“Please Mr. Postman” (The Marvelettes/The Beatles/The Carpenters)

Today’s classic song of the day is “Please Mr. Postman” by the Marvelettes. It was one of the first big Motown hits, released in August of 1961 on the Tamla label. It went all the way to #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard’s Hot R&B Sides charts.

If you’ve been following this blog you might have noticed a lack of Motown tunes, with only a few Motown singles being featured. That was deliberate. I figured if I let myself cut loose on Motown singles they would crowd out everything else I could write about. I could do entire blog about Motown songs and artists—heck, I could fill up an entire month with just the Supremes alone. So I’ve been holding back on featuring Motown singles to give Motown a full week’s worth of attention. Consider this day one of Motown week.

Motown was founded in 1959 by Berry Gordy. While the company was the Motown Record Corporation, its first of many labels was Tamla Records. Gordy had been involved in the local Detroit music business for a few years, was a friend of a young singer named Smokey Robinson, and had a dream of creating a music empire. Motown was a true conglomerate, consisting of numerous record labels, the Jobete Publishing music publishing company, and (eventually) a film producing arm. The corporate headquarters, nicknamed Hitsville U.S.A., were located at 2648 Grand Boulevard in Detroit; their main recording studio, dubbed the Snakepit, was in the building’s basement.

Berry Gordy set out to make black music that was acceptable to white teen audiences. He dubbed it “the music of young America” and the Motown Sound became synonymous with catchy melodies and soulful vocals accompanied by a driving R&B-influenced rhythm that accentuated the backbeat, typically with at least one electric guitar and Jack Ashford’s insistent tambourine on two and four. Gordy recruited the best songwriters of the day (including his friend Smokey Robinson, who became a Vice President of the company) and cranked out the hits in a factory-like fashion. He groomed local performers for national attention, teaching them how to dress, how to act, and (especially) how to dance. The Motown machine made stars out of a large number of artists, including Ashford & Simpson, the Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, Brenda Holloway, Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Jr. Walker and the All Stars, Eddie Kendricks, the Marvelettes, Rare Earth, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Diana Ross and the Supremes, R. Dean Taylor, the Temptations, Mary Wells, and Stevie Wonder—and, later, Luther Allison, Babyface, Boyz II Men, Toni Braxton, the Commodores, DeBarge, Rick James, Stacy Lattishaw, Teena Marie, the Mary Jane Girls, the Pointer Sisters, Lionel Richie, and Tony! Toni! Tone! That’s a hell of a legacy.

“Please Mr. Postman” was the first Motown record to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was written by Georgia Dobbins, William Garrett, and “Brianbert”—a pseudonym for Brian Holland and Robert Bateman. Brian Holland, of course, would go on to form Motown’s most famous songwriting team with his brother Eddie and friend Lamont Dozier; the H-D-H combine would contribute dozens of hits for the Supremes, the Temptations, the Four Tops, and other Motown artists throughout the 1960s.

“Please Mr. Postman” was also the very first song recorded by the Marvelettes, five high schoolers from Inkster High School in Inkster, Michigan. The girls—Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart, and Wanda Young—went into the studio, recorded the song, and then signed a contract with the company. Vocalist Katherine Anderson recalls how it all went down:

“When Georgia [Dobbins] brought the song to us, we learned the words that she and [William] Garrett had written. But once we were back at Motown to audition the song, the producers and musicians there started to fool around with it. They increased the tempo, added a new beat and made it more up to date. Everyone wanted to add their mark to the song. We were just teens and too young to know that someone could take a song and add words. Someone at Motown added the line, ‘Deliver the letter, the sooner the better.’ We sang the song a capella, and they loved it. Motown gave us contracts to take home for our parents to sign.”

The song was successful enough that it was covered by an up-and-coming group from Liverpool called the Beatles. The mop topped lads recorded a fairly faithful version of “Please Mr. Postman” that was included on the With the Beatles (UK) and The Beatles Second Album (US) in late 1963. They didn’t release it as a single but it got tons of radio airplay anyway.

The Carpenters also recorded a cover of “Please Mr. Postman” that was released as a single in November of 1974. This version, with Karen Carpenter’s enchanting vocals, also went to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the group’s tenth and final million-selling single.

The Marvelettes had somewhat of a rotating roster of members. Georgia Dobbins, who co-wrote “Please Mr. Postman,” left the group before they recorded the song, replaced by friend Wanda Young. Juanita Cowert left in 1963, Georgeanna Tillman left in 1965, and Gladys Horton left in 1967. Possibly because of this instability, the group never received the promotional backing afforded to other Motown artists. They did have other hits, however, including “Playboy” (#7 in 1962), “Beechwood 4-5789” (#17 in 1962), “Don’t Mess with Bill” (#7 in 1966), “The Hunter Gets Captured By the Game” (#13 in 1967), “When You’re Young and In Love” (#23 in 1967), and “My Baby Must Be a Musician” (#17 in 1968). The group formally disbanded in 1970.

While the Marvelettes are not as well remembered as labelmates like the Supremes, they played an integral part in Motown’s early success. They deserve more recognition than what they’ve so far achieved.