Diana Ross singing The Lady Is A Tramp on the Tonight Show [[1977) [[VIDEO)

[Ian Scarlet]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb_AG8eyxDI&t=112s

[sansradio]

At long last! Thanks!

[Roberta75]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb_AG8eyxDI&t=112s

Now that's a real treat. Thank you dear.

Roberta

[TheMotownManiac]

Nothing short of amazing!

[PeaceNHarmony]

Wonderful. How beautiful can one woman be?! And the outfit, right? Diana sings the heck out of 'Lady' !

[RanRan79]

What an idiotic decision to have her sing this song instead of something more current, although she does a fantastic job of it, especially at the end.

[vgalindo]

Wow. I remember watching this when it first aired. Loved the performance but was a little disappointed that she didn't sing something from her latest album.

[motownlover1964]

I imagine she must have been sick and tired of performing that song; however, her sheer professionalism made it fresh and exciting.

[Jaap]

Seems the only logical reason for this song choice was to emphasize that her Broadway show An Evening With Diana Ross [[which is being promoted, rather than a latest single) is a Broadway show... but JC is also referring to the Midnight Special... would have been fun to see her do Love Hangover or One Love in a Lifetime instead. Amazingly how seemingly effortless Ross performed in the mid-1970s... great performance [[of a tired song).

[daviddh]

ran ran agreed. I thought she would sing Gettin

tin Ready For Love . pour decision in my opinion. that's why some songs didn't do well like One Love In My Lifetime.

[RanRan79]

that's why some songs didn't do well like One Love In My Lifetime.

David "One Love" really should have been a bigger hit. And when she sang it live she sounded so great! For all the talk about what Motown didn't do for the Supremes after Diana left [[and make no mistake about it, it's valid criticism), Motown didn't seem to be doing everything it should have for Diana either. A lot of missed opportunities for someone at the top of her game. Actually at the top of the game.

[TheMotownManiac]

Not even Motown can make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear and One Love was not a top 10 song IMHO. People seem to think all Motown had to do was “promote” a record and it would hit, but all it can do is get it played more sometimes. Promotion cannot force people to buy a 45 they don’t want and this record had a story line that was a sales killer. Great track and production, but a lyric that’s hard to make personal enough to identify with. I thought it was the worse choice for a release from the album for a Fourth single. I would have reissued I thought it took a little time… Only the album version this time… And promoted that instead.

[TheMotownManiac]

ran ran agreed. I thought she would sing Gettin

tin Ready For Love . pour decision in my opinion. that's why some songs didn't do well like One Love In My Lifetime.


Gettin Ready For Love was released 6 months after this, so I don’t think it was considered since it hadn’t been recorded yet.

[RanRan79]

Not even Motown can make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear and One Love was not a top 10 song IMHO. People seem to think all Motown had to do was “promote” a record and it would hit, but all it can do is get it played more sometimes. Promotion cannot force people to buy a 45 they don’t want and this record had a story line that was a sales killer. Great track and production, but a lyric that’s hard to make personal enough to identify with. I thought it was the worse choice for a release from the album for a Fourth single. I would have reissued I thought it took a little time… Only the album version this time… And promoted that instead.

Hindsight is 20/20, of course. And with posts like yours and mine it's all Monday morning quarterbacking. You might be right. The problem for me is that when I hear the song I hear "hit". It did manage to make it to number 10 r&b and number 25 pop, and apparently that was without any in your face promotion. Every song won't be a hit, that's a given. But there are cuts that, for some of us, seem as though their failure to pull in big numbers suggests a ball dropping. And because during this period of time, as it is said, Diana didn't do much television and when she did she was performing show tunes she first did while Florence was still one of her singing partners, it's not a leap to wonder if that impacted the song's success.

As for "I Thought It Took a Little Time", I think it deserved a second life too. More speculation: how well would the song have done the first time around if "Love Hangover" hadn't been rushed out?

[daviddh]

there were several times when Diana had songs out that I thought were really good and could have done far better if promoted and if Diana was more visable. she was not. I liked One Love In My Lifetime and thought it was funky. I also think Motown could have pushed the Diana ross album farther but instead released the Hits album on top of it in summer of 76. of course I bought both as I was a new DR fan. loved the DR album and the cover art. its a classic. I do also agree that It Took Time To Fall In Love deserved a second chance.
was the single version different than the lp ??
I also didn't like having a year wait until Baby Its Me was released. a long time to be off the charts.
I think Motown was too busy making movies and not paying attention to the music.

