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Tamla T 54045 (A), June 1961
(re-issued July 1961)
b/w Who’s Lovin’ You
(Written by Berry Gordy and Barney Ales)
Whole books have been written about how Florence Ballard was originally considered to be the lead singer of the Supremes, and how Diana Ross supposedly ended up ousting her from that role, but this is one of the few times Flo ever got to sing lead on an actual Supremes record (and the only time solo on a released Supremes single).
Ross had handled lead vocal duties on both sides of their Motown début 7″ a few months previously; despite general widespread critical condemnation over the years, I have to say that I find both of those sides, the haunting I Want A Guy and the heartfelt Never Again, to be quite excellent. The same can’t be said for this ill-considered “saucy” novelty, a total miscalculation and a bad mistake as well as a bad record.
It’s wholly understandable – I Want A Guy, all wide-eyed breathless epic teenage romance, had bombed, and so Motown thought they’d try a different tack, sidelining coy, girlish Diana and putting engaging, big-voiced Flo (who most sources agree usually sang lead for the group’s stage shows in the era) front and centre, repositioning the group as raw, brash, sexy, sassy and worldly. Trouble is, the Supremes were never that kind of group, regardless of who was singing lead, and the result is an embarrassing mis-step.
The record (which exists in two versions, a rougher early take and a shorter, slightly more polished later re-recording, the single being re-pressed halfway through its run) isn’t much of a song at all. It’s a competent “comedy” R&B jam, one that only really exists to hammer home a tenuous playground-level double entendre which doesn’t entirely make sense and stops being remotely funny after the first verse, but which limps painfully along for almost three minutes in the longer of the two cuts.
The “joke”, such as it is, is that Flo’s boyfriend really likes buttered popcorn, and he “likes it greasy and sticky and gooey and salty”, because, you see, all those words have vaguely sexual connotations which could (just about, at a stretch) refer to some kind of unspecified sex act, and everyone knows you can’t do that on the radio! Outrageous! Ha ha ha! It’s about as salacious and daring as a five-year-old sniggering at the word “poopdeck”.
Poor Flo gamely gives it her best shot, interspersing the first line with a charming series of saucy, throaty giggles and delivering a really committed vocal performance, giving much better than the piss-poor material deserves, but it’s a hopeless battle; this record is an unsalvageable dud.
According to the liner notes for The Complete Motown Singles: Volume 1, co-writer and Motown owner Berry Gordy was totally unaware that the song could possibly be taken at anything other than face value, an innocent paean to the joys of eating popcorn, and was shocked when he was informed that some people had otherwise interpreted his music to infer something less than wholesome. Well, I call bullshit. Not for the first time, either (see my earlier comments on the Satintones’ Tomorrow and Always); not only was Gordy too smart an operator for that story to fly, and too canny a businessman to let something like that slip past his watchful eye, but he was also much too good a songwriter to knock pap like this out without there being something more to it. If the double entendre isn’t there, this song has no reason to exist at all.
Sadly for Flo, she’d seldom be offered the chance to cut better material on lead, while the Supremes would have to endure two more years of similarly embarrassing flops before registering their first respectable chart hit of any kind.
MOTOWN JUNKIES VERDICT
(I’ve had MY say, now it’s your turn. Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment, or click the thumbs at the bottom there. Dissent is encouraged!)
COVERWATCH
Motown Junkies has reviewed other Motown versions of this song:
- The Vows (May 1965)
You’re reading Motown Junkies, an attempt to review every Motown A- and B-side ever released. Click on the “previous” and “next” buttons below to go back and forth through the catalogue, or visit the Master Index for a full list of reviews so far.
(Or maybe you’re only interested in The Supremes? Click for more.)
