“La-La (Means I Love You)” (The Delfonics)

A few weeks ago we devoted an entire week to Motown hits. This week we’re moving onto the next decade of soul and covering seven singles that helped define the Philadelphia Soul sound of the 1970s. The first song we’re starting with, however, predated and helped originate Philly Soul in the late 1960s. The song is “La-La (Means I Love You)” by the Delfonics. Released in December of 1967, this single rose to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles charts early in 1968. That’s right, our look at ’70s Philly Soul starts in 1968. The world of music doesn’t always neatly conform to defined decades.

“La-La (Means I Love You)” qualifies as Philly Soul because it was written by Thom Bell and William Hart, and produced by Bell and Stan Watson. Bell and Hart were two of the chief progenitors of the Philly Soul sound, which took Motown’s mix of pop and R&B and added a layer or two of musical sophistication.

Think of “La-La” as the blueprint for what became the Philly Soul sound. Unlike Motown’s ’60s output, Philly Soul added lush orchestration blended with doo woo-inspired vocals. (Many Philly Soul vocal groups started out in the early ’60s as doo-wop groups.) The songs were also more harmonically sophisticated with a definite jazz influence. Philly Soul is kind of like Motown with the rough edges sanded off.

This particular single was one of the first written and produced by Thom Bell, who started out as a teenager singing with friends Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, and Daryl Hall. (Yes, that Daryl Hall; he’s a Philly boy, too.) He soon landed a gig as a session musician and arranger for Cameo Records when, in 1967, he happened upon a local vocal group called the Delfonics. Along with Delfonics member and songwriter William Hart, as well as the group’s manager, Stan Watson, Bell propelled the Delfonics into the big time with hits like “La-La (Means I Love You)” and “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time),” a previous classic song of the day.

Thom Bell quickly joined Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff’s newfound production company and Philadelphia International Records label, working as an arranger for Archie Bell & the Drells, the O’Jays, Jerry Butler, and, for her Brand New Me album (produced and recorded in Philadelphia), Dusty Springfield. He left PIR in 1971 and wrote and produced further hits for the Stylistics, the Spinners, Billy Paul, and Deniece Williams. He was the Sound of Philadelphia.

As to the Delfonics, their story starts in 1964 when William “Poogie” Hart and his brother Wilbert formed a group called the Orphonics. They later joined up with Randy Cain to form the trio they called the Delfonics. They were discovered a year later, in 1965, by Stan Watson, who knew an arranger/producer for Cameo-Parkway Records. That producer was Thom Bell and the rest is history.

Randy Cain left the Delfonics in 1971 and helped form the group Blue Magic, which had a top ten hit in 1974 with the song “Sideshow.” Cain was replaced by Major Harris, who stayed for a few years before leaving for his own solo career in 1975 with the #5 hit “Love Won’t Make Me Wait.” The Delfonics formally split into two similarly-named groups in 1974, with the two Hart brothers each leading competing factions.

Of the original Delfonics, Randy Cain passed away in 2009 and Poogie Hart in 2022. His brother Wilbert is still alive and still performing today, age 75. Thom Bell died in December of 2022, age 79.