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VIP 25018 (A), May 1965
b/w By Some Chance
(Written by Arthur Mastor, John Miller and Hal Davis)
I’ve no idea what to make of this at all. Perhaps appropriately, given the title, this is one of the most bizarre records we’ve yet come across; it’s one of those unusual Motown 45s which isn’t a comedy record per se, and yet which still tries to raise a smile all the same.
Everything about He’s An Oddball is just strange – the lyrics (presumably intentionally), the music (possibly intentionally), the vocals (presumably not at all intentionally). If John Barry were called upon to write a knockoff Bond theme for a forgettable but well-intentioned spoof spy flick, and he banged his head on the way to the studio and scribbled all over his notes, and then someone else had to finish the song because Mr Barry was on his way to hospital having that head wound seen to, this might plausibly be the result.
So, to that end, this opens with a massive, blaring horn riff, empty and bombastic but still cinematic in almost every sense, lending proceedings an air of phony gravitas and grandeur – and then, enter the Lewis Sisters, and everything sort of crashes.
Helen and Kay Lewis, stalwarts of Motown’s West Coast office, had originally come west from Michigan, cutting a variety of novelty records before ending up in Los Angeles as Hal Davis’ preferred backing singers and palette-mixers. They ended up more valuable to Motown as writers than performers (as well as the handful of 45s they wrote – including Just Walk In My Shoes for Gladys Knight and the Pips – they also penned lots of album tracks and demos like Marvin Gaye’s superb should-have-been-a-single This Love Starved Heart Of Mine), but they made themsleves so useful to the LA office that they ended up with an artist contract too, and this was their début single. Written not by Helen and Kay but rather credited to their husbands, both women hated it; a funny way for Motown to show gratitude.
The sisters (they apparently alternate the lead vocals on this between them, by their own account) proceed to tell the story of the narrator’s weirdo boyfriend, never quite making it clear whether they love him because he’s a strange’un, or despite his unusual behaviour. Either way, they pronounce every syllable in a really strange accent, slowly, as if giving each banal word its due consideration, rolling their tongues, stretching and flattening vowels, rendering the key word in the title (which ends every verse tercet) as Ard-borla, as in:
Though you may not approve
Think he’s not in the groove
He’s my Ard-borla!
He sets the pace
My sweet funny face
They call Ard-borla!
…and so on. I think it’s for comic effect, rather than it being the way they actually talk, but it’s ridiculous. But then the ridiculous just keeps on coming. This record features piercing, hellish, high-pitched moans from the backing singers (ODDBALL! WHOOO! ODD-BALL! OOOH!), panning in from nowhere like wounded ghosts. This record features a breakdown where the sisters go SHHHH! Dont’cha let him hear you! SHHHH! Better keep it quiet!. This record wastes two lines to feature the titular oddball inventing a new dance of his own to rival the Jerk, called “the Twine”, of which we never hear any more. This record features the most over-the-top production since Tony Martin.
This record’s actually quite good fun.
Quite possibly the silliest thing we’ve yet covered here on Motown Junkies, but I don’t find it anywhere near as annoying as some listeners apparently have. It crops up quite regularly on lists of the worst Motown records of all time, and I can understand why you’d maybe have that reaction, but it’s certainly not actually as bad as advertised once you get past the silliness. One Amazon reviewer, misunderstanding the concept of “complete”, suggested The Complete Motown Singles: Volume 5 was a rip-off because it included some niche ephemera alongside the big hits from the Supremes, Tops, Temptations, Vandellas, Marvin Gaye etc., and singled this out by name as the poster-child for weird Motown side projects. Quite honestly, though, if all weird Motown side projects were this entertaining, or at least this entertainingly strange, the world would have been a better place.
This is very, very silly, and it has nothing at all to do with anything else Motown was up to in the summer of 1965 – but it’s catchy, and it knows how strange it is and carries on anyway, and I can’t bring myself to get too angry with 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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Definitely bizarre. Given the grab-bag of offbeat songs in 1965 that actually were hits (“Iko Iko,” “Wooly Bully,” “Do the Freddie”) I could see someone thinking this record had a chance. I like it!
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I like it too.
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The “Twine” is also alluded to in Alvin Cash’s “Twine Time” and Jr. Walker’s “Shotgun.”
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And also in Jackie Ross’s “Jerk And Twine”.
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As much Twine history as you could ever want, right here:
http://browneyedhandsomeman.blogspot.co.uk/2007/07/its-twine-time-alvin-cash-and-registers.html
I was expecting there to be some sort of story to the Twine reference in this song, like… I don’t know, the oddball boyfriend somehow turns out to actually be Alvin Cash, or a huge Jackie Ross fan, or something. But no, it just sits there as a rhyming device. Maybe on the West Coast, the Twine was only for weirdos, or something. Or maybe he’s a weirdo because he’s pretending to have invented a thing that already exists, I don’t know.
