Diana Ross "Sleepin"

**RanRan79** · 08-14-2019, 10:57 AM

Originally Posted by Bluebrock

She never cared for the song and indeed the whole album which makes her decision to perform it on the muppet show all the more baffling.

She killed it though. That part with her and Floyd and the guitar was great. I wish Diana had recorded and performed more with minimal instrumentation to really show off how great of a singer she was. Her performance of "Reach Out and Touch" on the show is also probably my favorite vocal of hers on the song, aside from the single.

**gordy_hunk** · 08-14-2019, 07:04 PM

Interestingly, this LP was played by me far more times than Touch Me In The Morning [[I didn't care for 'save the children / brown baby' for example - I just thought they were painfully dull).

I particularly liked 'I heard a love song' and 'stone liberty' and even 'behind closed doors'. The weak point on this LP - for me - was 'turn around'.

Until reading the forum this evening, I've never even thought about the lyrics for 'sleepin' and hadn't even considered what Diana was actually singing! I do understand that it wasn't strong enough for a single, but it is a decent LP track.

**Boogiedown** · 08-16-2019, 12:27 AM

LAST TIME I SAW HIM was Motown's attempt to ride the coattails of Tony Orlando's meteoric surge in popularity by doing storytelling razzmatazz styled songs .

The summer before LTISH was released in December 1973, this Tony Orlando & Dawn song shot up to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100[[ three weeks #1 Adult Contemporary) .

even the storyline is quite similar.

**144man** · 08-16-2019, 10:56 AM

Originally Posted by gordy_hunk

Interestingly, this LP was played by me far more times than Touch Me In The Morning [[I didn't care for 'save the children / brown baby' for example - I just thought they were painfully dull).

I particularly liked 'I heard a love song' and 'stone liberty' and even 'behind closed doors'. The weak point on this LP - for me - was 'turn around'.

Until reading the forum this evening, I've never even thought about the lyrics for 'sleepin' and hadn't even considered what Diana was actually singing! I do understand that it wasn't strong enough for a single, but it is a decent LP track.

"Stone Liberty" was a very good song with an excellent vocal performance by Diana. It would have been strong enough to have been a single if they had doubled the length of the chorus the first two times it was sung and tightened up the bridge.

**detmotownguy** · 08-17-2019, 07:21 PM

Originally Posted by sup_fan

i agree that Brown Baby wouldn't make for an appropriate single. And Little Girl Blue wouldn't either. but that's not the point. they weren't intended for that but as for exquisite album tracks that show off the versatility of the artist. it is amazing that with so many producers involved that TMITM is as solid and cohesive of an album.

Little Girl Blue is one of the best vocal performances EVER by Diana Ross. even if this type of a jazz ballad isn't your primary go-to sound, you can't deny the fact that her singing, tone, lyric interpretation is one of the best of this song by any artist at any time. I'm including Ella Fitzgerald, Billie and the many many others that tackled this sad and emotional song.

as for To the Baby, i realize that it might have hit or might have not. but by the early 70s, many other artists were really using the LP as a form of artistic expression. While the songs are certainly not as strong as Tapestry by King, the statement Diana would have been making here would have been just as powerful. i think the public would have at least respected it. and if something as blah as Everything Is Everything and Ross 78 could bubble around the mid-range of the Top 100, Baby would have done at least as well if not better. simply because people would have respected it

IMO that is

Did she ever sing Brown Baby live? I haven't listened to the album in years, but I remember the album had a sense of cohesiveness/quality. It seemed that much thought was employed in making a quality product unlike some of her other albums. No "hodge podge" filler IMO.

**marv2** · 08-18-2019, 12:27 AM

Originally Posted by detmotownguy

Did she ever sing Brown Baby live? I haven't listened to the album in years, but I remember the album had a sense of cohesiveness/quality. It seemed that much thought was employed in making a quality product unlike some of her other albums. No "hodge podge" filler IMO.

She was attempting to copy Marvin Gaye, but just couldn't make it.

**marv2** · 08-18-2019, 12:29 AM

Originally Posted by Boogiedown

LAST TIME I SAW HIM was Motown's attempt to ride the coattails of Tony Orlando's meteoric surge in popularity by doing storytelling razzmatazz styled songs .

The summer before LTISH was released in December 1973, this Tony Orlando & Dawn song shot up to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100[[ three weeks #1 Adult Contemporary) .

even the storyline is quite similar.

Yeah, I remember. I used "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree" as an example of the type of music popular at that time.