No Ones Gonna Be A Fool Forever - Should it have been the next single?

**jobeterob** · 05-08-2018, 04:59 PM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v5M4yFYQ1s

**sup_fan** · 05-08-2018, 05:22 PM

anything would have been better than Sleepin' I barely even like Sleepin as an album track. much less a single. it's just one of the most depressing songs. who on earth would want to be driving along with the radio on or at home doing the dishes and listen to that one!?!?

No One would have been a good follow up choice and it has at least a few musical similarities to Last Time. both being produced by Masser meant there was some commonality between them.

I do agree that some strong tracks were left off of this lp. could have been much better

**daviddh** · 05-08-2018, 06:56 PM

no to syrupy for me

**RanRan79** · 05-08-2018, 07:34 PM

No way. Not r&b enough IMO. If I ignore the unreleased cuts and can only choose a song off the album as released, I'm going with "I Heard a Love Song" as the next single.

**RanRan79** · 05-08-2018, 07:36 PM

Originally Posted by sup_fan

anything would have been better than Sleepin' I barely even like Sleepin as an album track. much less a single. it's just one of the most depressing songs. who on earth would want to be driving along with the radio on or at home doing the dishes and listen to that one!?!?

I have two words for you: "Strange Fruit". "Sleepin" is depressing, but that's the story. I like a song with some meat to it. It aint gonna get the party started, but I love Diana's vocal and the lyrics.

**TheMotownManiac** · 05-08-2018, 07:48 PM

Sleepin’: Great album cut, insane single release. ‘No ones’ is not single material - it’s weak and has no story. I heard a love song, stone liberty, or maybe, love me would be the choices however none of them were going to the top. I heard a love song has such a weak lyric, I’m going to withdraw it even with the strong track. Probably Stone Liberty but with the vocals cleaned up a bit to make the lyrics easier to grab.

**Circa 1824** · 05-08-2018, 07:56 PM

Yes, I think No One .... would be a possibility. Love Me would be better.
Sleepin' and Stone Liberty were horrible.

**jobeterob** · 05-09-2018, 12:10 AM

I thought Stone Liberty was a possibility but then I liked Sleepin too

**Bluebrock** · 05-09-2018, 02:53 AM

Originally Posted by jobeterob

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v5M4yFYQ1s

I agree. It was catchy and commercial , and would have surely done better than the dreary "sleepin" which was an ok album track but nothing more. Here in the UK we got "love me" which is another pleasant song but hardly a sure fire smash.
The whole album was a mistake in my opinion. A real mish mash and clumsily put together. Some of the canned tracks were better, but even they were nothing special. By far her worst Motown album - until "workin overtime" came along many years later!

**sup_fan** · 05-09-2018, 11:08 AM

Originally Posted by RanRan79

I have two words for you: "Strange Fruit". "Sleepin" is depressing, but that's the story. I like a song with some meat to it. It aint gonna get the party started, but I love Diana's vocal and the lyrics.

Strange Fruit and Sleepin are by NO MEANS in the same class. of course both are dealing with extremely serious topics. but Strange Fruit has the benefit of amazing lyrics that paint a picture through imagery. the juxtaposition between the lines line "the pastoral scene of the gallant south" with "the bulging eyes and twisted mouth." that's amazing. and was a hugely important song on social commentary. Also the structure of the song allows Billie significant freedom to improvise and demonstrate her vocal talents. She almost dictates the song

Sleepin' is none of that in any manner or form

**PeaceNHarmony** · 05-09-2018, 11:10 AM

Coincidentally I listened to the expanded LTISH over the weekend and loved it all over again. Diana's singing is [[as usual) superb and the arrangements are great. It is certainly a rather gentle, pop lp but a great listen just the same. SL may have been hit-ish, in the time of 'character' songs appearing on the radio. I think Diana could work the single LTISH into her act and the audience would love it.

**sup_fan** · 05-09-2018, 11:14 AM

while not her strongest work, I do think the lp had potential. And I disagree that it was her weakest Motown Phase 1 album. Ross is the worst IMO and even if we played around with the other unreleased tracks from that period, the best you can cobble together still isn't magic.