(That said, a pair of middle-aged white women whose next record will be marketed as coming from “The Singing School Teachers” aren’t exactly what you’d expect as standard-bearers of a Midwestern black urban youth dance craze (albeit one apparently born in the high schools of St Louis and Chicago), so… to be honest, I’m still not completely convinced the Twine reference isn’t actually just a bizarre coincidence, and that the Oddball’s new made-up dance might just as well have been named “the Spine” or something. 🙂 )
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Or something.
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I have the same reaction as you…it’s a head scratcher, oddly entertaining, nothing to get too exercised about. I’m just happy none of these unusual side projects ever became hits so that BG felt he shoud do more in this direction in pursuit of another hit.
Just Walk In My Shoes is one of my favorite Gladys Knight tracks and Love Starved Heart is a great track too. So, thank you, Lewis Sisters
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Another great track written by the Lewis Sisters is Brenda Holloway’s “I See A Rainbow”, which was also recorded by Blinky & Edwin Starr.
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Oh, absolutely, they had a whole sheaf of great songs, albeit most of them tucked away on albums outside the scope of this site (I think there’s only Brenda Holloway’s “Where Were You?” besides the ones we’ve already mentioned). And they aren’t done as performers, either; there’s another single still to come after this one, and two tracks in the Cellarful of Motown series that are probably better than any of the four sides we’ll meet here on Motown Junkies.
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I do believe that “Love Starved Heart” appeared as a CD single at some stage.
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Don’t Make Me Live Without Your Love, on “Cellarful #1” was actually pretty intriguing. Written and produced by the boss himself, it contains a killer chord progression. (Originally meant for Tammi Terrell, which makes much more sense.)
The Lewis Sisters are also credited as background vocalists for Chris Clark’s first VIP single “Do Right Baby Do Right,” on which they give the Andantes a short run for their money.
Love the John Barry scenario!
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Also, this:
http://thelewissisters.com/
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Finally heard this one. Definitely strange. Not really enamored with the Lewis Sisters’ vocals though they do try their best. And I do agree that they are great song writers. I love “Just Walk in my Shoes.” Besides Gladys Knight’s great version, the blue eyed soul group Magnificent Men do a great version as well. The Lewis Sisters also wrote “Baby Baby” which the Miracles recorded (not to be confused with “Ooh Baby Baby”). The 70s Supremes did a cool version of “Baby Baby” as well. The Miracles’ version is on “Away We A Go Go”
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My siblings and I saw the Magnificent Men in Philadelphia in 1966 or thereabouts – had never heard of them before or since, but the crowd loved them – and they were sharing the stage with Smokey, Brenda Holloway, the Elgins, Billy Stewart and … who else, Mary??
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Oh wow! You saw the Mag Men? I personally think they are the best blue eyed sould group ever. Those dolts at All Music Guide barely give them a mention. Anyway, sounds likes a great show considering the rest of the bill.
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The Magnificent Men were one of the USA’s best-kept secrets – one of the best blue-eyed soul groups I’ve heard.
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Curiosity definitely whetted – the same curiosity that led me to buy a second-hand 45 entitled ‘Moonlight on the Beach’ – which had me really baffled. Utterly soupy and yet somehow charming – and I wondered who these ‘Singing School Teachers’ were – it never even occurred to me that they might be white! I was wondering when they’d turn up…
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They sounded VERY “White” to me-so much so that I wondered why Berry Gordy signed them as artists and why they got a release. But then, I wondered why MOST of the VIP singers got releases, and also why The Velvelettes, Spinners, Monitors, Elgins, Bobby Taylor, Serenaders, and Mickey McCullers were banished to that forsaken subsidiary.
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Not only that, the instrumentation sounds considerably more “Wrecking Crew” than “Funk Brothers” – the bass alone sounds like a Carol Kaye job.
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For some reason the backing reminds me of “On Broadway”.
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It really does! And yes, WB, this was a West Coast cut, so that very likely is Carol Kaye and co. you’re hearing.
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The Lewis sisters’ names are familiar to me, if for no other reason that they wrote a piece called “Let My People Go” which later wound up as the B side to Donny Osmond’s 1972 cover of the old Paul Anka hit “Puppy Love” on MGM K14367.
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Furthermore . . . if what I’ve been reading in the Soulful Detroit forum is verifiable, apparently the sisters did co-write this odd piece, albeit under their respective married names. As for their weird pronunciation of “oddball,” it’s no different from Neil Diamond in the chorus of “I Am…I Said” enunciating thus: “…to no-one thayuh / And no one heard at all, not even the chayuh…”
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So I listened to this song for the first time
Well…. The backing track is great…too bad it was wasted on corny inspired lyrics
The pronunciation is also pretty annoying
2/10
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* uninspired
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Agree!
