Singer Mary Wells brings us today’s classic song of the day, “You Beat Me to the Punch.” Released as a single in July of 1962, it peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 but went all the way to #1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B Singles chart.
“You Beat Me to the Punch” was written, as were many Motown songs of the ’60s, by Smokey Robinson—in this instance with fellow Miracle Ronald White. Backing tracks were provided by the Funk Brothers, of course, with background vocals by the Love-Tones.
Motown was still relatively new back in 1962; “You Beat Me to the Punch” was only the label’s fifth top ten hit (after “Shop Around” by the Miracles, “Please Mr. Postman” by the Marvelettes, “The One Who Really Loves You” by Mary Wells, and “Playboy” by the Marvelettes) and the label’s first number-one on the soul chart. It was also the first Motown release to be nominated for a Grammy award, for Best Rock & Roll Recording. Other nominees that year were “Up on the Roof” by the Drifters, “Twistin’ the Night Away” by Sam Cooke, “Breaking Up is Hard to Do” by Neil Sedaka, and “Big Girls Don’t Cry” by the Four Seasons, but the inexplicable winner was the instrumental “Alley Cat” by a French pianist going by the name of Bent Fabric. The Grammys hadn’t yet really embraced rock and soul at the point.
Before Diana Ross arrived on the scene to steal her thunder, Motown head Berry Gordy had picked Mary Wells to be the label’s big star. In his own words:
“It hadn’t taken Mary long to become a star. On stage, her attitude commanded attention. She wore long, glamorous gowns and stylish, trendy wigs—from black bouffants to blond ponytails. It looked like Mary would be that big female star I had always wanted.”
But then Diana Ross and the Supremes got Gordy’s attention and you know the rest. Mary Wells may have been dubbed the First Lady of Motown, but she was no longer first in Berry Gordy’s heart.
Mary Wells, who’d had a previous hit with “The One Who Really Loves You,” would go on to have several more hits for Motown, including “Two Lovers,” “Laughing Boy,” and the number-one classic, “My Guy.” Unfortunately, Mary Wells passed away of cancer in 1992 at the too-young age of 49.
