This is the last day of Motown week here at the classic song of the day blog, and our final classic Motown song of the day is “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” a song great enough to be a hit for two different Motown artists within the span of three years.
“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” was first released by the Motown duo of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell in April of 1967. It peaked at #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on Billboard’s Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart.
Three years later, fellow Motown superstar Diana Ross, who’d left the Supremes earlier that year, did a stellar cover of the song. Released in July of 1970, Ms. Ross’ version of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” went all the way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Cash Box Top 100, and Billboard Best Selling Soul Singles charts. This was Ms. Ross’ second solo hit, following “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand),” which peaked at #20 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” was written by the songwriting team of Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson before they joined Motown. Dusty Springfield wanted to record it, but Nick and Valerie decided to hold it back as their potential ticket to cracking into the Motown juggernaut. Here’s how Valerie Simpson recalled that interaction:
“We played that song for her (Springfield) but wouldn’t give it to her, because we wanted to hold that back. We felt like that could be our entry to Motown. Nick called it the ‘golden egg’.”
The story behind the song is an interesting one. While it sounds like a love song, that wasn’t its inspiration. It’s really a song about empowerment, how nothing can keep you from achieving your dreams.
Let’s travel back in time to 1964. Twenty three year-old Nick Ashford had just moved from Ypsilanti, Michigan, to New York City, with dreams of becoming a dancer. Bronx native Valerie Simpson was 18 years old and singing in the legendary choir at White Rock Baptist Church. The two met when Nick joined the choir; something clicked and the two of them started writing songs together. This led to that, as things often do, and they became a couple, both professionally and personally.
A newcomer to the big city, Nick was having trouble breaking into the business and was homeless for a time. Walking through Manhattan one day, he marveled at the skyscrapers looming overhead and thought they looked just like mountains. He may have been down and out, he thought, but he was determined to be a success. Looking up at the mountain-like buildings, he came up with the lines:
Ain’t no mountain high enough
Ain’t no valley low enough
Ain’t no river wide enough
To keep me from making it
Those lines became the genesis for the song. Nick and Valerie changed “to keep me from making it” to “to keep me from getting to you, baby,” and the song as we know it began to take shape.
Interestingly, the Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell version of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” was not recorded as a live duet. Ms. Terrell recorded her vocals first and Mr. Gaye added his part at a later date. Drummer Uriel Jones, who played on that date, recalled how it went down:
“Ashford and Simpson had written the song and they always came to the studio with charts. This time was no exception; they came with the song fully written out. The lyrics were written out too. They were one of the few producers and writers who had full charts and made us work from them. They knew 95 percent what they wanted to hear. Johnny Bristol and Harvey Fuqua were the actual producers in charge of the recording. We did the rhythm track first, then they put the horns on second. Then they recorded Tammi Terrell’s vocal, then they did Marvin Gaye’s next. Each vocal was done separately, the singer in the studio with the producer on their own, and they put it all together at the end. You know, I never heard the finished song until I switched on the radio and it was playing.”
That original version was produced by long-time Motown producers Harvey Fuqua and Johnny Bristol, who were responsible for bringing Ms. Terrell to the label and pairing her with then-rising star Marvin Gaye. “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” was their first record together.
Diana Ross’ version of the song was produced by the songwriters themselves. Ashford and Simpson completely reimagined the tune, making Ms. Ross’ version a more elaborate production, complete with spoken-word sections and a bigger, more heavily orchestrated orchestra. They didn’t even hit the famous chorus until about four minutes into the song after building to an explosive climax, propelled by Ms. Ross’ dynamic vocals.
According to legend, label chief Berry Gordy didn’t like those spoken-word passages and issued the single in a considerably shorter version without them. He had a change of heart, however, when DJs across the country began playing the longer album version. That longer version not only hit number one, it garnered Ms. Ross a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. (She lost to Dionne Warwick and the Bacharach-David classic, “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again.”)
Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson wrote a ton of songs that were hits for other performers, including “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing,” “You’re All I Need to Get By,” and “Your Precious Love” for Marvin and Tammi, “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand)” for Diana Ross, and “I’m Every Woman” for Chaka Khan. Performing on their own, the duo of Ashford and Simpson had Top Forty hits with “Stuff Like That” (1978), “Found a Cure” (1979), and “Solid” (1984).
As songwriters, Nick and Valerie received the prestigious Founders Award, ASCAP’s highest honor, and were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2022. That was eleven years after Nick Ashford passed away from throat cancer, age 70. He and Valerie were together until he passed; Valerie Simpson is still with us, age 77.
About “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” I have a quick personal aside. I play drums for a fairly large church here in the Twin Cities (Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Burnsville, if you’re curious) and a few years back I got asked to play for a funeral service. That’s unusual; most funerals are solemn affairs with soft, contemplative music and no drums. (Definitely no drums at a funeral!) In this instance, however, the deceased, when she knew the end was near, had specified a list of songs to be played by a band. There were couple of mid-tempo country tunes, which were fine, but she also requested “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” as the closing song. So we got together some of our more talented church musicians (Abby Herzog did the vocals, Matt Johnson played guitar, pastor Paul Gauche played piano, Darren Hensel played bass, and I played drums) to give it a go. I gotta tell you, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” is much more sophisticated than your average worship song; we all practiced a lot in advance and sweated our way through a tough rehearsal. But we ended up pulling it off (the Marvin and Tammi version, that is) and sent the mourners out of the service smiling and tapping their feet. It was truly inspirational and a moment I’ll always remember. Thanks to Nick and Valerie for providing the music.
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