the happening

[thisoldheart]

since it seems to be reevaluate motown history month, tell me how much you think holland/dozier/dozier had to with writing "the happening"? the song is unlike any h/d/h song in the supremes oeuvre [[with the possible exception of "in and out of love".) it sounds like a movie or show tune which is exactly what frank de vol did for a living! i really disliked when it came out because it just didn't fit into what both the supremes & h/d/h were creating. i have grown fonder of the tune but still feel that h/d/h primarily only wrote the great "oo-oo, and then it happened" part. watcha all think?

[144man]

That's the second time today I've agreed with you!

[redlabs]

i love the song!

[motony]

too bad the movie STUNK...but it was just another feather in the Supremes & Motowns cap. I was more into Soul music so I sure didn't like it at the time. My brother was always the big Supreme fan since "Let Me Go The Right Way".

[carlo]

It's hard for me to choose only one favourite Supremes song, but if I had to, it would be "The Happening"...ever since I started listening to the ladies at the age of 4, this one has always been one of my favourites.

[thisoldheart]

how come my questions are never addressed but go off on tangents about how much someone loves the song? i was curious as to what ya'll thought h/d/h's involvement was in this quite different sounding supremes hit. is motown as history not equally or more interesting than a sentimental forty year old possibly misconceived attachment one had when their musical taste and knowledge were perhaps quite naive? just wondering if i am outta line with my deep interest in how motown operated.

[jillfoster]

I'm convinced that HDH only wrote lyrics...... And the Frank Devol wrote all the music to it.

[thisoldheart]

well, i think the "oo, oo, and then it happened" is pure h/d/h, or de vol trying to sound motowny!

[smark21]

When I went to the Losers Lounge tribute to the music of Diana Ross and The Supremes, the singer who came on to perform The Happening introduced the song by saying that The Happening is one of the most depressing songs ever and in a way it pioneered the shoegaze musical sub-genre. But then she assured the audience, don't worry, if you just listen to the music, you'll be happy. But the singer made a point of being very clear in her diction while singing and she didn't do any smiling either. She did a great job of overcoming the happy sound of the music and really sold the song as a very depressing bit of existentialism.

[motony]

thisoldheart, I think HDH were involved & if memory serves me right it was recorded in LA, so a totally differnt sound.Frank DeVol must have directed the score & made it more "movie-ish".I don't think the song is depressing its light POP fair.

[144man]

Frank de Vol may have been influenced by Steve Race's UK minor hit in 1963, "The Pied Piper". This song is subtitled "The Beeje", which was a dance specially written for that record, and "The Happening" has an extremely similar beat. As "The Happening" was recorded in Motown's studio B, yet the record still sounds nothing like classic H/D/H apart from "Oo oo, and then it happened" segment, I tend to agree with you that that was the only part they wrote.

The demo version, which appears on the 2000 Motown CD Compilation "The Supremes", should be helpful in enabling you to draw a conclusion.

[smark21]

thisoldheart, I think HDH were involved & if memory serves me right it was recorded in LA, so a totally differnt sound.Frank DeVol must have directed the score & made it more "movie-ish".I don't think the song is depressing its light POP fair.

Read the lyrics...it's not a story being told by a happy person who now has an upbeat view of life.

[honest man]

OMG the song is classic DRATS upbeat happy song i have numerous parties in my life this song i play everyone, a classic MOTOWN- DRATS production, get real. please,

[144man]

Sorry; it doesn't sound anything like the classic Motown sound, which is why it's the only Supremes' A-side I dislike.

[smark21]

OMG the song is classic DRATS upbeat happy song i have numerous parties in my life this song i play everyone, a classic MOTOWN- DRATS production, get real. please,

The music and production are happy but would you call the lyrics upbeat and happy? Maybe if you get off on being sad and heartbroken, perhaps:

Hey Life look at me I can see the reality
Cause when you took me shook me out of my world
I woke up Suddenly I just woke up to The Happening
When you find that you left the future behind
Cause when you got a tender love
You don’t take care of then you better beware of The Happening
One day you’re up then you turn around
You find your world is crumbling down
It happened to me and it can happen to you
I was sure, I felt secure, until love took a detour
Yeah, I’m riding high on top of the world
It happened, suddenly it just happened
I saw my dreams fall apart when love walked away from my heart
And when you lose that precious love you need to guide you
Something happens inside you The Happening
Now I see what life for what it is
It’s not all dreams, it’s not all bliss
It happened to me and it can happen to you once
Oooh, and then it happened
Oooh, and then it happened
Oooh, and then it happened
Oooh, and then it happened
Is it real, is it fake, is this game of life a mistake
Cause when I lost the love I thought was mine
For certain, suddenly I started hurting
I saw the light too late, when that fickle finger of fate
Yeah came and broke my pretty balloon
I woke up, suddenly I just woke up to The Happening
So sure, I felt secure, until love took a detour
Cause when you got a tender love
You don’t take care of, then you better beware of The Happening

[honest man]

REFLECTIONS-LOVE IS HERE... Now they are sad poignant songs. THE HAPPENING ,being alive rejoice. sad people get a life. please.....

[smark21]

REFLECTIONS-LOVE IS HERE... Now they are sad poignant songs. THE HAPPENING ,being alive rejoice. sad people get a life. please.....

The lyrics are posted above. Can you provide a detailed interpretation and analysis to support your assertion that the lyrics are about the joy og being alive and rejoicing? I'm open to your thoughts and analysis as I do believe that meaning does not lie soley within the work, but in the interaction between what is in the work and what each audience member brings to it. I'd like to know what specific lines in the lyrics lead you to such an interpretation.

