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Motown M 1040 (B), February 1963
B-side of My Heart Can’t Take It No More
(Written by Smokey Robinson)
Perhaps understandably enough, critics and Supremes fans alike who despaired of the A-side to this single, Clarence Paul’s “country/doo-wop” crossover ballad My Heart Can’t Take It No More, have noted that its flip was an uptempo girl group number written and produced by Smokey Robinson, and expressed a wish that You Bring Back Memories had been the A-side instead.
Fair enough reasoning, but the decision not to use this as a single makes perfect sense; not because Motown were particularly keen to push the Supremes in a country & western direction, but because this is hardly one of Smokey’s best writing and production jobs to date. Both he and the label knew it, too; this track was a holdover from the Supremes’ dĂ©but LP Meet the Supremes (below), having been recorded almost a year previously, and it didn’t appear here by dint of any great public demand for its inclusion on a Supremes 45.
Opening, unpromisingly, with a shrill and strident near-acapella group intro, virtually chanted rather than sung, that doesn’t even try to scan properly –
(I thought that I had forgotten you
That you were just something of my yesterday
But now that I’ve see (sic) you standing here
All that I can say…
…I mean, come on – it’s not difficult to count the bloody syllables, Smokey! But I digress)
– we then get two minutes of pseudo-Brill Building fourth-rate girl group filler, severely lacking in both verve and hooks. Once again, like the A-side, it’s not horrible or anything, it’s just completely unremarkable in every way. It’s faintly reminiscent of some other uptempo Motown pop numbers from the spring of 1962, specifically Eddie Holland’s You Deserve What You Got and the Marvelettes’ Playboy, but not as good as either of those; the tune is clumsy and forgettable, the vocals strained and awkward.
This fit well enough on the Meet the Supremes LP, and that’s really where it should have stayed. If Motown had hoped that DJs who didn’t dig the country crossover on the topside would flip the record over to play this instead, it was a major miscalculation on their part.
Not awful, but not even worthy of a place in the top ten songs Smokey would ever write for the Supremes.
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.
(Or maybe you’re only interested in The Supremes? Click for more.)
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| The Supremes “My Heart Can’t Take It No More” |
Dave Hamilton “Late Freight” |
Motown Junkies 
Yeah, this one is rather tough going. The type of side only us Supremes completists pull out when we’re marathon-playing everything we’ve got by them including “Rock and Roll Banjo Band” and “He’s Seventeen.”
Great stuff isn’t far down the road now though đŸ™‚
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I disagree wholeheartedly that this is a song only Supremes completists would want. The Supremes are closer to the bottom than the top of my taste in Motown groups. I like this song better than most of their recordings. I’d give it a 6.
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It’s quite catchy, and certainly less forgettable than the A-side.
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I have to disagree with your verdict. This is actually one of my favorite early Supremes songs. It’s catchy and a good Smokey “girl group” production. It would be interesting to hear the Marvelettes, Velvelettes, and Vandellas do a version. My rating: 8/10
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This is why the Internet is so great; while I don’t think it’s terrible or anything, I can’t even begin to imagine picking this as one of my favourites, but to each their own – dissent is encouraged!
(Thanks also, Mickey, for adding your own ratings throughout the site – it would be fun if all visitors did that! Sadly I can’t automate the process (to let people vote on a fairer mark), but I do enjoy seeing what other people think!)
According to Keith Hughes and Don’t Forget The Motor City, no other Motown act ever lined up to have a crack at “You Bring Back Memories”. I don’t know what the Marvelettes or Vandellas versions would be like (the former probably too like the Supremes version for my liking, the latter not really well-suited to Martha’s voice, I’m guessing), but the Velvelettes might have done great things with this a few years later (I’m thinking specifically of hard-to-sing stuff like “Love Is Good”).
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Totally agree. 8/10. The Supremes sound is coming around. Just don’t run it off the tracks before it gets here!
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I must first start off saying that I love this site! I never heard this song until today. I think “You Bring Back Memories” should have been released before “My Heart Can’t Take It No More.” It’s not the best song, but I think it could have been a moderate hit for those times. You can tell that the girls were lacking confidence and Diana was trying to sound like what she thought people would buy. It’s soooo remarkable to listen to all the misses of The Supremes. It’s also remarkable that the girls stayed together for the 2-3 years when they did not have a hit. Over time people tend to forget that no group started out great.
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Nothing wrong with this one. First time I heard it, I knew it had Smokey all over it. The last 30 seconds right through the fade is top notch. A strong “8” to my ears.
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