George Gordy/ Allen Story - Motown's Forgotten Writing Team

Between late 1967 and early 1973, George Gordy wrote and produced about 50 songs for Motown, mainly with Allen "Bo" Story, at other times with Lawrence Brown or Elgie Stover.

Although no massive hits resulted and many were unreleased at the time, they had an individual Motown sound of their own which I find appealing. As many of these are on YouTube, I thought members might like to give them a spin to alleviate the boredom of self-isolation.

An alphabetical list will follow, further details to be found on DFTMC.

Baby [[Don't You Leave Me) - Martha Reeves
Bad Bad Weather [[Till You Come Home) - Spinners; David Ruffin
Born Just to Be That Way - Edwin Starr
Bring Her Back - David Ruffin
Change Your Mind - Jimmy Ruffin

Darling Dear - Miracles;Jackson 5
Deacon Work - Shorty Long
Desperate Young Man - Originals
The Double Cross - David Ruffin; Fantastic Four
For Us Both I'll Be Concerned - Marvin Gaye
The Girl I've Chosen to Be My Bride - Joe Stubbs
Hope I Don't Get My Heart Broke - Marvin Gaye; Martha & Vandellas

I Just Can't Carry On - Bobby Taylor
I Let Love Slip Away - David Ruffin
[[I Never Loved) Nobody But You - Jimmy Ruffin
I Promise to Wait My Love - Martha & Vandellas
I Should Have Known It Was You My Love - Bobby Taylor
I Truly Truly Believe - Temptations [[lead EJK); [[lead MF)
I Wanna Say I Love You - Fantastic Four
I Won't Be the Fool I've Been Again - Martha & Vandellas
I'll Take Care of Business - Marvin Gaye
I'm So Glad I Got Somebody [[Like You Around) - Supremes
I'm Truly Yours - Eric & Vikings
In and Out of My Life - Martha & Vandellas
It Should Have Bee Me Loving Her - Bobby Taylor
Just Let Me Thank You for Loving Me - Originals

Little Too Much - Fantastic Four; Bobby Taylor
Living In A World I Created for Myself - Jimmy Ruffin
Maria [[You Were the Only One) - Jimmy Ruffin
Memories - Marvin Gaye; Bobby Taylor
Our Favorite Melody - Jimmy Ruffin [2 versions]
Pin Point It Down - Chuck Jackson; Fantastic Four
Play a Sad Song - Martha Reeves [production only]
Same-O Same-O - Four Tops
Souly Ghost - Spinners

Taking My Love [[and Leaving Me) - Martha & Vandellas
That's You Girl - Jimmy Ruffin
We'll Have A Good Thing Going - David Ruffin
What About Me - Smokey Robinson
What Christmas Means to Me - Stevie Wonder [not production]

You Didn't Show Girl - The Temptations
You Forgot to Remember Me - G.C. Cameron
The Young Folks - Supremes; Jackson 5
You're What's Happening [[In This World Today) - Marvin Gaye
You'se A Son of a Gun - Marvin Gaye
You've Been So Wonderful to Me - Supremes

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 144man

Baby [[Don't You Leave Me) - Martha Reeves
Bad Bad Weather [[Till You Come Home) - Spinners; David Ruffin
Born Just to Be That Way - Edwin Starr
Bring Her Back - David Ruffin
Change Your Mind - Jimmy Ruffin

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"Baby [[Don't You Leave Me)" is one of my favorites. I actually prefer it to the intended A-Side. Whenever I play it, I end up starting it over again because I love it that much. Everything from Martha's great vocal, the gorgeous string arrangement, and the popping bass line make this a great recording. Too bad it wasn't released. It might have been the start to a great solo career for Martha before Richard Perry.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y19OGu7O08w

"Maria [[You Were the Only One)" was also done by Michael Jackson and was the B-side of "Got to be There."

Thanks for that 144man.
I might look at compiling a CD of some of the best of these.

Thanks 144man - love the Spinners Bad, Bad Weather [[Till You Come Home)

Michael Jackson's version of "Maria [[You Were the Only One)" was produced by Hal Davis.

A lot of the Gordy/Story tracks seem to have a strange marching tempo. Others have a laid-back almost hypnotic quality to them. Jimmy Ruffin's "Change Your Mind" combines both of these elements and is one of my favourites.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 144man

Michael Jackson's version of "Maria [[You Were the Only One)" was produced by Hal Davis.

A lot of the Gordy/Story tracks seem to have a strange marching tempo. Others have a laid-back almost hypnotic quality to them. Jimmy Ruffin's "Change Your Mind" combines both of these elements and is one of my favourites.

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Sorry about that. Your original post does say wrote and produced.

^^^ I haven't been consistent myself. For instance I've included The Jackson 5's "The Young Folks", which also was produced by Hal Davis.

Them as well as LAWRENCE BROWN and ANNA GORDY did the phenomenal SAME O SAME for the tops. Why the hell was that not released? No excuse

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Originally Posted by snakepit

Thanks for that 144man.
I might look at compiling a CD of some of the best of these.

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Did you ever get round to compilng a CD?

