"Love Is Here And Now You're Gone" was another #1 hit for the Supremes and the songwriting trio of Holland/Dozier/Holland from the winter of 1967. And yet again it's another tune that has an uptempo Motown beat (although perhaps not as much as the Supremes' previous hits of "Where Did Our Love Go", "Stop! In The Name Of Love" and "Nothing But Heartaches") , but with some at least distressing if not depressing lyrics. Diana Ross is again cast into the role of a woman who may have waited to long to fall in love with the man who was trying to woo her. This time with the result that he's left her for good, and she is very lonely as is evident from the second verse of the song as I have posted here.

"Nothing But Heartaches" was the sixth single that the Motown group the Supremes released from 1964 to 1965 starting with the #1 hit, "Where Did Our Love Go" and it was written like the other five by Holland/Dozier/Holland. But unlike "Where Did Our Love Go" to the song that "Heartaches" was following up, "Back In My Arms Again", "Nothing But Heartaches" didn't make it to #1 on the charts, let alone into the Top Ten! Motown producer Barry Gordy was not happy that an artist in his record company (and especially his precious Supremes) had failed to crack the Top Ten on the charts and sent out a memo that none of his artists would ever have to settle for only a #11 hit on the charts as "Nothing But Heartaches" was (the Supremes would recover with the #1, "I Hear A Symphony"). And Holland/Dozier/Holland finally realized that the Supremes couldn't always carry one of their written tunes into the top ten (let alone #1). But maybe it wasn't the Supremes fault, this song is a definite throwback to pre-women's lib days with the girl having to rely on the man to NOT cheat on her to NOT feel lousy about it and be willing to take him back (I've posted here the second verse of the tune), because as Diana Ross would sing slightly after this verse, "Cause his kisses she'll miss". But the tune has an upbeat tempo that is a good dance tune (as was much of the Supremes catalog), but maybe it shouldn't have with the distressing to nearly depressing lyrics that go along with it.

"Stop! In The Name Of Love" was the Supremes fifth #1 song in a row after the 1964 summer smash hit, "Where Did Our Love Go" and was another song written by the trio of Holland, Dozier, Holland. With a great uptempo dance beat, "Stop! In The Name Of Love" is a great song from the 1960's (a #1 in the spring of 1965 for three weeks knocking the Beatles' "Eight Days A Week" from the top) . But thinking about the lyrics might make you depressed as you realize that lead singer Diana Ross has been put in the role of confronting a lover she knows is cheating on her.

depressing lost love song with one of the most upbeat moods/tunes there is

The May 1967 #1 hit for the Motown group the Supremes and the songwriting trio of Holland/Dozier/Holland, "The Happening" marked some beginnings and endings for both. For the first time H,D & H took on another songwriter to write the tune, Frank DeVol, and also the song was originally written for a movie of the same name starring Anthony Quinn that didn't too well. "The Happening" was also the last Supremes tune to have Florence Ballard as one of the two backup singers for Diana Ross (Ballard would have much personal troubles after this and would die very young at the age of 33 in 1976). And it would be the last single with the group the Supremes on it, for after this the singles would be listed as: Diana Ross & the Supremes. The song lyrics themself are distressing, if not depressing, with Diana Ross cast as a woman who has lost a lover and now her dreams are just torn apart! "The Happening" also introduced into the lingo of the late 1960's a phrase that would go on to have a life of it's own, especially when the NBC-TV comedy show, "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" would adopt the later phrase used by Diana Ross in the song, "fickle finger of fate" (that broke Diana's pretty balloon) to give an award out to politicians that Rowan and Martin thought deserved it during certain weeks on the NBC-TV hit show from 1967 to 1972.

"Where Did Our Love Go" was the first #1 single for the Motown trio of Diana Ross, Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson otherwise known as the Supremes. It was also the first #1 single for the songwriting of Holland/Dozier/Holland. "Where Did Our Love Go" has a great uptempo dance beat and was also a great song to listen to with the windows down in your car during the summer of 1964 (and still is) when it went to #1. But the lyrics are at least quite distressing, if not depressing as you realized Diana Ross is pleading to this guy that has been trying to woo her that she has now fallen in love, but the guy himself has fallen out of the love he felt for her. The two verses I have posted here are from near the end of the tune. The Supremes also crashed into, in a good way, the party of the British taking over the #1 position on the American charts (started by the Beatles in February 1964) and stopped Americans from nearly being shutout of their own charts that year, as far as the #1 position. "Where Did Our Love Go" has had a long life, being sampled several times over the years and performed by many artists (including Brits), with probably the most famous time being when it was used in the long dance club version of Soft Cell's 1981 - 82 top ten smash hit, "Tainted Love".