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Motown M 1064 (B), August 1964
B-side of My Smile Is Just A Frown (Turned Upside Down)
(Written by Carolyn Crawford)
I’ve got to stop being surprised by this sort of thing.
Regular readers will hopefully by now know that this is my own personal evaluation of the Motown legacy, and that I understand it’ll likely differ in some key respects from their own, and that no two people’s versions of this exercise will end up the same. Nonetheless, there have been a few times when I’ve apparently ruffled feathers by lauding something widely-panned, and there have been rather more times when I’ve seen (or heard) nothing particularly special in a song and reviewed it accordingly, only to discover it’s someone’s cherished all-time favourite. And I walk into these things every time.
At least with this one I can pre-emptively defend myself, having had a tip-off; a comment on the entry for the A-side here, My Smile Is Just A Frown (Turned Upside Down), from a very well-respected contributor (who I hope won’t mind me shoving him into the spotlight!), opined that this B-side was a 10/10, and “couldn’t have been better”. I’m really glad of this, because it’s always good to be reminded of just how subjective this whole exercise really is – it’s not only a case of one man’s meat being another man’s poison, but a stark underlined reminder – for me more than you, dear reader – that these reviews are simply the highly subjective opinions of one Motown junkie, and your mileage, as always, may vary considerably. As I used to say in the early days, if any review of mine (good or bad), or any dissenting comment in the ensuing discussion, sends a reader to seek out a song for the first time they might otherwise have ignored, well, my work here is done.
Oh, right, I’ll Come Running. Well, it’s quite nice, but I find it both meandering and sloppy.
14-year-old Carolyn Crawford was a writer as well as a singer – she’d penned her Motown dĂ©but single Forget About Me – and the label were clearly still comfortable with her bringing her own material to the table almost a year later. But this is a vibe and a riff in search of a song.
It’s atmospheric, no question; the jaunty stabs of piano/organ play nicely against the stuttering, hissy rhythm track and Carolyn’s soaring vocal (once again, you’d never guess she was fourteen on this evidence). Carolyn shows off her power and control right from the opening line in the song’s biggest hook, a loud, leaping, repeated extended third note – Give me-a-lil’ TIIIIIIIIIIME to think it over – that’s recalled throughout the song to pleasing effect.
But the big strong voice on those extended notes sounds in marked contrast to the out-of-breath bark she uses on other lines, forcing in as many words per bar as will possibly fit; the effect is much closer to the shrill, unintelligible bits of Forget About Me than the impossibly cool A-side.
There aren’t any more really good ideas in play afterwards. The song loses both direction and steam after barely thirty seconds; that jauntily pounded piano keeps on going like a tape loop and Carolyn keeps kicking up to make the big notes, but nothing much else happens structure-wise (there’s a rudimentary middle eight that’s essentially another verse with a key change, but that’s about it).
The result, for me anyway, was that it got quite boring before it was finished – a pity, because Carolyn is trying so very hard, and I feel guilty for ragging on a defenceless teenage talent, but I can’t get away from the feeling that this is the work of an immature songwriter. I’ll Come Running has run out of ideas after half a minute, but keeps on ploughing the same determined furrow for another two regardless.
I didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted to. Your mileage, of course, may vary.
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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| Carolyn Crawford “My Smile Is Just A Frown (Turned Upside Down)” |
Kim Weston “Looking For The Right Guy” |
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Having never heard this, I must remain neutral -like Portugal or Canada- but I look forward to Robb’s defense.
Had I been handed a copy of this in my late teens or later however, I’m sure I would have been more drawn to the side with Smokey’s name on the writer and producer lines. Then, if I found anything wanting with the b-side, would have wondered if there was another Smokey production laying about, or even better, an HDH session with the lady (still) going unheard.
Bearing in mind that the Supremes’ “It’s All Your Fault,” and the Marvelettes’ “Knock On My Door” weren’t allowed daylight till they were over 20 years old(!), we have no way of assuring ourselves that the best of Crawford at Motown has already reached our ears.
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Indeed, it’s well documented she recorded quite a bit of stuff while at Motown – presumably extending beyond the three singles and the four tracks that have surfaced via the Cellarful series (one on each!), and I’m fervently hoping – as I’m sure lots of fans are – that the excellent Ace/Kent series of anthologies continues with a Carolyn set somewhere along the line.
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I had never heard this recording until the other day when I read the comment by our “well-respected contributor” rating this 10/10. Not finding it on YouTube, I listened to its preview on iTunes and liked what I heard. I liked it even more after downloading it! Everything about it is infectious and catchy. Although I wouldn’t give it a 10, it does deserve, imo, a solid 8.
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Everyone who comments here is well-respected (by me anyway! – the stats show something like one reader in every 150-200 actually steps in and comments, so big thanks to everybody who does), I just didn’t want to seem like I was having a dig at anyone other than myself (I’m fair game!)