I think Last Time would have done much better with the lineup of:

Last Time I Saw Him
Get It All Together
Why Play Games
Since I Don't Have You
No One's Gonna Be A Fool Forever

I'll Be Here
Love Me
I Heard A Love Song
Stone Liberty
You

**RanRan79** · 05-09-2018, 12:01 PM

Originally Posted by sup_fan

Strange Fruit and Sleepin are by NO MEANS in the same class. of course both are dealing with extremely serious topics. but Strange Fruit has the benefit of amazing lyrics that paint a picture through imagery. the juxtaposition between the lines line "the pastoral scene of the gallant south" with "the bulging eyes and twisted mouth." that's amazing. and was a hugely important song on social commentary. Also the structure of the song allows Billie significant freedom to improvise and demonstrate her vocal talents. She almost dictates the song

Sleepin' is none of that in any manner or form

They're in the same class if you're talking depressing song content. I can't imagine anyone doing dishes or driving down the street going "ooh, let me put on some 'Strange Fruit'". LOL "Sleepin" is dramatic, told from the POV of someone who loves an addict who has apparently bitten the dust. When Diana does the line about "he's just sleepin mister", conveying the state of denial she's in, I feel it. Been there. She's not singing about drug addiction in the usual Motown way of social commentary from the outside looking in, she's playing the part of a woman who loves a man who has just done himself in via his vice. Personally I find the story compelling, sadly relevant today as it was at the time of release, and Diana's ability to tell the story with her voice captivating. Depressing for sure, but Diana turns in a great portrayal IMO. I love everything about the record: the lead, the background, the musical arrangement, the lyrics. It all made for a great album track. But it lacked that thing that makes a Diana Ross song a hit and somebody should've been slapped for making it a single.

**reese** · 05-09-2018, 12:05 PM

Originally Posted by RanRan79

They're in the same class if you're talking depressing song content. I can't imagine anyone doing dishes or driving down the street going "ooh, let me put on some 'Strange Fruit'". LOL "Sleepin" is dramatic, told from the POV of someone who loves an addict who has apparently bitten the dust. When Diana does the line about "he's just sleepin mister", conveying the state of denial she's in, I feel it. Been there. She's not singing about drug addiction in the usual Motown way of social commentary from the outside looking in, she's playing the part of a woman who loves a man who has just done himself in via his vice. Personally I find the story compelling, sadly relevant today as it was at the time of release, and Diana's ability to tell the story with her voice captivating. Depressing for sure, but Diana turns in a great portrayal IMO. I love everything about the record: the lead, the background, the musical arrangement, the lyrics. It all made for a great album track. But it lacked that thing that makes a Diana Ross song a hit and somebody should've been slapped for making it a single.

I've actually wondered how SLEEPIN' went over in performance. One of its writers, Ron Miller, said that he went to see Diana in Vegas, and she sang his songs TOUCH ME IN THE MORNING, FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE, and SLEEPIN'. After SLEEPIN', he said she cried her eyes out.

**RanRan79** · 05-09-2018, 12:26 PM

Originally Posted by reese

I've actually wondered how SLEEPIN' went over in performance. One of its writers, Ron Miller, said that he went to see Diana in Vegas, and she sang his songs TOUCH ME IN THE MORNING, FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE, and SLEEPIN'. After SLEEPIN', he said she cried her eyes out.

Whoa...you telling me she did this song live?? One more thing to add to my wish list of live recordings surfacing somewhere. I'd take one live "Sleepin" over all the "Lady Is a Tramp" live recordings.

**florence** · 05-09-2018, 02:22 PM

There really wasn't much in the way of a commercial single on LTISH other than the title track.

It did better than many think - don't forget it was top 10 in both Cash Box and Record World whose charts were based on sales only at that period and as we all know it was smash at AC.

Considering her status in the UK at the time Love Me was pretty much a disaster as a single just creeping into the top 40 but imo it didn't really deserve much better.

As Bluerock has previously explained the DJ on Radio 1's Breakfast Show at the time - which was hugely influential - tried to do with it what Tony Blackburn had done with I'm Still Waiting.

Personally I love Diana's rendition of Behind Closed Doors but I doubt it would have been a starter as a single although I believe it was released as such in Southern Africa making the South African Top 20 and reaching the dizzying heights of #2 in Zimbabwe whose chart was compiled on sales alone.

**jobeterob** · 05-09-2018, 06:45 PM

Last Time I Saw Him was Billboard’s #1 Adult Contemporary Single of 1974 - or was it 1973?

**PeaceNHarmony** · 05-10-2018, 05:59 AM

Originally Posted by reese

I've actually wondered how SLEEPIN' went over in performance. One of its writers, Ron Miller, said that he went to see Diana in Vegas, and she sang his songs TOUCH ME IN THE MORNING, FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE, and SLEEPIN'. After SLEEPIN', he said she cried her eyes out.

I've always wondered if Diana's late brother was already having substance issues at that time and if that may have influenced her interest in the song and her spectacular performance of it?