How Did The Song LOVE HANGOVER Come About?

[Boogiedown]

It seems like the LOVE HANGOVER story is a bit of a mysterious one ....how it came to be. Was it conceived as a disco tune in the first place? Or did Hal Davis take it in that direction?

I've looked up Pam Sawyer and found a lengthy radio interview with her but unfortunately LOVE HANGOVER was not discussed.
A written magazine article with her turned out to be from 1973.
CALL HER MISS ROSS spends less than a page on LOVE HANGOVER.

I have a theory about the song and I thought before I investigate any further and perhaps find out I've got it totally wrong I'd present it:

So an overdue Diana Ross has kind of a hodgepodge LP being put together using several producers. Micheal Masser's productions have delivered her success including a recent #1 [MAHOGANY'S THEME] that's to be included , but for some reason he does only two other cuts for the album.

In the past, he and Pam Sawyer have written for Ross together. They do so again once here for the LP with I THOUGHT IT TOOK A LITTLE TIME .
But for LOVE HANGOVER Pam writes with Marilyn McLeod. Maybe for the first time?
Maybe its Marylin that comes up with the idea for LOVE HANGOVER and together they write the premise.

If Masser and Sawyer were in the habit of writing together specifically with Diana in mind ....perhaps this was to be the case with LOVE HANGOVER. But when Pam pitches their idea to Masser he is not impressed [particularity if its being suggested with a disco beat of which he has no interest.]
Masser does not further the song by joining in on the writing nor does he choose to produce it.

But Sawyer and McLeod still have a song idea. Enter Hal Davis with whom Pam has worked with before who does have some experience with disco under his belt with The Jackson Five especially the #1 DANCING MACHINE. He likes it and decides to run with it.


OK now let's back up a bit:

Still not resolved: how does the song LOVE HANGOVER itself come about??

It begins this way: The two ladies are brainstorming and just giving the process of songwriting together a whirl....

...to be continued

[sup_fan]

my memory is a bit sketchy on this but disco was already becoming a force in the industry. sure it would explode later in 77 with Sat Night Fever. but it was already really starting to break out. there are some really interesting videos, books and all on the history of it. the underground nature of the genre in the gay discos and the black and latino clubs.

of course dance music isn't anything new. motown was a top contributor of "disco" back in the 60s. it wasn't referred to as that, just dance music. but motown had started to loose it's dominance in dance music by the time the early to mid 70s roll about

with the rise of gay rights/power and the decline of the laws that limited interaction [[at one time it was illegal for men to be dancing together on a dancefloor unless there was a % of females present) the gay clubs began to spring up in cities line NYC, DC, LA, SFO. at the same time more and more labels took their cues from motown and you had the rise of a whole wealth of black, latin and r&b music. So clubs catering to these clienteles began to be recognized as fun placed to go and party. as the sexual revolution exploded, it was suddenly chic to attend a X rated movie like Deep Throat or to go to a gay dance club even if you were straight.

eventually these clubs grew in size and prominence. the dj's that could put together really hot lineups of tunes also grew in their stature and notoriety. They started to be heavy influencers on what was "hot" and would sometimes remix tunes to keep the beat moving. why change songs every 2:55 when if you mixed things, you could extend a dance track and keep the momentum going. the more dancers you keep going, the more money that's spent at the club, the more hype a club gets, the more people want to get into the club, etc.

motown was very late to the party here. Randy mentions that part of it being location - motown was now in LA and this disco scene was really more east coast. NYC, miami, DC, philly.

[sup_fan]

so i think LH was a rather calculated and deliberate effort to move Diana into something more hip and current. She was long established in the ballad and jazz area but needed something new and fresh. while the genesis of the song certain is a different story than Love Child, i think in both cases is was a very specific action of "hey our top girl needs a song and it needs to be totally current and fresh and 'now'"

[Spreadinglove21]

Ever hear of a song called Love to Love You Baby? I suspect Love Hangover came about to capitalize on the success of that song.

[Boogiedown]

so i think LH was a rather calculated and deliberate effort to move Diana into something more hip and current. She was long established in the ballad and jazz area but needed something new and fresh. while the genesis of the song certain is a different story than Love Child, i think in both cases is was a very specific action of "hey our top girl needs a song and it needs to be totally current and fresh and 'now'"

So you are of the opinion that LOVE HANGOVER was written specifically for Diana by the two ladies?

What do you think of the idea that they submitted LOVE HANGOVER to Masser , who most likely had been given the green light to do as much as he wanted on the album, [and he'd be shopping for potential material], but he gave it a thumbs down, bumping it to Hal Davis?

[sup_fan]

So you are of the opinion that LOVE HANGOVER was written specifically for Diana by the two ladies?

What do you think of the idea that they submitted LOVE HANGOVER to Masser , who most likely had been given the green light to do as much as he wanted on the album, [and he'd be shopping for potential material], but he gave it a thumbs down, bumping it to Hal Davis?

i'd not heard that before. outside of his work with Diana, i'm not sure familiar with all that Masser did. I know he collaborated with Ron Miller on TMITM but outside of that did he do much? had he worked with Pam and team on other tunes?

[Boogiedown]

i'd not heard that before. outside of his work with Diana, i'm not sure familiar with all that Masser did. I know he collaborated with Ron Miller on TMITM but outside of that did he do much? had he worked with Pam and team on other tunes?

Regarding LOVE HANGOVER , this is all just fantasy-on-parade since there's the apparent lack of the real story.

Masser and Sawyer wrote the b side of Thelma's 45 of THANK GOD FOR GPS [aka DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU'RE GOING TO?]


I take it that Pam was more of an assistant when it came to song writing. A fill-in-the gaps , ideas contributor ...She seems to hop from writers to writers --- maybe by being in the hallway at the right time . I don't think she has a single songwriting credit where the song was all her own doing.

[Boogiedown]

So we've got
Pam and Marilyn getting together to do some songwriting. Pam and producer Michael Masser are coming off LAST TIME I SAW HIM a hit written by the two of them , and she and Michael already have one new song, TOOK A LITTLE TIME, for Diana's next album so Pam's likely aware that Masser is looking for more materiel to produce for Diana for the new LP .

Now
as Pam And Marilyn put pen to paper, Pam is not likely the leader between them as I've noticed she doesn't have a cache of songs she's sat down and written ... she co-writes and often with several people working on one tune at a time....she seems to be more of a pitch hitter.
Also Marylin is perhaps the spicier of the two, especially when it comes to song concepts ... together they will later come up with YOU CANT TURN ME OFF RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF TURNING ME ON .... so the thought of Diana having a love hangover might be attributed to Marylin as Pam hasn't taken her writing in this direction before.
So
They are writing a song with Diana Ross in mind..... what could it be about?? They review what Ross has done in the past and something jumps out.
We've got Diana Ross bleakly waking up with doom and gloom twice, on both GOOD MORNING HEARTACHE and TOUCH ME IN THE MORNING.
What if instead of poor miserable me, we flip it! And now Diana wakes up feeling altogether glorious.

IOW, we Scarlet O'Hara her:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/WlS9EGLrfo8

or as this clip's frozen image visually captures:

Spreadinglove21:

Ever hear of a song called Love to Love You Baby? I suspect Love Hangover came about to capitalize on the success of that song.

This is where I think Hal Davis steps in. Michael Masser finds the whole hangover concept tawdry, beneath him and Miss Ross.

Davis, whom Pam has also worked with, takes to their idea and hears something else in LOVE HANGOVER ...
.... "we'll Donna Summer it!!!"