Where Did Our Love Go

"Where Did Our Love Go"
Single by The Supremes
from the album Where Did Our Love Go
B-side	"He Means the World to Me"
Released	June 17, 1964
Format	Vinyl record (7" 45 RPM)
Recorded	Hitsville U.S.A. (Studio A); April 8, 1964
Genre	Pop, R&B, doo-wop
Length	2:33
Label	Motown M 1060
Writer(s)	Holland–Dozier–Holland
Producer	Brian Holland Lamont Dozier
The Supremes singles chronology
"Run Run Run" (1964) "Where Did Our Love Go" (1964) "Baby Love" (1964)
Music sample "Where Did Our Love Go" Alternative cover

"Where Did Our Love Go" is a 1964 song recorded by The Supremes for the Motown label.

Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, "Where Did Our Love Go" was the first single by the Supremes to go to the number-one position on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart in the United States, a position it held for two weeks, from August 16 to August 29, 1964. It was also the first of five Supremes songs in a row to reach number one (respectively, "Baby Love," "Come See About Me," "Stop! In the Name of Love," and "Back in My Arms Again"). The song also reached number-one on the Cash Box R&B singles chart.

The Supremes' version is ranked #472 on Rolling Stone 's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

History

Overview

Holland–Dozier–Holland (H-D-H) had originally composed the song and prepared the instrumental track for The Marvelettes to record it. The Marvelettes rejected the song, thinking it childish, and H–D–H offered it to the Supremes, who by early 1964 had only one top-forty hit, When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes, and eight failed singles. Although the Supremes were apprehensive at first about the song, they decided that they really didn't have a choice in the matter.

Upon learning the Supremes had chosen to record "Where Did Our Love Go", the Marvelettes warned the girls to stand up for themselves and not just take anything H–D–H would give them. As a result, when the song was recorded on April 8, 1964, there was a bit of animosity on the part of the Supremes towards singing the song. Lamont Dozier was forced at one point to redo the arrangement of the background vocals, replacing the original, more complex backing with simple repetitions of the word "baby."

One of the most famous aspects of "Where Did Our Love Go" was its rhythm section, consisting primarily of footstomps, which were inspired by The Four Seasons early hits. The sound effect was performed by an Italian-American teenager named Mike Valvano, who stomped down upon two wooden boards suspended by strings, to create the aural illusion of a group of foot-stompers. Handclaps were overdubbed for the 45 RPM single mix of the song.

Since the lead vocal was originally written to be sung by the Marvelettes' lead singer Gladys Horton, it was arranged in lower key than the Supremes' lead singer Diana Ross' natural register. Lyricist Eddie Holland wanted Supreme Mary Wilson to sing the lead, feeling that her dusky voice suited the song better, but by this time Motown chief Berry Gordy had appointed Ross as the trio's sole lead singer. The resulting vocal track had a sensual appeal not present in Ross' earlier songs, and she elatedly rushed to Gordy's office, and dragged him to the basement studio at Hitsville U.S.A. to hear it. Upon hearing the finished song, Gordy remarked that the song had potential, possibly enough to make it to the top ten.

Release and reaction

"Where Did Our Love Go" was released as a single on June 17, 1964, and entered the Hot 100 at number seventy-seven. Six weeks later, while the Supremes were on tour as part of Dick Clark's "American Bandstand Caravan of Stars", the song made it to number one for two weeks. The girls began the tour at the bottom of the bill; by the conclusion of the tour, they were at the top. They performed the song on the NBC variety program, Hullabaloo! on Tuesday, January 26, 1965.

The song became the focal point and title track of the group's second album, Where Did Our Love Go, released later that year. A German language version of the song was recorded by the Supremes for German-speaking markets overseas.

The song seemed to strike a chord in the United States, with a group which would become the most successful chart-topping American popular music group of the 1960s. The first of their Number Ones, the song peaked just weeks after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, critically remarked as capturing the spirit of an America reeling from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, racial tension, increased United States involvement in Vietnam, and foreseeing the end of the early optimism of the 1960s.

Cover versions

• In 1968, the song was covered by The Clarendonians, titled "Baby Baby". The Clarendonians were a ska and rocksteady vocal group from Jamaica, active from the mid to late 1960s.
• In 1971, the song was covered by Donnie Elbert.
• In 1976, The J. Geils Band covered the song on their live 1976 album Blow Your Face Out, and also charted at #68 with it.
• In 1978, the song was covered by Ringo Starr
• In 1981, Soft Cell combined their cover of "Where Did Our Love Go" with a cover of Gloria Jones' "Tainted Love".
• In 1984, a cover was made for the cartoon Kidd Video by the eponymous band.
• In 1986, the norwegian swing/pop duo Bobbysocks! covered it on their LP Waiting for the Morning.
• The intro of the song was sampled in the 1998 Ace of Base song, "Always Have Always Will."
• Electropop artists Gluebound covered the song for their 1998 album Essential Interpretations: Today's Great Artists Perform Yesterday's Classics.
• In 2005, the Pussycat Dolls, like Soft Cell, recorded a combined cover song of "Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go" for their debut album, PCD.
• In 2006, U.K. singer Declan Galbraith recorded the song for his second album Thank You.
• While not exactly a true cover, the melodic and chordal progressions of labelmates the Four Tops' "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" are almost identical to those of "Where Did Our Love Go". "I Can't Help Myself" reached number one in 1965.
• In 2011, YouTube singer Julia Nunes did a remix of the song with Justin Bieber's song "Baby". This same arrangement was used by Little Mix in series 8, week 8 of the UK Factor.

Personnel

• Lead vocals by Diana Ross
• Background vocals by Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson
• All instruments by The Funk Brothers
• Footstomps by Mike Valvano

Chart history

Chart	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1
U.S. Cash Box R&B Singles Chart	1
Canadian RPM Top 40 & 5 singles chart	1
UK Singles Chart	3
MegaCharts	4
VG-lista	6

Preceded by "Everybody Loves Somebody" by Dean Martin	US Billboard Hot 100 number-one single August 22, 1964 (2 weeks)	Succeeded by "The House of the Rising Sun" by The Animals
Preceded by "A Hard Day's Night" by The Beatles	Canadian RPM number-one single August 31, 1964 (one week)	Succeeded by "House of the Rising Sun" by The Animals

See also

• List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1964 (U.S.)

Bibliography

• Chin, Brian and Nathan, David (2000). Reflections Of...The Supremes [CD box set]. New York: Motown Record Co./Universal Music.
• Posner, Gerald (2002). "Motown : Music, Money, Sex, and Power". New York: Random House. ISBN 0-375-50062-6.
• Wilson, Mary and Romanowski, Patricia (1986, 1990, 2000). "Dreamgirl: My Life As a Supreme". New York: Cooper Square Publishers. ISBN 0-8154-1000-X.