Hooray for downloading the song – I’m delighted you like it!
(on a complete tangent, my ipod threw up the Beach Boys’ Charles Manson-penned (!?) Never Learn Not To Love shortly after this, and they’re actually not totally dissimilar, such that my brain is now mixing them together when I start singing either…)
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I’d give this a 10 out of ten. It’s one of my all-time favourite vinyl recordings. I can’t see how it could have been made better. I wonder if I’m the “well-repected contributor”? In any case, it’s just a matter of taste. 1964 was my favourite music year, and this song is right up there with the best.
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Yes, it was you 🙂 And indeed, it’s all a matter of taste – would be great to get another perspective. What do you particularly like about this one?
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>>the stats show something like one reader in every 150-200 actually steps in and comments<<
Wow. That certainly makes me feel like a blabber mouth LOL …and I'm not about to stop 🙂
I suppose it's now been about 18 months or a little more since I discovered Motown Junkies, and I consider that among my luckiest days net surfing. I'm also aware of a warm and agreeable camaraderie among those of us who comment most frequently, and it makes MJ a place I'm eager to get to in the first half hour on the computer with my wake-up coffee next to me.
Let's hope it stays that way and encourages more of the shy lurkers to speak up.
🙂
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Seconded, all are welcome! And on that note I’d also like to personally apologise to anyone and everyone I might have inadvertently offended when replying to comments (especially when I’m explaining my reasoning or process for reviewing something the way I did) – I read some of my old replies back and wince at how prickly I sound in some of them. It’s never intentional – we don’t bite, I promise 🙂
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I think the A-side is great; this side I find tuneless. Maybe OK for any other label, but for Motown it’s worth a below-average rating.
Oh, and looking ahead to the next review, what on earth were Motown thinking of, in the wake of Mary Wells’ departure, releasing two singles by solo female artists within four days of each other? Surely that didn’t make commercial sense.
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No it doesn’t, but in retrospect it may have a great deal to do with why I didn’t learn about “Right Guy” till it was 13 years old, and “Smile/Frown” till it was 28. Or maybe with “Where Did Our Love Go” pulling up to No. 1, some voice inside Motown said “They like girls! Give ’em more girls!”
Nelson George notes the same thing in his Where Did Our Love Go, that in the face of the onslaught of the “more masculine Brits,” and changing teenage music tastes, “four decidedly feminine Motown records would capture the top spot, Mary Wells’ ‘My Guy,’ and the Supremes ‘Where Did Our Love Go,’ ‘Baby Love’ and ‘Come See About Me’. They were Motown’s only No. 1 records of 1964.”
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I find it interesting that you say this song is “tuneless”. To me the “tune” of a song is BY FAR the most important feature. Lyrics are of almost no importance, unless they are terrible and nonsensical, and even then, they can’t ruin a song for me that has a tune I like. Songwriting and tune, and the structure of that tune are what I like most. That is why I like this song so much, and don’t like Carolyn’s “Forget About Me” so much, as that song wanders all over the place. But, even though the latter has poor structure, I wouldn’t call it “tuneless”. There is a tune here. You may not like this combination of notes because of its structure, but it has a tune.
Perhaps a monotonal “song” like “Talk Talk” by Music Machine, or “Funky Broadway” by Dyke and The Blazers have no real tune. But, this song has a tune. And, I like this particular order of notes, and the combinations of sounds coming out of the musical instruments, the songwriting, and Carolyn’s singing performance. I like this song better than all her others, including “Just a Frown” and those great unreleased cuts.
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I can hum most records after I hear them. I can’t do that with this one. THat’s why I call it tuneless.
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I can hum it, and sing it, too. It has a very pleasant melody to me. I call that a tune. To each his own. Different taste keeps everything from being boring.
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Berry Gordy must have seen potential in Carolyn Crawford and/or this song if he chose to produce it, don’t you think?
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I think all of Carolyn’s releases, including this one, are good. This is one of my favorites. Rating: 8/10
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My mileage may vary is on the button. My ears have gotten a lot of mileage out of this one. If you’re looking for a song that defines the R in R&B, “I’ll Come Running” is it. The piano, organ and that great beat can wake the dead. Boring it certainly is not. Sure it has a few flaws. Carolyn hits that high note she uses on the word “time” and in other places a bit much, and too many of the lyrics can’t be understood. However, the pluses far outweigh the minuses, and that rhythm and melody are superb. A “9” to be sure. If this song was in my alarm clock, I’d awaken every day dancing.
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I quite agree with the 9 mark given in the most recent comments above. However, unlike the ‘A’ side which I loved from the very first time I heard it, this side took a while to grow on me. The song itself I don’t think is that strong, and as the previous comment stated some of the lyrics are unclear. What really makes this shine is ‘The Master’ Berry Gordy’s superb prodcution. That shuffling beat enhanced by the piano and organ make this irresistable to me. It really is quite a unique record.
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