The Marvelettes: The Hunter Gets Captured By the Game - What is it about?

[dzMusica]

Hello,

What is the song "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game" by the Marvelettes about?

Sincerely,
dzMusica

[RossHolloway]

What do YOU think it's about?

[randy_russi]

She was on the hunt for him; he caught her!!!

[motony]

say you are on a bear hunt, the bear doubles around and comes up behind you & chomp, Chomp...the hunter got caught by the game. Its an old sayin.

[dzMusica]

say you are on a bear hunt, the bear doubles around and comes up behind you & chomp, Chomp...the hunter got caught by the game. Its an old sayin.

LOL. That's funny!!

[dzMusica]

What do YOU think it's about?

If I knew, why would I ask? The title is a little different from other songs.

[BobC]

I never heard that song so I have no idea.

[randy_russi]

Smokey was clever like that! He took a lot of sayings and turned them into hit songs, example: You Beat Me To The
Punch which Mary Wells recorded.

[roger]

I never heard that song so I have no idea.

Isn't someone in for a treat then!!

The song -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hobp_tMTa0E

The lyrics ..

http://www.lyrics007.com/Marvelettes...%20Lyrics.html

Roger

[jobeterob]

I agree...............but the bear is the boy; he is on the trail for his girl and love hits him like a sudden slap; and things are never the same..........cuz he got caught by the game. I think she gave it away........and trapped him. Or maybe she said NO.........and that made her even more tantalizing, desirable and lovely.

[randy_russi]

Well, actually, it is SHE who's been [[secretly) trailing him, but love hits HER like a sudden slap, one kiss and then SHE
knew it. He was the catch that SHE was after, but looked up and was in HIS arms, and knew SHE had been captured.

[BobC]

I never heard that song. Was it a big hit?

[nosey]

I used to tell my hubby that all the time. He thought I was going to be easy and that he would hit and run but instead, he got caught! LOL!

[motownlover1964]

I believe it rose to #13 or #14 on the Pop charts; and #3 on the R&B charts.

[motony]

#13 Billboard Hot 100 #2 Soul Singles I think it was Don't Mess With Bill that got up to #3 Soul Singles while hitting #7 Hot 100."Hunter" really wasn't promoted that heavily bythecompany so it sure made it on its own & The Marvelettes good name.

[marv2]

Hello,

What is the song "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game" by the Marvelettes about?

Sincerely,
dzMusica

It is about a woman pursuing a man only to get surprised that his skills were more formidable and he ended up getting her.

[kenneth]

One of Smokey's other clever titles, along the same lines, is "The Love I Saw in You Was Just a Mirage." Another song with great understated lyrics and a really sly delivery. How Wanda could have sung that one!

The trade ad for "Hunter" which I think I saw reproduced in the book 'Girl Groups," had exactly what someone described above...a cartoon depiction of a bear chasing a hunter with a loaded weapon, running for his life.

[kenneth]

I never heard that song. Was it a big hit?

It got up to #13 on Billboard, and a bigger R&B hit I am sure, in 1966 or 1967. There's some interesting cover versions out there, most notably one Blondie did on one of their later albums, and also a few other Motown artists covered it including Barbara McNair, Blinky and I think Smokey and the Miracles as well.

[psychedelic jacques]

Massive Attack did a cover in the UK, and George Clinton uses the "certain things rearrange" line to good effect in a montage of classic Motown one-liners on 'Loopzilla'

[kenneth]

Massive Attack did a cover in the UK, and George Clinton uses the "certain things rearrange" line to good effect in a montage of classic Motown one-liners on 'Loopzilla'

Ah, yes! Clinton did do that, didn't he...there were a few other Motown songs I think referenced in "Loopzilla." That was his big "comeback" album [[actually, the first album under his own name). Love Parliament-Funkadelic.

Haven't heard Massive Attack's version.

[westgrandboulevard]

And Ella Fitzgerald liked it enough to record her own version, with very similar arrangement......

[copley]

Grace Jones & Ella Fitzgerald also do great versions. Oh and so does Patti Smith.

