Growing up, I knew this song as a hit single for The Carpenters in 1975. For older pop fans, it’s Motown’s first number one single by one of the first girl groups, The Marvelettes, from 1961.
Inspired by my birthday trip back to Belfast – and today’s ambulance strike – here is what must surely be Van Morrison’s finest moment. It’s certainly his most emotionally intense.
This was the first big hit for Motown founder Berry Gordy (I think), and the first big hit for songwriting trio Holland-Dozier-Holland (I think) and the first big hit for Martha Reeves & The Vandellas (for sure).
Here is a classic sixties song that I had never heard until a version by Misty Miller popped up in Lena Dunham’s excellent medieval comedy Catherine Called Birdy and sent me delving for the original.
When I first heard Nina Simone sing this, and for a long time afterwards, I thought she was singing about a “Sea Lion Woman.” Some time later I found out that the song title, which appeared as the B-side of Mississippi Goddam, is actually See-Line Woman.
Not only is this one of the catchiest songs of all time but the story behind the song is remarkable… and lives up to the title.
It’s hard not to shudder when you hear the words ‘girl group’ and ‘Phil Spector’ in the same sentence these days but The Paris Sisters seemed to survive the experience.
RIP Christine Perfect / McVie (1943-2022)
2nd December 2022 · 1960s, 1969, 2020s, 2022, Blues, Music
I can’t pretend i was ever a big Fleetwood Mac fan.
So the death of Christine McVie didn’t resonate with me as strongly as with those millions who bought Rumours. But the outpouring of love and sadness for her death is a poignant reminder of the unifying power of music.
The rarest of rare grooves, T’Ain’t No Big Thing was the only single by The Jovialetts. Who were they? A vocal girl group of the mid-1960s. Beyond that… who knows.
Here’s another sweet slice of Northern Soul from the vaults – a smooth ballad that introduced The Montclairs in 1969.