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| The Satintones “My Kind Of Love” |
The Supremes “Who’s Lovin’ You” |
Motown Junkies 
this is one of the few early Supremes singles that i actually like. its a fun song and it’s nice to hear the Supremes as an early doo wop group and see how they transformed into a super group. to bad this song didnt get much airplay as i think its better than what some give it credit. this is also one of the few “Flo” leads that i actually do like.not to say she wasnt talented or have a good voice,but perhaps just not given the right material.she does a good vocal on Silent Night on the Supremes christmas lp
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This should have put the Supremes on the charts for the first time. Just imagine the difference the group’s future would have been had it done so. The lyrics are youthful and catchy, the instrumental far ahead of it’s time…Flo and the Funks were just downright funky. There are several released alternate vocal and instrumental takes of this song, but the released version was the best. Who knows? Maybe 1967 would have seen the formation of Florence Ballard and the Supremes???
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I’ve always loved Buttered Popcorn, and found its silliness to be almost transcendent (‘More butter, more butter, more butter’) – while the rabelaisian vigor of ‘After I eat!’ (as a response to ‘Kissa me please’) is irresistible. As a classical composer (and opera nut) who was forcibly wrenched out of his rigid antipop snobbery by Heat Wave in 1962, I’m thrilled to see this music get the loving critical attention it deserves- this is a beautiful site!
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Thanks John, it’s much appreciated. Also, kudos for the use of the phrase “Rabelaisian vigor” – I have been looking for an apt description of what Flo’s solo single Love Ain’t Love is apparently missing in comparison with her performance here, and I think you’ve summed it up quite perfectly.
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Man…you gotta love it when such a lover of music appreciates Buttered Popcorn. It is a bit of a shame that anyone couldn’t appreciate the coolness of that record!
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Buttered Popcorn is a terrible song. Florence Ballard’s voices is less than ordinary most of the time.
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Agree! Of course she had a good voice, but it was ordinary meaning that it did stand out.
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Yup…terrible to you, loved by many others!
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The song was thought good enough to be revived by the Vows on V.I.P.
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To similar commercial effect.
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It’s a fun song. Nothing more. Fun can sell records. I always thought since the lead was shifting around, the girls (or Berry) was experimenting and seeing what worked.
I have a label scan of this on the striped label, kinda strange, after the globe was already introduced. My version doesn’t have Barney Ales name on it. Barney Ales, he’s in Sales, no?
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This record works for me and Florence Ballards voice! The only thing stopping it from being a hit is the giggles oh ooooohh oh yeah! I think the concept of Buttered Popcorn in the 60s would have sold this because of how big movies are and people kissing in the theater. Its funny people talk of Ballard and saying she could have made it on the RandB charts but a lot of the early Supremes songs with Ross on lead were doo wopish this was the first one I thought of as sounding as a pop record.
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Okay. I thought this song was cool the first few times I heard it but the novelty has worn off. On Flos voice. Yes she had a pretty good voice but Diana had the more commercial voice. I am very sorry for the problems Flo had during her short life but I am tired of people in books treating her like she’s Leontyne Price or something. By the way Mary Wilson wasn’t too bad herself in the vocal dept. I always like her vocal trade offs with Jean Terrell in the latter day Supremes
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I think we fail to remember that Berry Gordy was a genius when it came to producing super groups, hit songs and creating a world reknown recording lable. Dishonest in a lot of ways yes.. but he knew what would sell. Berry realized that Flo’s voice though powerful and talented was not commercial enough for the type of sound he was preparing to produce at Motown. Putting Diana in the front for lead vocals in my opinion was a very smart move for the group and Motown. I am so sorry for all that happened with and to Flo, but the truth is… If Diana works , dont fix it!. Read Dreamgirls by Mary Wilson, a lot of truth in that book.
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Hey friend. Yeah I read Dreamgirls. It was okay. I prefer the books that talk about the music rather than the soap operas going on with the artists. With regard to the whole Motown machine, I don’t think anyone was either a 100% good guy or 100% bad guy. I think they are all flawed people who made some mistakes. Again I am sorry for the problems some of these people went through & am definitely not excusing any bad behaviour or intentially hurting another person. If this was happening now they would probably all be on a reality show hashing out their differences.
On another topic, do you have any favorite Supremes songs or albums? Isn’t this a great site?
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Agree!
