Today’s classic song of the day is one of the more unusual tunes from a Motown artist. The song is “The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game” and it was recorded by the Marvelettes. Released in late December of 1966, it peaked at #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on Billboard’s R&B Singles chart early in 1967.
“The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game” was written for the group by Smokey Robinson. It’s about a woman who’s on the hunt for a man, who instead is seduced by him first. It’s an unusual song in both form and harmonic structure, and features a slinky intro line played on a melodica. (Not a harmonica, as some have surmised.) Quite unusual for Motown, especially at the time.
The lead singer of the Marvelettes was Wanda Young, wife of Miracles member Bobby Rogers. The other group members at that time were Katherine Anderson and Georgiana Tillman; they first got together when they were students at Inkster High School in Inkster, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The ladies had their first hit in 1961 with “Please Mr. Postman,” but had faded a bit by the middle of the decade. They saw a resurgence in 1966 with “Don’t Mess Around with Bill” (also written by Smokey Robinson), which was followed by “The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game” in 1967 and “My Baby Must Be a Magician” in 1968. The group broke up in 1970.
Despite—or, perhaps, because of—the song’s unique nature, “The Hunter Has Been Captured by the Game” has been covered by a wide variety of artists. Artists who covered this song include Ella Fitzgerald, Jerry Garcia, Blondie, Patti Smith, Grace Jones, and Massive Attack.
Which leads us to today’s daily bonus track of the day, Blondie’s cover of “The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game,” from their 1982 album, The Hunter. Cool.
