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VIP 25002 (B), January 1964
B-side of If Your Heart Says Yes
(Written by George Kerr and Sidney Barnes)
Pedestrian doo-wop, its finger so far off the pulse it’s actually tapping the wrong person’s wrist trying to find a vein.
It’s not spectacularly awful or anything – it’s moderately pleasant, really, all told – it’s just uninspiring and (by this stage in history) completely pointless. A street-corner doo-wop number, missing both the boat and the point, too soon to be a tribute to a dying artform and too late to catch the wave of the Tymes’ So Much In Love.
It’s not even a particularly proficient bit of doo-wop. The performances are adequate at best, sub-par at worst; the Marcels-esque interjections of Bibip-dit-dit-dit-dibby are grating; the lyrics are meandering and go nowhere, a forgettable pail of generic clichéd self-pitying boy-misses-girl slop.
For all of that, I’d emphasise again that it’s not utterly horrible – it’s less noisy than the A-side, and I’m adding a mark for the pleasing chord change towards the end – it’s just devoid of passion, wholly unnecessary, and at least five years past its sell-by date.
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!)
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I’ll admit that it’s style was very far out-of-date, and had no chance to sell. But as to its quality, I’ll have to disagree. I say that it was very well done for what it was. It would have sold well in 1957. I’d give it a 6. It’s not my “cup of tea” even of the style I liked in the mid ’50s. But, it is inspired, and a well-carried out production, for those people that like the neo-Doo-Wop Sound. I’m not sure why Miss Ray or George Kerr wanted to burden their flip with this marketing mistake. Perhaps it’s just that Both Kerr and “Tiny Tim” (Timothy Wilson-former lead singer of Tiny Tim & The Hits-who had a big hit with “Wedding Bells”) both loved to sing that music, and just demanded to sing one of that style as a trade for singing a Motown-style cut on the flip? Clearly, Motown had little or no interest in kerr’s group selling records. They just wanted his and Barnes’ output as prolific songwriters to help sell Jobete songs on The east Coast.
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Perhaps it’s just that Both Kerr and “Tiny Tim” (Timothy Wilson-former lead singer of Tiny Tim & The Hits-who had a big hit with “Wedding Bells”) both loved to sing that music, and just demanded to sing one of that style as a trade for singing a Motown-style cut on the flip?
It’s possible, I suppose, although by 1964 they weren’t really in a position to be demanding anything. It seems more likely to me (and this is obviously just conjecture) that Motown NYC wanted the two as songwriters, as you say, and this record was the quid pro quo to seal that deal. I doubt Motown gave a damn what happened to it once it was released.
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According to that ever-reliable source of information answers.com, Eddie Kendricks and Elbridge Bryant are featured on both sides of the Serenaders’ one and only Motown single. I find this information highly dubious to say the least; can anyone shed any light on this?
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This is an interesting tune as it is a prototypical Serenaders tune released 6 years too late as you had pointed out. If this were released in ’58 along with their 2 Chock / MGM releases it may have sold. I would have to say although this is nice, it’s probably their worst ballad. Give Me A Girl, oh the other hand, is a magical piece of music
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“According to that ever-reliable source of information answers.com, Eddie Kendricks and Elbridge Bryant are featured on both sides of the Serenaders’ one and only Motown single.”
I find this difficult to believe, as the vocals were recorded in New York.
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Mm, it seems somewhat unbelievable, doesn’t it? But there it is in print (well, electrons anyway) – I just wondered if there was any possible truth to it? It’s not at all obvious from the record itself.
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In his recent autobiography (“Standing On Solid Ground”), Sidney Barnes tells how the trio cut “Say Say Baby” and “If Your Heart Says Yes” successfully, but when they came to cut the third song of the session, one “that required some tight, precise harmony”, George Kerr just dried. Eddie Kendricks, who happened to be in the control room at the time, volunteered to step up to the microphone, and the version with him singing alongside Sidney and Tim was the keeper.
Some nit-picking is, sadly, necessary here. Sidney remembers one session and four songs, the session logs record five songs over three separate sessions (on consecutive days). Oh, and all recorded at Hitsville, by the way. He doesn’t identify “I’ll Cry Tomorrow” as the song Kendricks contributed to, but the “precise harmony” is a strong clue.
Note that he doesn’t mention Elbridge Bryant, who by my guess would have been at least six months gone from the Tempts, and presumably from Motown, by this time (June 1964).
This is a first hand account from someone who was there, and who had every reason to recall a massive highlight of his career, making a record with Eddie Kendricks. I’m inclined to buy it.
Oh, and by the way, I LOVE “I’ll Cry Tomorrow”. Hearing the master for the first time was one of spine-chilling moments in the making of the Singles box set. But hey, I’m just a sad old doo-wopper.
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Thanks, Keith. Always nice to hear from an authoritative source.
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I would guess that “Tears, Nobody, And a Smile”, which, to my taste, is, by far, the best of The Serenaders’ Motown recordings, was recorded in Detroit in one of those 3 sessions, based on the sound of the instrumental by the session musicians, despite no documentation of that. And, therefore, I believe that the group WAS under contract as recording artists when it was recorded. So, I therefore believe Motown fans are being cheated out of hearing that great song due to the bad luck that that documentation has been lost for whatever reason.
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