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Even when I heard this song as a young kid I thought it was awful. I stubbled upon this song in a record shop that was selling old 45’s for 25 cents. I brought the song at the time because I was a Supreme fan by then but had never heard that song. I took the record home , popped it on the turntable, listened to it, then placed it in the old 45’s that I would never play again. Granted Flo’s voice is powerful and she is very talented but this ” Buttered Popcorn Thing went too far.
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I’ve always thought this song has gotten a bad rap. I like it; it’s fun. My only problem with it is the instrumentation — I don’t think the band did it justice. But Flo carries the song in my opinion. Talented woman, shame what happened to her. I’ve never bought the ‘her voice was too big and brassy to be commercial’ nonsense. Did Aretha Franklin not sell records? Motown had musicians and songwriters who were more than capable of selling everything from pop rock to soul and everything in between. Diana being pushed to the front was a personal decision, not a business one: the same old and simple Hollywood ‘casting couch’ story. Nothing complicated or even shocking.
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While I’m not sure how much “Buttered Popcorn” proves your point, “Ain’t That Good News” ( on We Remember Sam Cooke) I think, certainly does: Florence’s voice was neglected. It had the kind of muscle that could put fury in the same style songs Martha Reeves was putting over for HDH.
Then too, why couldn’t Florence have been allowed to moonlight out of the Supremes, while still with the company? I’ve always wondered what the results might have been had she been allowed, say, to make a few duets with Marvin…?
Too bad we’ll never know. I was still only 21 in February of 1976, and the fact that Ballard was already gone was a hell of a shock. 😦
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It’s a silly little dance record, Flo sounds like she’s having fun.
I used to think this record was a blatant copy of Cameo-Parkway’s hits with Dee Dee Sharp, but “Buttered Popcorn” was released a half-year before “Mashed Potato Time” which was released in early 1962. Maybe someone at C-P heard this?
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In fact, Motown sued over “Mashed Potato Time”; it appears on the Marvelettes’ second LP with Jobete writers credited with its composition.
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Isn’t it more likely that “Buttered Popcorn” is an attempt to cash in on “Peanut Butter” by the Marathons? And btw, Nixon, that one really did have no sexual connotation, so I actually don’t doubt this was supposed to be good, clean fun as well.
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I completely agree that this was likely to have been inspired by the Marathons’ “Peanut Butter”, and am surprised that no one has commented on this before.
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I never liked this song, due to its novelty nature and I didn’t much like the arrangement and melody. But Flo did a great job on the vocal. And it’s easy for me to say that I’d have preferred either Flo or Mary over Diane as lead of The Supremes.
Now that I think about it, “Mashed Potato Time” SOUNDS like an early (Late 1961-early 1962 Jobete song maybe written by Brian Holland, Robert Bateman and Freddie Gorman, or Mickey Stevenson and Freddie Gorman. It even has a slight touch of “Smokey” flair in it. Which Motown writers got the credits for it on the Marvelettes’ album?
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The court case argued – successfully – that it was too similar to Please Mr Postman, and so while the credits on the sleeve of The Marvelettes Sing (Smash Hits Of ’62) don’t list the individual writers but rather the publishers (“Rice-Mill BMI”), later pressings of the LP label itself (and any future covers or reissues of Dee Dee Sharp’s original) follow the amended BMI records for “Please Mr Postman” (itself rather a contentious one!) plus Kal Mann, which currently states “Mashed Potato Time” was written by William Garrett, Georgia Dobbins, Robert Bateman, Brian Holland, Freddie Gorman and Kal Mann.
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I was right that it sounded like a Brianbert/Gorman song. I don’t think it’s close enough to “Please Mr. Postman” to have been stolen directly. But it does sound like a few Motown songs mixed together.
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Thanks to Robb for the alternate pressing “stripes” scan above – apologies it took so long to add!
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I looooove The Supremes and I will vote you 1 lower by giving this verdict a 1. This song was terrible. The only thrill I get out of listening to it is hearing a young extremely high pitched Diana in the background repetitively singing “Buttered popcorn”. Flo does give her all and delivers the lines well, but like you said above the Supremes were never that kind of group. “Buttered Popcorn” does nothing but increase my belief that if Miss Ross never sang lead The Supremes never would have became the super group that they became.
