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Tamla T 54123 (B), September 1965
B-side of My Girl Has Gone
(Written by Smokey Robinson and Mickey Stevenson)
Tamla Motown TMG 540 (B), November 1965
B-side of My Girl Has Gone
(Released in the UK under license through EMI/Tamla Motown)
More wheel-spinning from the Miracles, here serving up a symphonic slice of two-year-old doo-wop goodness to tide us over until Smokey Robinson gets his groove back.
There’s no hiding the vintage of Since You Won My Heart, recorded in late 1963 and promptly archived for future rediscovery; even leaving aside the unusual writing credit (Smokey teaming up with A&R boss Mickey Stevenson), it’s unmistakably very much in the mould of the early-Sixties Miracles’ great doo-wop tinged ballads, the high piano, 6/8 tempo and doo-wop changes calling to mind the likes of You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me and A Love She Can Count On.
That’s not a bad thing, of course – those are both magnificent records – but inviting such a direct comparison is a risky move, and the result isn’t flattering to Since You Won My Heart, which simply isn’t in the same league either as a song or a recording.
So, you can see why this was left on the shelf. But it’s not a bad record, not at all, and there’s lots to enjoy taken on its own merits. In fact, listening to this now, it’s easy to pick out the threads which Smokey seems to have repurposed in Would I Love You; presumably he wrote that song thinking the public would never get to hear Since You Won My Heart, and that it was a shame to let good ideas go to waste.
He was right, too, and there are plenty of good ideas here – the middle eight (You know the right things to say…) is a lovely little treat, Smokey’s lead vocal is looser and throatier than we’ve become accustomed to, but it helps sell the song, especially when he drops in a reference to his sweetheart as your mother’s only daughter (another idea he’d recycle further down the line!).
Plus, it’s really good to hear Claudette’s lovely vocal prominent in the mix, as she had been on the A-side (and perhaps that’s the reason this was dusted off at all?), making something of a mockery of the Going To A Go-Go album cover, pictured above left; the Miracles’ sleeve art by now only featured the male members of the group.
It’s hard to see this as anything other than filler, both on the album and on this single – once again, I doubt many fans have this at the top of their lists of Miracles favourites – but at least it’s very pretty filler.
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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There was a small candy and soda store with a jukebox two corners away from me that fall of 1965, and I remember some regular there was very taken with this song and had it on many times. That’s where I learned to like it and have ever since.
It’s not powerful, no, not like the best Miracles, but it’s a sturdy song and needs no apologies, a happy side to go with the unhappy A-side.
I’m not surprised you mention Claudette, because this Miracles song has a strong female quality to the background vocals, and one could wonder if they’d sneaked an Andante or two onto the mix.
Every source I’ve read claims Claudette sang with the group until Smokey himself left after 1972.
For those who don’t know, Claudette’s appearances with the group stopped because she had suffered a series of heartbreaking miscarriages in the early years of the Robinson’s marriage.
There’s one tale of Smokey being down with the first reported cases of Asian flu in the U.S., and Claudette leading the group on tour in his absence, telling no one she has miscarried again while on the road. Had she said anything, she knew the tour would be canceled and Motown and the group would lose income. Smokey said, in one of the books, maybe his own, that when Claudette got off the plane in Detroit she was down 92 pounds and he hardly recognized her.
Finally, the Robinson’s doctor laid it on the line for the couple: if they hoped to be parents, the punishing Miracles travel and touring schedule had to cease for Claudette. Happily, as most know, they had two healthy children in the second half of the 1960s. But Claudette never totally disappears from group pictures, and is seen on the cover (or liner shots) of the albums Away We A Go-Go, What Love Has and One Dozen Roses.
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On a happier note, Claudette tells another anecdote from that (Asian flu) tour, where the audience – having never seen pictures of Smokey or the Miracles – saw her stepping out to front the group and sing Smokey’s falsetto lead vocals, and so assumed that she herself was “Smokey” Robinson, cheering and shouting “her” name.
Thanks for your patience, everyone, while I’ve been away for various reasons – hopefully we can enjoy a bit of normal service now to take us through to the end of the year 🙂
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What is interesting to me is that one could take the song, redo the backing tracks and have a hit with it. Too bad that it was decided to leave the original track on as it does make the song sound dated. On the other hand, on the album, it was a nice change of pace, and at most it was only two, possibly three years out of style.
I did not realize that Mickey Stevenson was the co-writer. It may have been his suggestion to go back to a Doo-Wop type style. Let us not forget however, that the writers of the B-Sides got the same financial credit as the writers of the A-Side of a 45rpm recording. At other labels they did not care what was on the B-Side, on West Grand Blvd they did.
Claudette being recorded so high in the mix, gives the harmonies a nicer blend than usual, too bad it wasn’t done more often.
Given all of this, I can’t believe I am only giving the song a 5.
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I’d give this song a weak 7, as I think it’s too good for a 6. But, I grew up in the group harmony era. So, I prefer the older sounds.
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Hi Robb, I’m with you my friend. I love the doo-woppish feel to this song. Again, I need 2 or 3 different Motown favorites lists. One devoted to the “classics” & couple devoted to the more offbeat records. At one point, I got so sick of hearing the classics getting played over & over again, that I really began diving into the lesser known songs (like this one!) I trust you are well friend!
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Loved it for its throwback appeal. At that time i was nostaglic for a Motown Sound i thought would never return…..should have known better. A year later that same sound would appear in “Greetings, This is Uncle Sam”.
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