Originally Posted by
Quinn
Never actually listened to the "Duet" version of this tune all the way through. As I stated long ago, the mix in my opinion is less than appealing. Here's my take on events:
"Tears" had always been envisioned by Bristol & Fuqua as a solo track for Tammi. Marvin never entered their minds as the idea to pair them wasn't even on the table yet. We tend to forget that Motown did this primarily to give Tammi more exposure through Marvin since they couldn't really get a breakthrough song on her.
The song[[ like most at the time)only had two verses and had they relied on just those, the song would've been criminally short. Thus explaining the "gap", which is actually an instrumental break [[ listen to the whistling sound) as a guitar or saxophone probably wouldn't sound right. Had they not done that they would have to milk the chorus like a cow to get a decent running time for it. That's not a hole intended for Marvin.
Explaining the " 68" version of the tune, it's a botch job. Marvin sings the original second verse all the way through as it was written. Then the engineer had to create a "third verse" with Tammi singing the first half of the second verse and Marvin repeating the second half. Why sing the same verse twice? Wouldn't it make more sense to write a new verse?. Couldn't though with Tammi being in Ill health at the time and the "You're All I Need" album being readied for release. So I can see why this was never used or even mixed initially: it simply doesn't work and wasn't needed anyway.
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