Diana Ross, ''I'm Still Waiting", why this song wasn't a hit inthe U.S.A. ?

[johnbell]

Please can someone tell me why?

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

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

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

[smark21]

What other songs were on the charts or being released at that time in the US? The song is well produced but very sappy--in terms of lyrics, the arrangement and the background vocals. There are only so many sappy songs the pop market can support at one time. Also this song pretty much rehashes the same story as "Bang Bang He Shot Me Down". I think Bang Bang is the better song. The best version of Bang Bang is not the hit version by Cher, which is quite melodramatic, but Nancy Sinatra's which is starkly arranged by Lee Hazelwood and sung by Nancy, stripping it of melodrama and bombast and making it a work stark pop music art.

[RossHolloway]

Promotion. After Ain't No Mountain High Enough it seemed as if Diana's music career kinda lost its momentum. I don't know if it was just the quality of the material, or the focus on her movie career or time away to get married and start a family. But if you look at all her singles released in 197 and 72, none of them really tore up the charts. Plus when I'm Still Waiting was released wasn't Diana either pregnant with her first child or had just given birth to her first daughter, but I've never seen a live US performance of this song during this time period. I don't think Diana did any promotion for this 45- and I think that's why it did not chart better.

[Jimi LaLumia]

it was a plot by Motown to make Diana Ross look bad and to make the 70's Supremes look good, didn't you know? DJs were told not to play it,. and I went to a hundred record stores in NY and could not find a copy anywhere..Mary Wilson was secretly in cahoots with Berry Gordy to teach that Diane woman a lesson, by making her second album fail and produce no hits.. Poor poor Diane... bad bad evil Motown! and that off key singing friendless Wilson witch!..oh, for shame!

[RossHolloway]

Jimi- I know you mean well and that you're trying to be "funny", but that gets old after a bit. Can we give it a rest?

[Jimi LaLumia]

sure, Ross, as long as you share that same suggestion with everyone else..I think it's quite funny..

[daviddh]

the album EIE was released in Sept70 but the single wasn't released until sept 71???? a while year went by before it got a single release...... and yeah Diana did no Pr on it . I think she was touring UK??
it was also promoted or not in the right markets

[marv2]

Promotion. After Ain't No Mountain High Enough it seemed as if Diana's music career kinda lost its momentum. I don't know if it was just the quality of the material, or the focus on her movie career or time away to get married and start a family. But if you look at all her singles released in 197 and 72, none of them really tore up the charts. Plus when I'm Still Waiting was released wasn't Diana either pregnant with her first child or had just given birth to her first daughter, but I've never seen a live US performance of this song during this time period. I don't think Diana did any promotion for this 45- and I think that's why it did not chart better.

I thought we weren't allowed to use promotion or lack of as an excuse as to why a record bombed no matter how good it was? "I'm Still Waiting" was a good song and Diane did agreat job with it. I believe it was released in 1971 and I do not believe pending marriages, pregnancies or movies had anything to do with it bombing in the States. She was always a hit or miss artist.

[Lulu]

I adore EIE and always managed to have a copy in some format or another since it came out. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say it was a bit of a disruption in the Ashford & Simpson groove between her 1st and 3rd LPs. There's no cohesion and I think most of the general public get hooked on a sound and want to stick to it. Can you imagine if "No Matter What Sign You Are" was released between "Baby Love" and "Where Did Our Love Go"?

[captainjames]

I seem to remember that it was not even suppose to be a single release but the UK started playing it and loving it. It was then released in the states. It was good song but I have never heard Diana sing it in concert.

[daviddh]

BG thought Mountain was going to bomb and wanted a quick follow up.....the lp came out but no singles? until 1971

[daviddh]

I feel DR has a pop voice but she ,at times ,has had problems getting airplay. I remember when MISSING YOU came out, it wasn't until after she performed on AMA that the song took off. she has released many great songs that got or went nowhere
THOUGHT IT TOOK A LITTLE TIME TO FALL IN LOVE
GETTIN READY FOR LOVE

[reese]

I seem to remember that it was not even suppose to be a single release but the UK started playing it and loving it. It was then released in the states. It was good song but I have never heard Diana sing it in concert.

She performs in in the UK. In the States, I only heard her sing it once, during a 2002 concert. It was quite a surprise.

[supremester]

Deke crafted I'm Still Waiting for single release. He expected it to follow ANMHE, but Berry, always anal about follow ups, insisted on A&S and Remember Me wasn't ready, so rather than release a follow up to a platinum mega hit - He released nothing for two months after. STUPID. um, excuse me........not bright. Diana did no promotion for any of her singles in the 70's to speak of. NONE for the first few years at all.
I'm Still Waiting followed two flop singles a year after the album came out. She was just married, gave birth and recording the songs for Lady.
I think its a killer record - not my cup of tea exactly because i think the verse is too cloying and sappy, but, there was definitely a market for it and the chorus and subsequent chant are both brilliant. ideal for 1970 radio. Motown cost themselves a #1 record by mishandling it so terribly, and ruining any organic chance it may have had by cutting the last chart off the single............ruining it.
The upside is that had ISW hit, Doobe would have followed and I'm not sure I like that going out, but I love it. The bgs on both songs are the best she ever had up to that point.

