The Happening (song)
| "The Happening" | ||||||||||||||
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| Single by The Supremes | ||||||||||||||
| from the album The Happening and Greatest Hits | ||||||||||||||
| B-side | "All I Know About You" | |||||||||||||
| Released | March 20, 1967 | |||||||||||||
| Format | Vinyl record (7" 45 RPM) | |||||||||||||
| Recorded | Los Angeles: February 24 and February 25, 1967 | |||||||||||||
| Genre | Pop | |||||||||||||
| Length | 2:52 | |||||||||||||
| Label | Motown M 1107 |
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| Writer(s) | Holland–Dozier–Holland-DeVol | |||||||||||||
| Producer | Brian Holland Lamont Dozier |
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| The Supremes singles chronology | ||||||||||||||
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"The Happening" is a 1967 song recorded by Motown artists The Supremes. The song served as the theme song of the 1967 Columbia film The Happening, and was released as a single by Motown at the time of the film's release that spring. While the movie flopped, the song peaked at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart in May,[1] becoming The Supremes' tenth number-one single in the United States,[2] peaking in the top 10 on the UK Pop Chart at number six, and in the top 10 in the Australian Pop Chart and in the Dutch Pop Chart.
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[edit] Background
[edit] History
Produced by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier, and written by Holland–Dozier–Holland and Frank De Vol (The Happening's musical director), "The Happening" was the final single issued by The Supremes under that name. Between the release of "The Happening" and the next Supremes single, "Reflections," the group's billing changed to Diana Ross & the Supremes, and Florence Ballard was replaced with Cindy Birdsong of Patti LaBelle & the Blue Belles.
Ballard's final of the 17 appearances The Supremes made on the hit CBS variety television program The Ed Sullivan Show[3] was on an episode where she performed this song live from Expo 67 in Montréal on Sunday, May 7, 1967,[4] going to number-one the same week.
[edit] Personnel
- Lead vocals by Diana Ross
- Background vocals by Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson
- Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers
- Drums by Hal Blaine
[edit] Chart history
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard R&B Singles Chart | 12 |
| UK Singles Chart | 6 |
[edit] Other versions
"The Happening" became a #32 instrumental hit for Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass subsequently in the same year. "The Happening's" intro would be sampled decades later by R&B singer Fantasia for her 2007 single "Hood Boy", and by producer Swizz Beatz for 2Pac's posthumous single "Untouchable." The song would also be performed by Elaine and Renee in 2000 during the episode "Turning Thirty" of Ally McBeal.
| Preceded by "Somethin' Stupid" by Nancy Sinatra and Frank Sinatra |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single May 13, 1967 (one week) |
Succeeded by "Groovin'" by The Young Rascals |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Billboard Hot 100". Billboard (Nielsen Company) 79 (19): 24. 1967. http://books.google.com/books?id=_ScEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA1&pg=PA24#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
- ^ Bronson, Fred: The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, page 223. Billboard Books, 2003.
- ^ Yusuf, Nilgin (26 August 2008), "The Supremes on show", The Daily Telegraph (London), http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/3672929/The-Supremes-on-show.html
- ^ "Expo '67 - The Supremes, Xavier Cugat, Charo, Roberta Peters". The Ed Sullivan Show. CBS, Montreal. 7 May 1967. No. 33, season 20.
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