Remembering The Supremes' "Things Are Changing"

[Motown Eddie]

From UMusic.com-

You won’t find it in any chart books, but we’re remembering a rare 1965 promotional release by the Supremes, on which they sang a Phil Spector song about equal opportunities, as a public service announcement by the Advertising Council.
“Things Are Changing” was released as a radio-only promo single in America in the fall of 1965, trumpeted by an August missive from the Motown press office. As documented in Volume 5 of the exemplary The Complete Motown Singles, it announced: “Detroit’s Supremes, recently tagged by a Variety reviewer as the ‘Andrews Sisters of the ’60s,’ have recorded a jingle for a massive national radio advertising campaign aimed at convincing American youths that employment opportunities in big business are now available to them.”

More than a jingle, “Things Are Changing” was a full song, including spoken word sections by Diana Ross, who declared: “I’m going to tell you about equal opportunity” before singing: “There was a time when the world was fickle and it may have been hard to succeed/But times have changed now and school and training is all you really need.” Then, with Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard harmonizing, the message went on: “It doesn’t matter who you may be, everyone’s equal with the same opportunity.” Things, the song avowed, were changing for the better.

The track certainly had an unusual history. The idea for a non-commercial “message” song grew out of the 1964 establishment by President Lyndon B. Johnson of the Equal Employment Opportunities Committee, and its cooperative program Plans For Progress, which brought the EEOC together with representatives of American business.

When red-hot writer-producer Spector was proposed as a potential contributor, he revisited a song called “Don’t Hurt My Little Sister” that had brought to him by his staunch disciple Brian Wilson, who hoped it would be suitable for his beloved Ronettes. To Wilson’s undoubted chagrin, their collaboration was abandoned, whereupon Brian completely rearranged it for the Beach Boys, who cut it for their Today! album of 1965, albeit with a completely Spectoresque introduction.
Spector then wrote new lyrics to the track to fit the employment campaign messaging, and passed the project on to Jerry Riopelle, a staff producer at his Philles company. The Supremes cut their vocals over the backing track, and the song was also recorded, for a separate promo single, by Jay and the Americans, and sent to US stations as the summer of 1965 turned to fall. It was just before the Supremes would hit the Hot 100 with the song that became their sixth pop No.1, “I Hear A Symphony.”
A third version by the Blossoms, whose lead singer was Darlene Love, was also produced by Riopelle and went to radio early in 1966. But in the hands of the Supremes, the message of female Black empowerment and opportunity rang out loud and clear.

[RanRan79]

There's a rather, um, interesting thread about this song somewhere in Forumville. But I'm a rebel and will restate my thoughts on this song no matter how anyone feels about it.

The production is fantastic. Diana sounds very good and Florence and Mary are invaluable to the charm of the recording. Dare I say that in the hands of Phil Spector, the Supremes may have been as big as they were with Motown. And by that I mean the girls sounding so appealing with the Wall of Sound behind them as opposed to the Motown Sound, not necessarily that Phil had the vision and goals Gordy did with the group.

That being said, I always found the message condescending. The history behind the recording backs up my original feeling. The target audience was being told that race no longer stood as a hinderance to success, which was BS. I wish I could find the thread where this discussion took place some time ago because I sourced a book, who's title escapes me, that goes into the details of the entire campaign's formation, which was racist itself.

"But in the hands of the Supremes, the message of female Black empowerment and opportunity rang out loud and clear."

But did it though? Lol The lyrics of the song are so ridiculous that it's laughable. But there is no denying the Supremes made it sound good.

[reese]

https://soulfuldetroit.com/showthrea...hings+changing

[Motown Eddie]

https://soulfuldetroit.com/showthrea...hings+changing

My Mistake: I didn't know there was a thread about "Things Are Changing" already. Thanks Reese & RanRan.

[reese]

My Mistake: I didn't know there was a thread about "Things Are Changing" already. Thanks Reese & RanRan.

No problem. That other thread was three years ago. Myself, I like reading the old threads on this site and do it quite often.

[RanRan79]

https://soulfuldetroit.com/showthrea...hings+changing

Thanks Reese. I tried to find it, but couldn't. Leave it to you, as usual.

Gosh, that was a pretty brutal thread. I kind of hate it's been resurrected, but my thoughts in it- beyond the insults and profanity- better convey my thoughts about the song than I was able to recreate here.

[RanRan79]

My Mistake: I didn't know there was a thread about "Things Are Changing" already. Thanks Reese & RanRan.

No mistake Eddie. Multiple threads about the same subject- especially here in the DRATS department- are common place. That other thread got derailed and there's a lot of nonsense within it, so your thread would certainly be the better "Things Are Changing" thread for people to find thoughts on the song.

[RanRan79]

No problem. That other thread was three years ago. Myself, I like reading the old threads on this site and do it quite often.

Sometimes when I'm watching TV and commercials come on or I'm waiting for the noise in the house to subside a bit, I'll pull the forum up and read over old posts. It's interesting sometimes to read how my own opinions about a song or whatever may have changed over the years I've been active in the forum.

[reese]

Sometimes when I'm watching TV and commercials come on or I'm waiting for the noise in the house to subside a bit, I'll pull the forum up and read over old posts. It's interesting sometimes to read how my own opinions about a song or whatever may have changed over the years I've been active in the forum.

During the day, I read old threads quite often, especially if I don't see any new threads to contribute to.