[Jaap]

One Love In My Lifetime wasn't a big hit in the Netherlands, but continued to receive some airplay way into the mid 1980s.

[TheMotownManiac]

Hindsight is 20/20, of course. And with posts like yours and mine it's all Monday morning quarterbacking. You might be right. The problem for me is that when I hear the song I hear "hit". It did manage to make it to number 10 r&b and number 25 pop, and apparently that was without any in your face promotion. Every song won't be a hit, that's a given. But there are cuts that, for some of us, seem as though their failure to pull in big numbers suggests a ball dropping. And because during this period of time, as it is said, Diana didn't do much television and when she did she was performing show tunes she first did while Florence was still one of her singing partners, it's not a leap to wonder if that impacted the song's success.

As for "I Thought It Took a Little Time", I think it deserved a second life too. More speculation: how well would the song have done the first time around if "Love Hangover" hadn't been rushed out?

Diana did it on Midnight Special and hundreds of thousands heard it in her shows......but we can just disagree on this. As far as ITITALT, I think it would have gone top ten....maybe top 5 as it sounded like the ideal follow-up to DoYou Know. Had Motown released it a month earlier, or even 6 weeks earlier when Do You Know began to drop, it would have proved itself one way or the other by the time Love Hangover was rushed out and could have supported itself with LH climbing as they were such different records. She’s had two or 3 records on the charts together several times.

[TheMotownManiac]

there were several times when Diana had songs out that I thought were really good and could have done far better if promoted and if Diana was more visable. she was not. I liked One Love In My Lifetime and thought it was funky. I also think Motown could have pushed the Diana ross album farther but instead released the Hits album on top of it in summer of 76. of course I bought both as I was a new DR fan. loved the DR album and the cover art. its a classic. I do also agree that It Took Time To Fall In Love deserved a second chance.
was the single version different than the lp ??
I also didn't like having a year wait until Baby Its Me was released. a long time to be off the charts.
I think Motown was too busy making movies and not paying attention to the music.

The single version was gussied up with more instrumentation, bass and a vocal chorus during the instrumental break that was kind of disco-ey sounding with an added beat. They were trying to make it more commercial but instead removed some of the subtle beauty of the charm of the song. I thought it was annoying to mess with it.

[daviddh]

Have to pull out my deluxe edition if DR and have a listen. One of my favorite singles

[RanRan79]

Diana did it on Midnight Special and hundreds of thousands heard it in her shows......but we can just disagree on this. As far as ITITALT, I think it would have gone top ten....maybe top 5 as it sounded like the ideal follow-up to DoYou Know. Had Motown released it a month earlier, or even 6 weeks earlier when Do You Know began to drop, it would have proved itself one way or the other by the time Love Hangover was rushed out and could have supported itself with LH climbing as they were such different records. She’s had two or 3 records on the charts together several times.

Yes, she did it once on television while it was fresh. [[She also did it on the tv special the following year but of course by then the song was done as a single.) Seems like Motown was more interested in Diana as a movie star at this point than a music star. Would "Love Hangover" have even gotten the push if it weren't for the other version? Sure we can debate "One Love In My Lifetime"'s hit potential, but after "Love Hangover" and until "Upside Down" Motown seems to have given little attention to Diana's music, and I think "One Love" was definitely a casualty of that.

[RanRan79]

The single version was gussied up with more instrumentation, bass and a vocal chorus during the instrumental break that was kind of disco-ey sounding with an added beat. They were trying to make it more commercial but instead removed some of the subtle beauty of the charm of the song. I thought it was annoying to mess with it.

I gotta disagree again Maniac.:p The album version is beautiful but I do think the single version has that something extra that was needed. My favorite version is the alternate vocal longer version, but I wouldn't have released that as a single either. The album and single versions are more polished.

[daviddh]

now I know I am pullin out the DR deluxe edition...my very first Ross solo album.still a favorite today.
I think its in my top 5. along with Diana ross 1970
Diana , the boss, baby its me, take me higher

[RanRan79]

now I know I am pullin out the DR deluxe edition...my very first Ross solo album.still a favorite today.
I think its in my top 5. along with Diana ross 1970
Diana , the boss, baby its me, take me higher

I'm not too fond of the album myself. My favs are Surrender, TMINTM, Diana and Marvin, the Boss and BIM.