[nabob]

Check out the backing track from Standing in the Shadows of Motown. The jazz flavor is completely amazing. The backing instrumental is difficult to appreciate with the vocal track playing. The Funk brothers could have had one bad-ass track if allowed to launch their own LPs back in the day.

[jalowe1957]

I consider it to be the sexiest ballad Motown has ever made.

[sunshineonacloudyday]

"Hunter" was big in California... I remember it in heavy rotation, both on the airwaves and at parties.

Check out this great little B-Side from '67 on Highland records out of L.A. from Mike & The Censations that references the song. I always considered it from the guys point of view...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10W_VgvcMCA&sns=em

"I started out to run my game on you
I never intended to be true...
Just like the hunter got captured by the game...
There's Nothing I Can Do About It..."

BTW, There's Nothing I Can Do About It was arranged by the session bass player Ron Brown, listed as "a Motown-contracted musician/arranger based in Compton, CA [[per liner notes on Mike James Kirkland 2 CD anthology just out from Luv N' Haight)

[BobC]

Thanks for the info. The only song by them I know is "Don't Mess With Bill" which I think is a great pop song.

Patti Smith, whose memoirs I just read, was a big fan of 60's black music. In fact she said she moved into an apt in NYC in the late 60's, and the first song she played on her little record player was "I Sold My Heart to the Junkman" by the Bluebelles. She also mentioned she was a Marvelettes fan.

[BayouMotownMan]

Wow Bob, you really cheated yourself. Don't Mess With Bill is great but if you haven't heard My Baby Must Be A Magician or That's How Heartaches Are Made, you really need to seek them out.

It's never mentioned but off that last lp, Return of the Marvelettes, Wanda does a remake of the Emotions' So I Can Love You which is incredible

[smark21]

Blondie also did a cover of The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game.

[marv2]

It got up to #13 on Billboard, and a bigger R&B hit I am sure, in 1966 or 1967. There's some interesting cover versions out there, most notably one Blondie did on one of their later albums, and also a few other Motown artists covered it including Barbara McNair, Blinky and I think Smokey and the Miracles as well.

The absolute best cover I ever heard of this song was done by none other than Ms. Ella Fitgerald!

[Jimi LaLumia]

It was a BIG NYC hit on AM MUSIC RADIO 77WABC!
made it to #18 on WABC..left the chart, and then came back agaIn
http://www.musicradio77.com/Surveys/...eyfeb1467.html

[nosey]

A forgotten gem with Wanda on lead that nobody talks about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoCjM...f=list_related

[soulster]

She was on the hunt for him; he caught her!!!

Bingo! She was after him, but she fell for him.

[kenneth]

There's an old Irving Berlin show tune called "A Man Chases a Girl Until She Catches Him," which obviously has the same theme, in reverse!

[BobC]

I feel like I know the entire history of Motown--but the music, at least a lot of it, flew right by me. I know the names, but not necessarily how they go.

I used to love the Emotions. I still think their songs "Smile" and "Walking the Line" are classics. I even loved that album "What's the Name of Your Love" although most people don't even know it happened.

[kenneth]

I feel like I know the entire history of Motown--but the music, at least a lot of it, flew right by me. I know the names, but not necessarily how they go.

I used to love the Emotions. I still think their songs "Smile" and "Walking the Line" are classics. I even loved that album "What's the Name of Your Love" although most people don't even know it happened.

I am not aware of that album. Which period was it from? I like their early stuff on Stax/Volt, not as fond of their later Disco period though it was more successful especially their tune with Earth Wind & Fire "Boogie Wonderland". What a title!

[BobC]

It came out in maybe 1980, or '79 and it was produced by Maurice White if I recall correctly. I think it was right after the album with "Smile" on it.

[BobC]

Ooops--the album was called "Come Into Our World" and the single was "What's the Name of Your Love." My bad. It was 1979 and only reached 90-something on the pop chart.

[phil]

I'm like you Knneth, I love their Volt albums and also "Flowers", produced by Maurice White, but I've never heard of "What's The Name Of Your Love".

