A song that often gets brought up whenever my older brother and I talk about music is "Love Is Like An Itching In My Heart." My brother isn't really much of a Motown fan, not that he isn't, but he's very much a Funk and Smooth Jazz guy. BUT, he is nuts about this Supremes song and often plays it and discusses the production on it. One day, it came to me that the reason this song didn't hit #1 on the pop chart is because this is one song that really has a decidedly R&B sound to it. It's not even really Soul, but pure, funky, R&B.

It always struck me that "Itching" has got so much of a gritty, gutbucket sound that it's just about the gutsiest thing in the Supremes' cannon of hits. This is more "street" than anything the Supremes recorded after "Buttered Popcorn". This has always been one of my most favorite of the Supremes hits and it surprised me that my brother was so high on it as well. Then I heard a version done in the late 80s or 90s that was big on Urban radio. We talked about that too and it only cemented my opinion about "Itching" having a certain Street Cred to it.

Certainly speaks volumes about the Supremes' versatility and anyone who thinks they couldn't get down, or had lost some essence of "Blackness" only needs to play this. And then shut your mouth!