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Motown M 1020 (B), October 1961
B-side of Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart
(Written by Vernon Williams, Robert Bateman, Sonny Mack and Brian Holland)
Motown’s first vocal group, the Satintones, ended their career with a whimper rather than a bang; the A-side, a lacklustre R&B remake of Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart, was markedly inferior to their best material, while this B-side – co-written by three of the group along with friend Brian Holland – has a definite air of barrel-scraping about it.
Indeed, if it couldn’t have been definitively proved otherwise, you’d swear this was literally the last Satintones tape left in the vault, dusted off because Motown desperately needed to fill out the B-side of this final single. (In fact, there was plenty of material in the can – enough material for an entire Satintones LP was recorded, but the proposed album was never even sequenced for release, let alone actually issued.)
Opening with a disarmingly off-key rendition of “faded letter”, this is an ominous, slow, pounding ballad with a Latin rhythm pattern; the percussion is all reverberating kettle-drums and tambourines shaken like maracas, with echo-laden detuned piano and strange bursts of backing vocals throughout. More of a sketch than a song, the only Satintones side with a lead vocal sung by Sammy Mack* (and sung ably enough, but hardly a patch on the group’s usual leads Jim Ellis or Vernon Williams), it’s an interesting exercise and no more; inconsequential to the point of pointlessness.
A dispiriting note on which to end a fine career.
* Edit: Now that all of the Satintones’ vault material has finally been released on the excellent 2010 CD compilation The Satintones Sing!, this entry needed a little update; according to the liner notes to that compilation, it’s not Sammy Mack at all, and this was an error on the part of the compilers of The Complete Motown Singles: Volume 1; supposedly, it’s actually Vernon Williams after all. But it sure doesn’t sound like any of Vernon’s other vocals to me, so… who knows, really?
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!)
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.
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| The Satintones “Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart” |
Eddie Holland “Jamie” |
Motown Junkies 
Personally I love this record. I love the vocal and the backing vocals and the kettle drum and the tamborunine like maracas. The unreleased Satintones album was catologued Motown 602. I think it is about time we have a satintones cd and look forward to purchasing it.
Mary Magaldo
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It was allocated a catalogue number, but no release date – it wasn’t even sequenced, apparently. The new The Satintones Sing! CD – titled after the unreleased album – contains all of the material they recorded for Motown and is well worth purchasing!
Thanks again for all your comments, Mary.
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I was a lead singer with the SATINTONES and still here,I jst found this site while looking at the old fellows of motown
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Hello James, thanks for stopping by! I don’t know why Google sends people searching for the Satintones to this page, which isn’t very complimentary – hope you weren’t offended. Try my reviews of My Beloved or Angel instead!
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Hi James. Nice to see that you found us. I’ve been a fan of yours and your group’s since 1960, when I started buying your records. I’ll bet there are a lot more of your fans still around than you thought.
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