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As for the “(Miller, Mastor, Davis)” credit on this tune, Motown apparently vacillated in terms of how to credit the sisters in their capacity as songwriters; Gladys Knight & The Pips’ recording of their “Just Walk in My Shoes,” when issued in June 1966 on Soul 35023, showed a songwriting credit of (H. Mastor, K. Miller) – yet, not quite two months later, when Brenda Holloway’s recording of their “Where Were You” was released as the B side of Tamla single #T-54137, the composer credits were shown as (Kay Lewis, Helen Lewis). It would seem that, in the songwriters’ links, they be presented as Kay Lewis (Miller) and Helen Lewis (Mastor) – not unlike in the manner of, say, Morris (Luvel) Broadnax.
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If the attribution to their husbands in TCMS 5 is wrong, then of course that merits a correction (and there’s a “Writing credit: Lewis Sisters” category set up for the purpose later on) – but what’s this information based on? I don’t have the notes in front of me right now (I’ll check when I get home later), but as I recall there’s an explicit quote from one of the sisters saying they didn’t like the song, which doesn’t jibe with them having written it under male pseudonyms Brontë-style.
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For what it’s worth (whether it’s believable or not), here are a few links:
http://faac.us/adf/messages/165088/174913.html?1213948413
via:
http://www.dftmc.info/titles/th-03.html
Another link:
http://webspace.webring.com/people/es/sevenleggedelvis/Credits1956-65.html
cites this as amongst the sisters’ compositions over a 15-year period (1952-67).
Given its corniness, however, one could understand how the one sister may’ve tried to (ahem) disavow any knowledge (I couldn’t help but thinking of Oddjob from Goldfinger when seeing the title and hearing the song, given the reference to John Barry).
Both links mention the credits thus:
He’s An Oddball (Helen Lewis Mastor-Kay Lewis Miller-Hal Davis) publ. Jobete
The Lewis Sisters; recorded California, completed before 06-Apr-65 ; produced by Hal Davis, Marc Gordon
24-May-65; 45 (M): V.I.P. 25018 A
04-Aug-06; CD (M): Hip-O Select B0006775-02 The Complete Motown Singles Vol. 5 1965
Another possibility would be to check (if practicable) the LOC database. (For example, Bobby Sharp famously co-wrote Ray Charles’ big 1961 hit, “Unchain My Heart,” under the pseudonym “Agnes Jones”; while Jerry Leiber of Leiber-Stoller fame had his wife, actress Gaby Rodgers, credited in his place alongside Billy Edd Wheeler on the song “Jackson” which was a hit in 1967 for both Johnny Cash and June Carter, and Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood.)
However, Allmusic, in its listing for TCMS 5, tries to assign sole songwriting credit to Hal Davis. Yet that compilation also claims, in terms of who were his collaborators (as per Discogs.com’s listings for this set), what you’d listed. (Unless those who compiled that set were misled by the sisters’ married surnames and concluded accordingly.) The mystery persists.
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“Don’t Forget The Motor City” is the mammoth, eye-wateringly comprehensive, incredibly thoroughly researched (and highly recommended!) discography project of Keith Hughes… who co-wrote the (146 pages of) TCMS 5 liner notes in question in the first place. So.. Keith?
The waters-muddying quote from TCMS 5:
“He’s An Oddball was officially credited to Helen and Kay’s husbands, who are also credited as the wrtiters of “Do The Duck” by the Autographs on the Joker label, among other Jobete copyrights issued on that label. ‘Oddball’ wasn’t a favourite in the Lewis households. “I hated that song”, says Kay. “I don’t know, I just didn’t like it. I didn’t like the words to it.”
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On another plane . . . is it my imagination, or does the musical arrangement smack of Gene Page? (Given that there’s also some similarity in sound between this and Dobie Gray’s “The In Crowd” – that, plus Page arranging several West Coast Motown sessions starting in the mid-to-late ’60’s and throughout the ’70’s.)
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I hadn’t listened to the song until just today, and this was the first thing that popped in my head as well. Hm.
BTW, goofy but engaging song.
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Wow this sounds nothing like I expected to! I thought this was going to be a flat out country Loretta Lynn ( I love Loretta) sounding song lol. I say with much confidence that Loretta would have sounded better on this Motown song lol. The instrumentation is great….i’m not sure of the lyrical value…but with a strong singer this could have been okay.
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It’s just annoying.
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I suppose choosing this track to make my debut post on Motown Junkies shows my own ‘oddball’ credentials, but i just LOVE it. It’s the song Fenella Fielding should have been given to sing in ‘Carry On Screaming’ (in fact the vocals sound just like Fenella’s delivery in the movie.) Classic ’65 Motown.
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I’m fairly certain they did the backing vocals on an unreleased Berry Gordy-penned Tommy Good track called “Bad Bad Baby”.
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Is it “Oddball” or “Odd Ball”? The label seems to indicate the latter.
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The Complete Motown Singles (and the picture sleeve!) go with “Oddball” as one word, so that’s what I’ve followed here. The label scan at the top is a promo, and at Motown, lots of weird misprints and mis-spellings happened on those.
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