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Totally agree with you. So tired of reading negative articles about Diana Ross.
What about Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Gladys Knight and the Pips? Florence Ballard would not have lead the Supremes to the heights that they achieved. To this day nobody has even come close to sounding like Diana Ross. I have nothing against Florence Ballard or Mary Wilson, I loved the Supremes and still do, but it’s Diana’s voice and charisma that had me hooked.
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Well said my friend! Yes Florence was a good singer, but with her singing lead the group would no have sounded any different than the many girl groups that came before and after them. I think it’s so ironic how Mary & Flo brought Miss Ross into the group, but they did not understand the depth of work that would breed success like Diana did. Maybe they did, but it was destined that things turned out the way they did. Oprah said it best Miss Ross has gotten a bad rap. This is why I believe people underrate her singing and performing capabilities.
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I often wish Diana Ross had the Andantes doing background for her as she did on so many songs. I for one had no idea it wasn’t the Supremes with her. Maybe today there wouldn’t still be people dissing her. I have all of the Supremes early albums and like the songs that Mary and Flo sing lead on and also when they take turns singing leads, but I bought Where Did Our Love Go (45) because I had never heard a voice like the one singing lead and I am still one of her biggest fans, 50 years later. Diana Ross worked her ass off to get where she is and she deserves respect for it.
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Yes Richard you’ve said it! I’m tired of the lack of respect Miss Ross receives too. The first couple of times I noticed that the background vocals did sound diffrent. I thought maybe one of the girls had a cold and that’s why one of the voices was lower silly I know, but that’s 1 of my all time favorite Supremes song and it proves you’re point Supremes or no Supremes, Diana could sell a track.
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I’ve got a copy on ebay ending in a couple of days I still think it’s a fun record LOL
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Extra! Extra! Read all about it. I just learned that Claudine “Party Lights” Clark did a remake of this song. I haven’t heard it. Has anyone else? I’d be curious to hear how it sounded. I am assuming it is the same song but could possibly be another one. Anyone have any info about this? Robb? Nix? Buhler? Anyone?
Speaking of “Party Lights”, does anyone else think it sounds like something the Marvelettes might have recorded? Good little dance tune.
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I just hard “Party Lights” by Claudine Clark. I never heard of her or this song. This song is alright. It’s cool that she wrote the song. I like her delivery. I went searching for her version of “Buttered Popcorn” but the only thing I can come up with is “The Telephone Game” which was pretty good too. From what I’ve read about her not much came of her career is that true???
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To the best of my knowledge she was a one hit wonder.
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Very true. It was a shame, too-as “Telephone Game” proved she could really sing, and should have been bigger than “Party Lights” (merely a dance tune).
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A little bit more on Miss Ballard. A buddy of mine (who I have since lost contact with) told me about seeing Wilson Pickett do a concert at his high school (Yorktown HS in Arlington VA) in the late 60s & Florence Ballard was the opening act. He didn’t remember much about her performance.
I heard her solo song “Doesn’t Matter How I Say It” They tried to make her sound like Diana Ross – a big mistake! Who knows, maybe in an alternate universe, with the right record company/producer she could have done well.
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Wow you’re absolutely right! I never hear “Doesn’t Matter How I Say It” but Flo is doing her best Diane lol. I bet if Diana had sung it and Flo & Mary were backing it would’ve been a Number 1 for the girls. I do like the backing on this track though. Mistake it was.
I do like Flo’s version of “Goin Out of My Head” though.
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I’m not really a big fan of “Doesn’t Matter How I Say It”, but I agree her version of “Goin’ Out of My Head” is one of the best I’ve heard. It’s right up there with the original (by Little Anthony and the Imperials) and Fanita James’s (of The Blossoms) versions.
To see Ms. James perform her version, go to:
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I didn’t know that would happen. I thought it would just show the web address. Oh, well, live and learn. Now that I know how to do that. Here’s Flo’s version:
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I prefer Flo’s voice to Diane’s , and also prefer Mary’s to Diane’s. I also prefer Jean Terrell’s voice. I would have liked those former 2 to split all The Supreme’s leads. But, then, The History of Motown and of Soul Music in USA would have been different. So, I take it for what it is.
