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Gordy G 7031 (B), March 1964
B-side of In My Lonely Room
(Written by Edward Holland Jr.)
Stateside SS 305 (B), June 1964
B-side of In My Lonely Room
(Released in the UK under license through Stateside Records)
Hoo dearie me, if you think I was too harsh on In My Lonely Room, you’re not going to be very impressed with what’s coming up…! But that’s a story for another day. Today, we’re here to talk about A Tear For The Girl, another Vandellas track which – like the A-side – always leaves me feeling ambivalent.
A rare early solo writing credit for Eddie Holland, this turns out to be little more than a superficial rewrite of an earlier Holland-Dozier-Holland number, Darling, I Hum Our Song, a 1962 non-hit for Eddie (in his alternate career as a failed pop singer) which had already been dusted off for the Vandellas a few months previously and used as a B-side.
Which isn’t to say it’s not good or anything, because it is quite good in its own right; a waltzy, woozy, wounded ballad that gives Martha more opportunities to to display her remarkable vocal abilities. The Vandellas are given more to do here than on their earlier cover of Darling, I Hum Our Song, and there’s a frosty glaze of organ here running in the background that adds an unusual, echoing quality to their harmonies.
It’s just that it’s very similar to its predecessor, very similar indeed, right down to the incongruous humming device that sees Martha hum rather than sing one whole verse (and to almost exactly the same tune, too). That being the case, the same drawbacks that were so apparent there are also hard to escape here – Martha again gives a strong, powerful performance on a quietly contemplative song, and while it’s hard to criticise either of those elements they again just don’t seem to mesh. Martha’s anguished cries at the end of each verse – I KNOW, because that girl is me! – almost seem to belong to a different song to the rest of the verses.
Still, there’s lots to savour here – Martha’s vocal is again excellent, even if it doesn’t quite fit the production, the backing vocals are lovely, and the horn riffs between each verse are heavenly. It’s just that there’s something not quite right about this, something I can’t exactly put my finger on, and which stops the record from truly “connecting” with me (and, by extension, stops me from properly loving it the way I’d like to.)
Better than the Vandellas’ version of Darling, I Hum Our Song, but not quite as good as Eddie Holland’s original; and there’s not very much more I can say about it.
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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| Martha and the Vandellas “In My Lonely Room” |
Shorty Long “Devil With The Blue Dress” |
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Uh, oh. Your upcoming harshness may be aimed on some of my favorite A and B sides that have yet to be reviewed! Some are fairly eccentric (some are even fun trash), so I expect it. Don’t expect my tastes to run to certain jerky Miracles song, though.
While I thought you were a bit hard on In My Lonely Room (though I didn’t say so), this side didn’t connect with me, either, and with your more extensive knowledge of where the song was modeled, it makes some sense. Martha’s “I KNOW, because that girl is me” being repetitive doesn’t quite hit strong as Levi’s not-repetitive “The Loneliest one is me” in an not terribly soon upcoming Four Tops song. Of course you may not care for that one, either, but there I’ll have a strong dissent prepared and ready.
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So far, of their real hit period, “Old Love Let’s Try It Again” is my favorite Vandellas b-side, and I agree with your review and your grade here.
In the hands of a less talented group, this wouldn’t even have been worth flipping over, but it won’t be the first time -on a single or an album cut- that the Vandellas work like hell to give some personality to a mediocre song.
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As a re-write this one is pretty good. It suffers the same fate as its original—-its just one of those songs that does really resolve itself. Its quite capable of chasing its own tail for the rest of the day while we listen, slightly amused.7/10 for unoriginality.
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The blogger is certainly right to consider this is not the best Vandellas’ song, but Martha Reeves’s vocal performance is tremendous to me.3
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I’d like to add to my previous comment that, if Diana Ross sounds like a young girl, Martha Reeves is a lady, she’s bad, she’s true, that what this recording especially demonstrates for me. Soulful is the word, whatever the quality or originality of the song. I would say the same thing about Gladys Knight’s early-70s ballads.
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