Supremes "I Hear A Symphony"

[RanRan79]

One of the most important singles in the Supremes catalog, wouldn't you agree? It has a more mature sound than their previous six hit singles, perhaps signaling that they were moving from girl group territory and into quite the lady act.

[JohnnyB]

One of the most important singles in the Supremes catalog, wouldn't you agree? It has a more mature sound than their previous six hit singles, perhaps signaling that they were moving from girl group territory and into quite the lady act.

I discovered Diana and the Supremes in the mid-seventies. Symphony caught my ear the first time I heard it, playing the Anthology LP, and it immediately became my favorite. There was something about the song structure and production that was head and shoulders above the others. Stop!, WDOLG, YCHL and Baby Love are the typical go-to hits, but Symphony is still my absolute favorite...

[Motown Eddie]

I agree RanRan; The Supremes' "I Hear A Symphony" is one of their most important hits. The symphonic overtones of the the song gave the group a more mature [[and more mainstream pop) sound. The success of "Symphony" also helped The Supremes get into the big mainstream venues like The Copa [[which played perfectly into Berry Gordy's plans for the group to go beyond the R&B/Pop category).

[sup_fan]

yep. this was a very important song

1. returned the girls to the #1 spot and showed that they weren't just a fleeting moment
2. mature sound - more sophisticated lyrics, the multiple key changes, lush strings and orchestration
3. really bridged the teen pop market and adult

[lucky2012]

Stop! was my introduction and More Hits was my first album [[bought by my mom). Nothing But Heartaches was my first single purchase.
Symphony was the first Supremes hit I watched zoom up the charts and BAM! hit #1! I could have turned cartwheels when I heard it announced as the #1 hit that week on Top 40 radio. I thought it was so sophisticated and beyond anything else on Top 40 at the time. [[I'd just turned 12). Yet, even then, I felt it was connected to the previous Supremes hits, with all the "baby, babys" and the saxophone break [[and the Motown beat).
A few months later, My World Is Empty Without You really turned my head/ears around as new, sophisticated and different.

[sup_fan]

I love the website The Diana Ross Project where the author goes, track by track, discussing and reviewing every DR/Sup album. every now and then there's a review of a song or something that i don't quite agree with but still a very fun site and great to read the different perspectives.

his write up of the song IHAS is perfect for this discussion:


3. I Hear A Symphony: Released in October of 1965, “I Hear A Symphony” became the sixth #1 hit for The Supremes on the Billboard Hot 100, an astounding tally for any group and especially impressive considering their first chart-topper had only been released in the summer of ’64. “I Hear A Symphony” remains one of the group’s most enduring hits, and it’s easily the most romantic song ever released by the Diana-Mary-Florence lineup; it was also the most lyrically challenging single delivered by H-D-H up until that point. In the accompanying booklet to the 2000 box set The Supremes, Lamont Dozier is quoted about the song: “We were aiming for a classical feel. If I don’t have a lyric coming in, or a title, I listen to a track and try to get a feeling of what the track is saying.” The track here says a lot; without the clacking footstomps that opened the group’s first major hits, “Symphony” already feels softer, and the series of upward key changes signals something more hopeful than “Where Did Our Love Go.” This is also a song that builds in intensity; whereas previous single “Nothing But Heartaches” hit the ground running and never let up, this time H-D-H give the composition room to grow, easing listeners in with a spare, vibe-dominated intro before layering in the swirling strings and celebratory piano. The structure of the song is more interesting than most probably give it credit for; instead of the typical verse-chorus-bridge framework, the writers separate each section by mood rather than melody. Consider this: The Supremes sing basically the same succession of notes over and over again, even as the key changes. What transforms over the course of the song isn’t that repetitive melody, it’s the strength of the of the musical track and potency of lyrics that accompany it. Those lyrics are passionate and poetic, and more expansive in scope than on anything the creative team had given The Supremes thus far; lines like “As you stand up holding me/Whispering how much you care/A thousand violins fill the air” feel far more mature than the “burning” and “yearning” of earlier hit singles. Of course, none of this would matter had the vocalists not risen to the challenge, and Diana Ross effortlessly picks up the musical cues and delivers an iconic performance. As Eddie Holland explained, “Her ear and her feel — she had a natural feel, a natural understanding for that kind of lyric. It wasn’t anything you could learn or that someone could give her. It was just very fortunate that it clicked” [[The Supremes booklet). Indeed, the singer’s great talent has always been interpreting a lyric with honestly and clarity; Ross is a vocalist who, at her best, never gives more or less than a song demands. She is coolly relaxed on the opening lines [[“You’ve given me a true love…”), but builds in intensity right along with the music until she’s brimming with emotion; listen to her wring an aching joy out of the brilliant lines, “Those tears that fill my eyes/I cry not for myself/But for those who’ve never felt the joy we’ve felt.” Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard offer up their patented hypnotic background vocals; it’s always great to hear them, but the ladies are more muted here than on past hits and don’t get much time to really break out beyond Diana’s commanding lead vocal. Still, this is a classic Supremes recording, and an important one to the group’s legacy; it wasn’t necessarily a radical departure, but it was a perfectly measured step forward, and the beginning of a wonderfully creative period between H-D-H and the Queens of Motown.

[RanRan79]

I discovered Diana and the Supremes in the mid-seventies. Symphony caught my ear the first time I heard it, playing the Anthology LP, and it immediately became my favorite. There was something about the song structure and production that was head and shoulders above the others. Stop!, WDOLG, YCHL and Baby Love are the typical go-to hits, but Symphony is still my absolute favorite...