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Mmmm…interesting Mr. Robb. I just can’t imagine any of the Supremes song with a different voice than Diana’s. Jean Terrell maybe..but she was no Ross.
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Hey Gang, Been a little busy the last few days but thought I would throw my 3 cents in… I enjoy the Diana Ross led Supremes songs but really enjoy the Jean Terrell line up too. I think the TOUCH & FLOY JOY albums are flawless. Technically Jean had a better voice IMHO than Diana but I think both ladies did well with what they were given. I also like the leads Mary had with the group. Of course, Flo had a good voice but I don’t think we ever really heard her to her full potential. I think most singers need a good producer to bring out the best in their voices. I mean even Aretha needed Jerry Wexler to really bring her voice out. Anyway, just my thoughts!
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Agree with your statement about the producers. Production is the key. Most people laugh when I say this, but back in the day La Toya could have been just as big as Janet if given the right producers.
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This is totally Non-Motown, but on the subject of producers bringing out a singer’s real voice. Just saw the movie “Ray” again last night. (watched a lot of TV this weekend!) It really hit home how Ahmet Ertegun & Jerry Wexler (again!) helped encouraged Ray to develop his more R&B oriented style. As you probably know, in his early days Ray was doing kind of a Nat King Cole/Charles Brown thing. By the way, I am proud to say that back when I was about 10 yrs old, I actually turned the lady next door (this is white suburbia!) onto Ray Charles!!!! Did I just score some coolness points? Maybe? LOL!
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You’ve just scored a ton of coolness point! LOL. I never really thought about how Wexler & Ertegun helped Ray develop his sound and I’ve seen the movie a million times. It is very subtle in the film. The days when the music industry was ran by people who actually loved and knew music.
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I love this song. I prefer the released version to the alternate one. It’s just a fun song about a girl whose boyfriend prefers eating popcorn to getting intimate with her. Nothing nasty about it. I honestly can’t understand all the innuendo that’s supposedly contained in this song. When I first heard in in 1976, I was in high school and I was just excited to hear Florence Ballard singing lead. And it sounds as though all of the girls are having a great time singing this.
As for Flo’s voice, I think with the opportunities Diana was given, she would have improved greatly as a lead singer. Not that she needed to be lead singer of the Supremes, but I think Gordy should have developed all three girls into lead singer material. If you haven’t heard Flo on the magnificent Ain’t That Good News, you have no idea what her potential was.
This song is a bouncy, joyous example of the many changes that the Supremes went through on their way to greatness.
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Ok, I probably will get nailed for this but in my opinion… Buttered Popcorn was the dumbest song I had ever heard, and I heard it when it was first released because of my sisters love of Motown. I was very young at that time (10 or 11 ) but I still thought the song was dumb. This is not at all saying that Flo’s voice was not up to par, in fact I know that Flo could have matched the very best such as Aretha Franklin who was turned down by Berry for a chance to record for Motown. The Supremes in whole were a fantastic group, their harmony was tight and unmatched at the time. ( just hear them sing a Capella ). As far as Buttered Popcorn goes it was not the right song for Flo to truly show her talent. Albums that were recorded by Flo when she went solo will show you the talent and power of her voice. Its the right material or song that makes or breaks a group, that’s obvious once Berry gave the Supremes exclusively to HDH . I agree with Robert that Berry should have helped developed all three into lead singers.
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Don’t suppose anyone knows of any instances where the supremes *performed* this song? Did they ever do it on Hullabaloo?
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Why would The Supremes sing a 4 or 5 year old, obscure, non-hit song on a national TV show? Artists usually sang their current hits, or new song already released on a single, or soon to be released, or seldomly, sang a song on their newly released, or soon-to-be-released LP. Singing an old, novelty song, that the Pop fans in a national audience likely never heard, and likely would never hear again, would have been wasting an opportunity to further the group’s popularity, and market their current record releases. That would make no sense to The Supremes’ management.
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