Any Supremes songs you would want done with alternative lead singers?

[Coppelia-Birdsong]

I'm working on a little animation for UTLTR and it has Cindy and Mary and Jean as the cabin crew on a space flight, while Diana and Flo are piloting the ship together. I'm having a lot of fun making it. I think of the song as being a sci fi gospel song in its feeling: I could easily imagine it being on something like the Jetsons or 2001 A Space Odyssey.

I really do agree with the folks who say Mary's voice is more suited to ballads then pop: it is a very deep husky voice that almost sounds etheral and as a young girl/woman incredibly mature. I would have loved to hear her take on Not a Juvenile Delinquint as thats my fave Frankie Lymon song. However I think she would have done well with pop songs written for her strength: energetic but long steady beaty lines and verses. Pretty Baby is my favourite Mary led lead, as it sounds haunting, but I really enjoy He's my Man and Early Morning Love however really show the versitility she had gained in her long years in service as a Supreme by that point. Breathtaking Guy and Where did our Love Go have the kind of steady, drawn out, taut lyrics that Mary excels in.

Florence, well one thing I like about two of my fave songs of hers, Buttered Popcorn and It Doesn't Matter How I say It, is how she makes very risque double entendres sound cute an innocent, so they come off as coy and tongue in cheek rather then salacious or pornographic. In Buttered Popcorn she's a bouncy, vibrant, naughty teenager in the prime of her youth and innocence, but in the latter song she's a sweet young mother who still has her youthful mischief and sense of fun. For that reason I agree with the poster who said Flo would have done well on Love is like an Itching in my Heart. Diana does well on it, as she always does, but I think Flo would have made it even bester. It's more suited for Flo's deep velvety growls and purrs then Diana's sweet dulcet coos. I would have also liked to hear Mary's vocals be more prominent, as I think with her deep voice it adds a natural support for Flo's range, while Diana's higher pitch serves as a nice contrast. When you have three diamonds to play with, there's oh so many ways they can sparkle....

[RanRan79]

I agree with the poster who said Flo would have done well on Love is like an Itching in my Heart. Diana does well on it, as she always does, but I think Flo would have made it even bester. It's more suited for Flo's deep velvety growls and purrs then Diana's sweet dulcet coos.

I think the released version of "Itchin" suited Diana as well as it would have Flo, but I think the early unreleased version is really the one that Florence would've ripped to shreds. That was a lost opportunity.

[thanxal]

I think the released version of "Itchin" suited Diana as well as it would have Flo, but I think the early unreleased version is really the one that Florence would've ripped to shreds. That was a lost opportunity.

Ran, I've always thought Flo should have sung lead due to my love of the song and Flo, but when I first heard the lower key version with Diana, I knew that the song was perfectly suited to Flo. Oh, what might have been!

[RanRan79]

Ran, I've always thought Flo should have sung lead due to my love of the song and Flo, but when I first heard the lower key version with Diana, I knew that the song was perfectly suited to Flo. Oh, what might have been!

Yup. Even in a lower key, Diana sounds great on it. I know it's hard for people to comprehend anything other than the version they've been hearing forever, but I have to wonder if "Itchin" would've done even better if released in the lower key. Diana sounds so sexy on it. But that was a key that Florence could've settled in. Had Gordy decided to throw a curve ball, I don't think he nor the fans would've been disappointed in Flo having the lead on that single.

[detmotownguy]

I like the rock edge of Itchin and the extended version is wht I Listen too when painting -helps to get me thru the task. You can really feel that song! Flo would have been great too. I doubt anyone other than the Funk Bros. could give that recording the same vibe.