For me, though the music and arrangement are very upbeat and happy, especially in the brass section and the fast rhytmic tempo, the lyrics are quite sad, especially the closing lines as the narrator has come to a realization that life and love can offer pain, sadness and disappointment when you least expect and when you think you have the world in your hands:

Is it real, is it fake, is this game of life a mistake
Cause when I lost the love I thought was mine
For certain, suddenly I started hurting
I saw the light too late, when that fickle finger of fate
Yeah came and broke my pretty balloon
I woke up, suddenly I just woke up to The Happening
So sure, I felt secure, until love took a detour
Cause when you got a tender love
You don’t take care of, then you better beware of The Happening

[jobeterob]

The essay in the Singles Collection says:

Co composer Frank DeVol was a veteran composer of film and television themes. HDH watched a print of the film and wrote the track based on his score. An initial recording in Los Angeles proved unusable, Lamont Dozier told author Brian Chin, "because the LA rhythm guys couldn't get what we wanted," so they started over in Detroit. The first Detroit recording, a loose demo, wasn't quite right, either; it was issued on The Supremes box set in 2000 along with the first stereo mix of All I Know About You.

One of my least favorite Supremes songs......but occasionally this one really sticks with me and becomes a real ear worm.

[thisoldheart]

has anyone seen the film? are there themes of the devol film score that are used on the 45?

[reese]

has anyone seen the film? are there themes of the devol film score that are used on the 45?

I saw the film many years ago on tv and even then, I only watched it because I wanted to hear the Supremes. And they weren't heard until the very end.

I hardly remember anything about the film, except there was a scene where all of these characters started running around and saying "All I Know About You. All I Know About You." The flip side of THE HAPPENING had a song with this title, but I don't know if this is the same song that the characters were singing in the film.

[motony]

thisoldheart, I never remember the movie showing up at local theaters[[Central Fla.)back in the day.I did try & watch it on TV a few years ago but just remember I was unable to get into it & the song played at beginning & end from what Randy told me.Sorry.

[Motown4Ever518]

how come my questions are never addressed but go off on tangents about how much someone loves the song? i was curious as to what ya'll thought h/d/h's involvement was in this quite different sounding supremes hit. is motown as history not equally or more interesting than a sentimental forty year old possibly misconceived attachment one had when their musical taste and knowledge were perhaps quite naive? just wondering if i am outta line with my deep interest in how motown operated.

thisoldheart, to answer your question, what I hear is a Supremes song, with the music being HDH, Eddie Holland as the primary lyric writer perhaps had some of his original lyrics altered, and Mr. DeVol having final say on the production which included a more Showtunish feel because it fit the movie. Which I have never seen, but I get a sense that it was a farce/comedy or comedy/farce. I am not familiar with Frank DeVols body of work, but I seem to remember that he had something to do with the theme song of the mid - sixties US TV show Batman. Which while not Dylan, fit the gig, which is what he was paid for.

[franjoy56]

I beleive this song is a collaboration between the hdh team writing the lyrics and Frank Devol doing the music plain and simple Motown must have been contacted by the Movie production company that they were interested in having the Supremes sing for the title for the movie and both teams went to work, and the pop ditty took off, and yes this is an all supremes song with no andantes, i believe Flo made a request that the song have no backups other than herself and Mary and you can really hear the two part harmony in the background, however I like the demo version on the box set better.

[REDHOT]

I didn't like The Happening,but when i saw The Supremes sing it live,i was sold,Mary Flo,and Diana,and later Cindy, look like they were having so much fun,love it.
Please stay positive

[smark21]

I just realized that by copying and pasting the lyrics of The Happening that this was a rare time in which lyrics of a Supremes song were offered for discussion. Even though there are plenty of threads and drama about who sang lead and who sang background, Supremes fans rarely discuss lyrics, which are the bread and butter of singers.

AS for The Happening, I still say that lyrically, it's not a happy song. Actually very few of the Diana era led a sides tell triumphant stories of love. Lovelight, I Hear a Symphony, Forever Came Today and The Composer are the only outright happy songs amongst the A sides. Back in My Arms is a triumphant in the chorus, but in the verses Diana is bitching about her trifling, gossiping, jealous, interfering friends Mary and Flo. No wonder Diana preferred working with the Andantes.

[uptight]

Smark, isn't that juxtaposition of happy music with dark lyrics kind of what rock n roll is about? R&B, for instance, is full of these examples. The lyrics in "The Happening" may be dark or ominous, but the music is happy and almost reminds you of circus music [[like "Tears of a Clown").

[smark21]

Smark, isn't that juxtaposition of happy music with dark lyrics kind of what rock n roll is about? R&B, for instance, is full of these examples. The lyrics in "The Happening" may be dark or ominous, but the music is happy and almost reminds you of circus music [[like "Tears of a Clown").

Not exacly sure if the juxtaposition of happy music and dark lyrics is what rock and roll is all about, but I do like songs that combined those elements. There's a certain mindf**k element. I still remember back in the mid 90's going to this club in San Francisco and seeing people having a good time partying on the dance floor to the remix of the Sade song Pearls, a song that's lyrically is about a desparate Somalian woman trying to feed her children. And it's interesting how the feeling that the music conveys can complete overwhelm or obscure the contrasting mood of the story being told through the lyrics.

[Motown4Ever518]

I immediately thought of Gil Scott-Herons "The Bottle", a huge Dance Hit in New York City, I believe about 1973,1974.

[bradsupremes]

Smark, isn't that juxtaposition of happy music with dark lyrics kind of what rock n roll is about? R&B, for instance, is full of these examples. The lyrics in "The Happening" may be dark or ominous, but the music is happy and almost reminds you of circus music [[like "Tears of a Clown").

That's almost the opposite of "Forever Came Today." The music and melody are dark and mysterious, but the lyrics speak of finally finding one's love and joy it brings.