Not yet..but I'm impressed with this line up of tunes.
I will get around to it...it will be a nice change to obvious tracks that's for sure

Looking at DFTMC, for Jimmy Ruffin's "Our Favourite Melody" it says alt. title "In And Out Of My Life", and for Martha & Vandellas' "In and Out of My Life" it says alt. title "Our Favorite Melody". Now they don't sound like the same tune to me. Am I missing something musically?

Don't think so.
I was under the imptession that "alt titles" were used for Union requirements for sessions....not always linked to an actual recording

^^^That makes sense.

Emmm both recordings show the same writers - producers - paperwork doesn't link them apart from the common team of writers - producers. In And Out was published 28th Dec 1971 and Our Favourite 16th June 1970. Looks like Erik and the Vikings may have had a go at In And Out Of My Life with the J5 considering it and a demo recorded fort hem. Curiouser and curiouser.

Bumped. See thread "Lawrence/ Larry Brown Composer & Producer".

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 144man

Little Too Much - Fantastic Four; Bobby Taylor
Living In A World I Created for Myself - Jimmy Ruffin
Maria [[You Were the Only One) - Jimmy Ruffin
Memories - Marvin Gaye; Bobby Taylor
Our Favorite Melody - Jimmy Ruffin [2 versions]
Pin Point It Down - Chuck Jackson; Fantastic Four
Play a Sad Song - Martha Reeves [production only]
Same-O Same-O - Four Tops
Souly Ghost - Spinners

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144man, you can add Martha Reeves & The Vandellas' version of "Living In A World I Created For Myself" to that list of George Gordy compositions and productions. When I took a tour of Motown's Donovan Building back in October 1971, George Gordy took me into his office and played me two brand new recordings he had just finished producing on Martha Reeves & The Vandellas. The first of the two he played was "In And Out Of My Life" which became the 2nd single released from their "Black Magic" album. The second track he played was Martha's "Living In A World I Created For Myself". I remember how surprised and impressed George was when I immediately recognized "LIAWICFM" just by the intro, as it had recently been released on Jimmy Ruffin's "Groove Governor" album. The only thing is, Martha's "LIAWICFM" was never released. I told Harry Weinger about it years go. He later reported that they had not been able to find it. A year or two went by when I asked Harry about it again. Still, they hadn't found it. Harry assured me that, if they had found it, they would have included it on Martha Reeves & The Vandellas' excellent 2-disc CD set "Lost & Found: Spellbound" from 2005 [[Hip-oSelect/Motown Select). As far as I know, the track still hasn't been found. But, as we've learned over the years, never say never when it comes to the Motown vaults.

In the late 80's, my brother & I went to visit Martha Reeves in Detroit.We went with her to the Motown Museum & that same day we went to a late lunch at the Roostertail all of a sudden George Gordy walks in. It was great meeting him and telling him how much I enjoyed alot of his songs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by motony

In the late 80's, my brother & I went to visit Martha Reeves in Detroit.We went with her to the Motown Museum & that same day we went to a late lunch at the Roostertail all of a sudden George Gordy walks in. It was great meeting him and telling him how much I enjoyed alot of his songs.

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What a neat story, motony! You and Martha AND George Gordy! This is the kind of stuff that dreams are made of! George was a heck of a nice guy! I was gonna write to him years later to see if he remembered me, and to see if he might have any idea of what could have happened to Martha's "LIAWICFM". As luck would have it, I waited too long. When I got ready to contact him, I learned that he had passed away. I felt really bad, too, as he was such a nice guy. And an excellent Motown producer.

Oh wow Gary, I would love to hear Martha & The Vandellas' version of "Living In A World I Created For Myself"! Was it good!!? :D

Yes, Tom! Martha's version was every bit as good as Jimmy Ruffin's. I can't swear on it, but I think both versions used the same backing track. And, of course, with The Andantes [[although I wasn't aware of that at the time. In 1971, I had never even heard of The Andantes). One thing that I remember for sure is that George had Martha singing LIAWICFM in a lower key than usual [[for her). It came off really soulful and kind of sexy. It's a beautiful song and production to begin with, and I can only hope that Martha's version turns up after all these years. Her many fans would surely love it.

PS: I take that back. I had indeed heard of The Andantes, thanks to the backstage photo of Kim Weston posing with The Andantes who were backing up Kim on stage for a live performance. But I also thought it was The Vandellas on those two studio tracks that George had played for me.

I am indebted to TomatoTom, who in the "Motown Artist Name Change" thread came up with the information that Allen Story recorded as "Shadee" in 1979.

As a postscript to this thread, it should be noted that Shadee released the album "I Just Need More Money" on Tamla in 1979.

Tracks were:
I Just Need More Money
Rock Star
Ballin'
Disco Hall of Fame
Darling I Love You So Much [[I Swear)
I Wanna Talk About Marrying You
Butterflies [[That's What Love Does)
Never Loved Anyone 'Til You.

Tamla released the single "I Just Need More Money, Parts 1 & 2" in the same year.

Just discovered a track I missed from my listing: "I Really Love You" by Rare Earth.