Mary Wells ‘Bye Bye Baby’ – Dusted Off #02

Released in 1960, Charted into 1961

Mary Wells was the first ‘Queen Of Motown’, thanks in large part to hits like ‘You Beat Me To The Punch’ and ‘My Guy’.  My favorite Mary Wells song however was her first single for Motown, released in 1960, ‘Bye Bye Baby’.  This song is a bit of an anomaly in Mary’s catalog- she wrote the song herself and her performance is much grittier and soulful than her soon-to-be classic smooth R&B style on later songs penned by the likes of Smokey Robinson and Holland-Dozier-Holland.  I guess that’s why I like it so much.  It’s always cool to hear the early stages of well-known artists when they are fresh out of the gate.  The story goes that Berry Gordy Jr. (Motown founder and writer of the B-Side to ‘Bye Bye Baby’, ‘Please Forgive Me’) had Mary sing him the song in person in the hallway of a club.  He signed her soon after and when producing this first single got in her face and demanded a raw, emotional, intense delivery for the A-Side track.  Well, he got it and Mary turned in an all-time classic.  Check out the video below of Mary performing ‘Bye Bye Baby’ live in 1962 at the Apollo, featuring The Temptations on backing vocals.  Cool.

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The Miracles 'Mickey's Monkey' (plus a Major Lance Bonus ) - Dusted Off #01

Later pressings separated the Holland brothers' writing credits

My current jam is the classic song by The Miracles, 'Mickey's Monkey'.  This song was an A-side single released on 45rpm 7" by Tamla/Motown Records in 1963.  It was written by the legendary Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team, as was the B-side, 'Whatever Makes You Happy'.  This record was a rarity for The Miracles since Smokey Robinson and various members of The Miracles were the main songwriters for the group.  'Mickey's Monkey' is such a catchy and off-the-cuff tune, you can feel the spontaneity in it's captured performance.  The Lum De Lum De Lai-ai line gets stuck in my head for hours at a time.  Cool tidbit about the song- The Vandellas and Mary Wilson of The Supremes were among the Motown all-stars that provided additional backing vocals on the track.  There was also a dance in the early 60's called The Monkey, which you can see in full effect in the live-performance video I came across (check out The Supremes doing back-ups, plus the other famous faces dancing).  I also had to add a video of Major Lance performing his hit 'Monkey Time,' which was also based on the dance craze and released the same year.  It's not as famous as The Twist or Picking Up Change, but at least The Monkey yielded 2 all-time great songs! 

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