I first recall hearing "I Hear a Symphony" around 1990 or 1991 on an episode of Video Soul on BET with Donnie Simpson. A clip of the song was played along with some trivia about the Supremes. Although "Symphony" was a huge hit back in the day, it was not one of the ones that was in regular rotation on the radio when I was a kid, unlike "Where", "Baby Love", "Come See", "Hurry" and "Hangin" were. So "Symphony" was new to me. When I acquired the Greatest Hits Vol 1&2 in 1992, that was my first time hearing the song in all it's glory.

[RanRan79]

That write up for "Symphony" for the DR Project is excellent.

[jobucats]

Just as the write-up that sup_fan shared From the DR Project stated: "it was also the most lyrically challenging single delivered by H-D-H up until that point " and "The Supremes sing basically the same succession of notes over and over again, even as the key changes," I've always felt that this song was probably difficult to memorize the lyrics. Diana was singing basically the same short melody over and over, assisted only by key changes, while singing different lyrics. Without a teleprompter it would be difficult to remember all of those beautiful lyrics in proper sequence. This, in my opinion, probably accounted for why she stumbled lyrically somewhat when it was performed on the Mike Douglas show.

Not directly related to "I Hear a Symphony", but still Supreme related [[Diana was a Supreme, right?)...other songs which I consider to be lyrically challenging are "It's My Turn" and "Do You Know Where You're Going To because one could get lost in the over and over same musical phrases.

[sup_fan]

I read something from Michael Masser about Do You Know. It modulates through multiple key changes until it end up back in the original key. structurally that's very significant as the music is "on a journey" through the various keys until it "finds itself" back at the original. combine that with the lyrics and it's really quite an impressive song. very very deceptively simple

[midnightman]

IHAS is a very sophisticated song...

[lucky2012]

"Whenever you're near, I hear a symphony..." is a much more sophisticated, mature, worldly and complex expression of a girl's feelings and attraction for a boy than "He's so fine! [[Doo lang, doo lang, doo lang)" or "Baby, it's you!" or even "Whenever I'm with him, something inside starts to burning..." [[this last one also from HDH).

[Boogiedown]

"Whenever you're near, I hear a symphony..." is a much more sophisticated, mature, worldly and complex expression of a girl's feelings and attraction for a boy than "He's so fine! [[Doo lang, doo lang, doo lang)" or "Baby, it's you!" or even "Whenever I'm with him, something inside starts to burning..." [[this last one also from HDH).

a tender rhapsody of love ....a thousand violins fill the air ..... by song's end , it seems that's exactly so. Diana's exuberance in her delivery and her pacing throughout is perfect . Love the urgency of her baby baby.

And I must be getting the hang of this ; I can clearly hear Mary's voice , especially on the long held last syllable of symphoneeee....@2:21 for instance. [[And if this is what the Supremes sound like with nary an Andante, then with all do respect, screw the Andantes!)

A side-note . Listening to the above youtube clip , I hear [[?) a strange distinct insertion of Diana's voice at 1:50 saying whenever you're near ...too loud/up close!

[Jaap]

Seven years ago, Dutch singer Giovanca [[who is now doing a tribute to Diana Ross theater concert tour) performed "I Hear A Symphony" live on a popular Dutch talk show.

[rovereab]

IHAS is a superb song and performance which to my thinking warranted a much stronger album than the song lineup that was released. The covers/standards with, what sounds like weak LA backing tracks, jar with the excellence of the original Motown songs on the album. HDH and others would have been able to have come up with new songs befitting the more mature Supremes sound, Everything Is Good About You is such a song.

I couldn't bring myself to buy the album at the time of its original release or when the expanded version came out. Thankfully with iTunes I can buy the songs that appeal on the album.

Like the standards/covers on Four Tops On Top, these songs were almost "The Sound Of Old America".

[WaitingWatchingLookingForAChance]

Like the standards/covers on Four Tops On Top, these songs were almost "The Sound Of Old America".

That was kind of the point. Bridge the generation gap, expand the fan base. The approach didn't do much for me, personally, but it did a heck of a lot for the Motown artists' long-term career. Explains why there have been no tv specials like "Chicago: The Making Of VJ Records"

[sup_fan]

IHAS is a superb song and performance which to my thinking warranted a much stronger album than the song lineup that was released. The covers/standards with, what sounds like weak LA backing tracks, jar with the excellence of the original Motown songs on the album. HDH and others would have been able to have come up with new songs befitting the more mature Supremes sound, Everything Is Good About You is such a song.

I couldn't bring myself to buy the album at the time of its original release or when the expanded version came out. Thankfully with iTunes I can buy the songs that appeal on the album.

Like the standards/covers on Four Tops On Top, these songs were almost "The Sound Of Old America".

yeah - i understand your point about the backing tracks not being as strong as they could be. Part of this i chalk up to HDH. these were some of their first "symphonic" tracks. they later produced the Supremes Broadway to Hollywood and oh my!! listen to the difference!!

I do like many of the MOR tracks on Symphony but wish they were better produced. that said, just like it's fun as a fan to listen to the growth and development of DMF from their early tracks to later, same for me with HDH and their evolution

[rovereab]

Just look what HDH did later with Walk Away Renee and If I Were A Carpenter, with the proper Motown sound the Four Tops "own" these songs. Just think how that approach would have worked with the standards/covers on IHAS.

[Roberta75]

Symphony is one of the best singles the Supremes ever recorded imo.