[Sotosound]

She performs in in the UK. In the States, I only heard her sing it once, during a 2002 concert. It was quite a surprise.
It was actually a Number One in the UK in the summer of 1971 and this is probably the only reason that it got released as a single in the US.

It was so popular in the UK that EMI added it as the first track on the "Surrender" album, and renamed the album "I'm Still Waiting".

These days the track can be found on numerous UK pop and soul and Motown compilations.

Not long after this,"Doobedood'Ndoobe etc." was also released as a single in the UK and hit the Top 20. Of the two tracks, I prefer the latter because it's musically rather clever and attractive, even if it is just out and out pop.

[roger]

It was actually a Number One in the UK in the summer of 1971 and this is probably the only reason that it got released as a single in the US.

It was so popular in the UK that EMI added it as the first track on the "Surrender" album, and renamed the album "I'm Still Waiting".

These days the track can be found on numerous UK pop and soul and Motown compilations.

Not long after this,"Doobedood'Ndoobe etc." was also released as a single in the UK and hit the Top 20. Of the two tracks, I prefer the latter because it's musically rather clever and attractive, even if it is just out and out pop.

It actually debuted on the U.K. chart on 31st July 1971 and hit #1 in the U.K. on 21st August 1971 [[after a concerted airplay campaign by BBC Radio One D.J. TONY BLACKBURN) and stayed at #1 for four weeks.

This means that it would have been released in the U.K. at exactly the same time that "Surrender" was released as a single in the U.S. [[29th July 1971 according to TCMS11B).

Presumably Motown in the U.S. passed on releasing "I'm Still Waiting" as a 45 in July 1971 in favour of "Surrender" due to the disappointing U.S. reaction to "Reach Out I'll Be There" and felt that the rather more "up" sound of "Surrender" had more chance of success than the more subdued "I'm Still Waiting". In the U.K. Tamla-Motown passed on "Reach Out" as the follow-up to "Remember Me" [[which had been a #7 hit for Miss Ross) and released "I'm Still Waiting" instead, this would have been due to the enthusiasm displayed by TONY BLACKBURN [[who was the most popular and influential U.K. Radio D.J. at that time).

When "I'm Still Waiting" was finally released as a U.S. single it was presumably due to the song's huge success in Britain. In the U.K. "Surrender" was eventually released in late October 1971 and became another Top 10 Hit for her.

Personally I was never very keen on "I'm Still Waiting" and have always much preferred "Surrender" and "Remember Me".

Roger

[honest man]

Me too although she brought the house down when she sang this song in the UK 92 i think.lost count on the times i have seen my Motown Queen perform, cheers

[jobeterob]

Me too isn't that keen on I'm Still Waiting; that's why I think it wasn't a big hit in the USA. I prefer Reach Out I'll Be There, Surrender and Remember Me to ISW. I think I hit forward when it comes on a CD.

But it was a huge worldwide hit, much like If We Hold On Together.

I notice If We Hold On Together has large You Tube numbers, outdistancing many other Motown songs. It seems very popular over time.

[smark21]

Land Before Time was a very popular kids movie especially on home video. No doubt a lot of kids who grew up on it revisit the song on youtube for nostalgia's sake.

[midnightman]

It just didn't catch on here. Plus Motown was too busy promoting her as an all-around act that the music sometimes got lost.

[BayouMotownMan]

A lot of these are good and valid reasons why the song bombed in the US. After the failure of Reach Out and Surrender as singles, and lackluster results of the Surrender and Diana! lps [[as well as a tv special that didn't do boffo ratings), Ross suddenly married Bob Silberstein after discovering she was pregnant. This threw a huge wrench into Gordy's plans to launch her as a major artist. At this point Gordy pulled back to let Ross have her baby and was already deep into negotiations for LSTB. He didn't plan anymore releases on Ross until all the dust had settled on these events. Ross herself prepared for the arrival of her first child and began avid research on Billie Holiday. Motown UK believed strongly in ISW and it was released to huge success. Coming into the fall of 1971, Motown launched a massive release of singles all timed at 2:58 seconds [[all of that incorrect of course, Motown felt DJs wouldn't play anything over 3 minutes.) Among these releases were Marvin's Inner City Blues, 4 Tops MacArthur Park Pt 2, Supremes Touch and Martha's Bless You. Motown threw in the slightly shortened ISW into this mix moreso to let everyone know that Diana was still around. Radio programmers had kind of turned on Ross. The new Supremes were hitting big and they felt Ross was a little over-rated. This put Gordy under even more pressure to re-launch his star after feelings subsided over her sudden marriage. Gordy wagered everything on LSTB. If it failed, he failed, Ross failed and Motown would likely have to be sold. That's how much he believed in her. Ironically, of all those Motown 2:58 singles issued, only Marvin hit. The Supremes had their first post-Ross failure which they too would have a hard time overcoming.

[144man]

As Roger has shown, it all comes down to why it was a hit in the UK [predominantly the efforts of DJ Tony Blackburn, who fell in love with the record], rather than why it wasn't a hit in the US.