“Where Did Our Love Go” was the Supremes’ first number-one hit, and it’s today’s classic song of the day. Released as a single on the Motown label in June of 1964, this one was a top ten hit worldwide and hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Cash Box Top 100, and Billboard R&B charts.
“Where Did Our Love Go,” like most early Supremes tunes, was written by the team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland (AKA Holland-Dozier-Holland, AKA H-D-H) and produced by Brian and Lamont. It was the first of five Supremes singles in a row to reach number one, the others being “Baby Love,” “Come See About Me,” “Stop! In the Name of Love,” and “Back in My Arms Again”—all written and produced by H-D-H. They had the magic touch.
H-D-H wrote “Where Did Our Love Go” with the Marvelettes in mind, but they didn’t like it. Here’s what Lamont Dozier remembered about that:
“I originally cut [the backing] track with the Marvelettes in mind. In fact, I cut it in Gladys Horton’s key, the lead singer, which was much lower than Diana Ross’. At that time, at Motown, the policy was that the songwriters had to pay for the tracks we cut if it didn’t get recorded by one of their artists. It never entered my mind that the Marvelettes wouldn’t like the song. I had the chorus and went to the office to talk with Gladys and played it for her. She said, ‘Oh, honey, we don’t do stuff like that. And it’s the worst thing I ever heard.’ She was adamant about it. I was shocked.
“I knew I was in deep trouble if I didn’t hurry and get someone to do the song because I wasn’t about to pay for the track. I went through the Motown artist roster and went all the way to the bottom of the list and there were the Supremes, better known in those days as the ‘no hit Supremes.’ I told them it was tailor made for them, knowing that they had nothing going on at the time and needed a song. Much to my surprise, they said no. Gladys (Horton of the Marvelettes) told them I was looking for someone to record it. I wasn’t giving up. Brian (Holland), Eddie (Holland) and I finally persuaded them to do it, convincing them that it was their saving grace and they couldn’t refuse it. We had already had Top 40 hits with Martha & the Vandellas but they hadn’t had recordings of any significance yet.
“They were so annoyed that they agreed to do it that, in the studio, they had a really bad attitude. Diana (Ross) said it was in the wrong key, that it was too low. (Of course it was – I wrote it in Gladys’ key.) Since the track was already cut, she had to sing it in that key and she’d never sung that low before. It turned out that her bad attitude and the low key were exactly what the song needed! I’d worked out intricate background vocals but the girls refused to learn them. Finally I said, ‘Just sing ‘Baby, baby, baby’.’ It worked to their advantage and worked perfectly.”
As with all Motown tunes of the time, a large part of the single’s success was the secret sauce provided by the Motown studio musicians known as the Funk Brothers. On “Where Did Our Love Go,” that group included Earl Van Dyke on piano, Eddie Willis and Robert White on guitars, Mike Terry on bari sax, Jack Ashford on vibes, the legendary James Jamerson on bass, and Richard “Pistol” Allen on drums. Eddie Holland and Mike Valvano provided the distinctive foot stomps. They all recorded their parts on April 8, 1964; the Supremes recorded their vocals at a later session.
And here’s your extra special daily bonus video of the day, Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, and Florence Ballard in late October 1964, singing “Where Did Our Love Go” live on the legendary T.A.M.I. Show. Yes, that’s future actress Teri Garr as one of the backup dancers (she’s the one with the target on her chest) and studio drummer extraordinaire Hal Blaine on the drums. Wouldn’t you have loved to be there, in person?
