‘Baby Love’: The Supremes Give Birth To A Motown Classic
The Holland-Dozier-Holland classic was first cut a month earlier — and got the thumbs down from Berry Gordy.
The group once dismissively referred to as the “no-hit Supremes” were on their way to becoming the hottest act in America in the summer of 1964.
On August 13, with “Where Did Our Love Go” just a week away from completing its climb to No.1 in the US, and the need for a Supremes album becoming urgent, the “Baby Love” legend was born. But, as Motown collectors know, the Holland-Dozier-Holland song was first cut the month before, when it got the thumbs down from the boss.
The first version of “Baby Love” had been recorded about three weeks earlier, on July 24. But as Berry Gordy wrote in his 1995 autobiography To Be Loved, the song had a difficult birth. “When H-D-H finished it the first time,” he recalled, “I said ‘It’s great, but it has no life, there’s no gimmick here…of course they disagreed with me. But they went back into the studio and re-cut it. And at the beginning, they put in the little thing, ooh-ooh-ooh – that little bit. And I said, that’s perfect!”
Brian Holland’s recollection was that the production triumvirate had come to that conclusion anyway. “When we cut ‘Baby Love’ the first time, it was a little too slow,” he said. “We wanted to add a little more pep to it.”
Apart from Diana Ross’ new ad lib, the second version was now slightly faster and decidedly zippier. It also sported percussion on the backbeat, especially noticeable on that reshaped intro – but not handclaps, as Tamla keyboard supremo Earl Van Dyke explains in The Complete Motown Singles Volume 4. Planks of two-by-four were used, with “some guy stompin’ on them.”
The new version was completed in two takes that summer’s day, and the results issued as Motown 1066 in the US five weeks later. That was three weeks after “Where Did Our Love Go” had finished its fortnight-long reign on the Hot 100.
By the end of October, “Baby Love” followed it to the summit, for four weeks, and then in November, for three in the R&B market. This was during the 14-month period that Billboard did not publish a separate soul chart, so chart historian Joel Whitburn’s reference books use rival publication Cash Box’s Top 50 In R&B Locations data. By mid-November, “Baby Love” had bumped Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman” from the top of the British singles chart.
Faye
August 15, 2014 at 2:59 am
Great link & article on The Supremes .
Just finished watching Dream Girls movie .
Love Diana Ross & best concert & performer ! Seen her in NJ this year.
Sure wish she would come to Atlanta & do a show ! See she’s in CA & Vegas 2014
Lance
August 15, 2014 at 11:55 am
FAYE: What terrible grammar!!! It makes my eyes bleed when I read something like that!
Saying that you “seen” her is incorrect!
You “saw” her, not “seen” her!
(It’s not your fault. I blame the public school system for not teaching you proper English!)
uDiscover
August 15, 2014 at 12:33 pm
Lance, try to be a little more understanding. This is not an exercise in grammar, it’s about loving the music.
Sherri Marshall
August 14, 2015 at 8:05 pm
Thanks for the nickname MOM! Love me some Diana Ross and the Supremes…
Jim
August 14, 2015 at 9:03 pm
HUGE fan of the Supremes. I would LOVE to hear this original version of Baby Love but no matter how I open it, I can’t get the link to play. Now I’m going nuts knowing it’s out there! LOL
And Lance…NO ONE makes friends with “grammar police” Lighten up, dude!
janet
August 14, 2016 at 12:18 am
Because they helped for mde
colin taylor
August 13, 2017 at 3:49 pm
I think they had the second most #1 hits in history The Beatles had the most
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