quite some time for the show and since Flo was suspended last minute, it may not have made good logistical sense to drop "Back" and add something else, so remixing the verse was probably the best idea. Diana could sing "oh" instead of Flo to both throw off anyone who didn't realize Flo wasn't there and those who did.

despite Diana stage patter about the conductor drinking and that they never know what they next song might be, the act was extremely structured. and i know we all know that drinking line was just a bit of corny stage dialog but the whole point of it was to be a lead in for a song with a really strong rocking rhythm. and a song with a bold and loud intro. out of their hits, you couldn't really use BL or Stop or Symphony or YCHL or Love is here in this spot. the vibe and/or the intro just wouldn't really work and wouldn't make the joke work. later they used YKMHO and sometimes Happening here. but for Hollywood Bowl, the Happening was their big encore number since it was just released and they wanted to hype up the movie tie-in. and YKMHO was the high-energy intro song. that means BIMAA was the only real option and they couldn't rewrite the whole show and dialog.

[BayouMotownMan]

I think possibly the main reason for getting rid of WDOLG is that they could never recreate the song anywhere close to the studio recording. It was actually quite boring when done live.

[floyjoy678]

To be fair Rick, none of the songs ever sounded the same live.

[sup_fan]

To be fair Rick, none of the songs ever sounded the same live.

true but for the most part, when done live, the songs were exciting. at least the 60s era ones. BL, Stop, Come See, my world, symphony, Back in my arms, YKMHO, love is here, YCHL, the happening, reflections - all of these songs were still very fun and high energy when done live

i would venture that Nathan Jones suffered a similar fate as WDOLG. NJ was such a studio recording and the handful of live versions i've heard just are not good. SL sort of worked although the frantic pace marred this one. the good thing is the girls would often have a live orchestra behind them so at least that was being easily replicated.

[khansperac]

Is “WDOLG” not being a good song live- the general consensus? In my opinion that is not true. The few clips I’ve seen on YouTube prove otherwise. I think their performance, especially on the TAMI show is quite exciting and sounds great.