Walk Away, Four Tops
I used to really, really hate Motown.
That’s an odd thing to hate, you may be saying to yourself. Indeed, it is, but I had good reasons, the greatest of which was that the oldies station to which I regularly listened as a kid played a Motown song approximately every three minutes. To this day I hate “Respect” by Aretha Franklin more than almost any other song.
Don’t get me wrong, I acknowledge that many Motown songs are pop masterpieces. Smokey Robinson is a certified songwriting genius. But allow me to demonstrate how Motown could go seriously wrong, and maybe you’ll begin to understand what else about it I might not like. Take for example a great 1960s song called “Walk Away Renee”, performed originally by The Left Banke. The arrangement is a beautiful one, with a small string section and a harpsichord joining the other band forces.
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Really, The Left Banke sound like a British band, and this song seems like it could have fit well on Rubber Soul. But it’s a great song, and there’s a great but sad story behind it.
So, what’s this have to do with Motown? Well, The Four Tops figured out a way to ruin the song completely in 1968. I caution you, this sucks really bad:
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Everything subtle and good about the original version has been gaudily made-over in this abominable recording and replaced by ugliness. Honestly, the singer sounds like he’s doing a Tom Jones parody.
The good news is that that’s about as bad as it gets. The better news is that I am finding more and more Motown songs that I genuinely love, and that had not been so overplayed by U92 FM during my childhood that I now instantly reach for the dial when I hear the first notes.
One such song I have recently discovered is called “I’ll Say Forever My Love” by Jimmy Ruffin, the same fellow who had a hit with “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted”. This song has everything good in pop music, like a switch from I-vi-ii-V to I-vi-IV-V, and an important lesson, namely, girls should ignore whatever bad stuff their friends have to say about their boyfriends and just trust the man when he says “I love you”. Sounds fair! And now, thanks to the lawless internet, you can hear “I’ll Say Forever My Love” in its entirety. Huzzah, YouTube!
Filed under: Popular Music, Rantings on May 7th, 2008
I can see how motown morphed into rap.