After some googling I saw it was a song from the "Come Into Our World" LP : http://www.discogs.com/Emotions-Come...elease/1369987

[BobC]

Yeah it's almost like that album never happened--the album before it went gold and the one before that did too, and suddenly BAM! Nothing. "What's the Name of Your Love" was a great song but you can't even find it on Youtube.

They even put out a greatest hits album and didn't put any of those songs on it. I'm thinking some sort of politics was going on.

Anyhow--I also loved "Don't Ask My Neighbors" and "Flowers."

[kenneth]

I'm like you Knneth, I love their Volt albums and also "Flowers", produced by Maurice White, but I've never heard of "What's The Name Of Your Love".

After some googling I saw it was a song from the "Come Into Our World" LP : http://www.discogs.com/Emotions-Come...elease/1369987

I will have to find that one. They had a distinctive sound which seemed to be a funkier, earthier alternative to Motown.

[kenneth]

Okay, I'm sure Forum Etiquette says I shouldn't pursue this question in this thread, but does anyone know about this Emotions album?

http://www.amazon.com/Songs-Innocenc...s_all_1#disc_1

It looks like it may be previously unreleased Stax/Volt material, but no information and no reviews on Amazon.

[reese]

Okay, I'm sure Forum Etiquette says I shouldn't pursue this question in this thread, but does anyone know about this Emotions album?

http://www.amazon.com/Songs-Innocenc...s_all_1#disc_1

It looks like it may be previously unreleased Stax/Volt material, but no information and no reviews on Amazon.

It was my understanding that during the 70s, an album with this title was planned [[with a different cover), but was never released. I believe the original cover can be seen in the booklet for one of THE COMPLETE STAX VOLT SINGLES boxed sets. I gather the album was eventually released overseas.

I recognize at least some of the tracks listed on this Amazon import as being on the Stax album SUNSHINE, released after the group hit it big on Columbia.

[roger]

Okay, I'm sure Forum Etiquette says I shouldn't pursue this question in this thread, but does anyone know about this Emotions album?

http://www.amazon.com/Songs-Innocenc...s_all_1#disc_1

It looks like it may be previously unreleased Stax/Volt material, but no information and no reviews on Amazon.

I can't believe I'm interrupting a thread about one of my all time favourite records for this .. but .. I have that CD Kenneth .. and from the CD Booklet written by Tony Rounce in June 2004 we learn ..

"It was supposed to be Volt LP VOA 6021, and to be released sometime in 1972. The labels of several Volt 45s advertised it as a forthcoming attraction, and it even got as far as having a cover designed [[go to http://theemotionsweb.com/ and see for yourself). But, and for reasons best known to the powers-that-were at Volt's parent lable Stax, what would have been the Emotions' third album, "Songs Of Innocence And Experience", never got further than a release schedule"

Roger

[dzMusica]

Martha Reeves should have sung this song [[The Hunter ....). LOL

[nabob]

I can't believe I'm interrupting a thread about one of my all time favourite records for this .. but .. I have that CD Kenneth .. and from the CD Booklet written by Tony Rounce in June 2004 we learn ..

"It was supposed to be Volt LP VOA 6021, and to be released sometime in 1972. The labels of several Volt 45s advertised it as a forthcoming attraction, and it even got as far as having a cover designed [[go to http://theemotionsweb.com/ and see for yourself). But, and for reasons best known to the powers-that-were at Volt's parent lable Stax, what would have been the Emotions' third album, "Songs Of Innocence And Experience", never got further than a release schedule"
Roger

Wasn't 1972 about the time financial troubles began for Stax Records and eventually caused the label to fold in 1975? Al Bell had entered a distribution deal with CBS that resulted in little promotion of the Stax product and poor distribution to target markets that built the company.

Back to the "Hunter" as the topic of this thread!

[splanky]

Felix Hernandez of Newark and NYC's Rhythm Revue radio programs calls The Hunter...The Marvelettes masterpiece and I've always agreed with him...
BTW,@Nosey...Thanks for posting that youtube link for The Goddess of Love. I'd never heard that song until today and I
decided to leave the autoplay on and feast on some Marvelettes while I handle some chores...