My Seventies Music

Tag: Marvin Gaye

  • The Commodores – “Three Times A Lady”, “Easy” And “Nightshift”

    Cover of "Easy" by The Commodores (1977)

    In 1978 The Commodores had their first Number One hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with the Lionel Richie love song “Three Times A Lady”.

    It turned out to be the only Motown track to reach the Top Ten in 1978 and was also one of very few Motown songs to go to Number 1 in the UK.

    “Three Times A Lady” is one of those songs that sticks in your mind – I guess it must be, or I wouldn’t have thought of it today, 32 years after it originally charted…

    The previous year, 1977, The Commodores had had another soft hit with “Easy”, which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.

    The Commodores originally had a more funky sound, but had gradually moved towards softer numbers, and had another major hit in 1985 with the Jackie Wilson/Marvin Gaye tribute “Nightshift”, their first with original lead singer Walter “Clyde” Orange after Lionel Richie had left to pursue a solo career.

    It peaked at No. 3 in both the USA and the UK.

    “Three Times A Lady”:

    “Easy”:

    “Nightshift”:

    Definitely easy listening for the nightshift.

    Paul

  • R. Dean Taylor – “Indiana Wants Me”

    “Indiana Wants Me” was a hit for Canadian-born Motown artist and songwriter R. Dean Taylor in 1970, going to Number One in his native Canada, No. 2 in the UK and reaching No. 5 in the United States on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

    In addition to his own moderate success as an artist in his own right, Taylor wrote or co-wrote and co-produced hits for such classic Motown acts as Diana Ross and the Supremes, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Gladys Knight and the Pips or Marvin Gaye.

    I’ll be honest and tell you that until now his name meant nothing to me, but the chorus of that song is as familiar now as it was 40 years ago.

    In fact, every time I think of or hear the name of my niece’s baby daughter in Australia, those lines come back to me:

    “Indiana wants me, Lord I can’t go back there…”

    So here it is, “Indiana Wants Me”, the original single:

    Unlike the protagonist in the song, we can go to Indiana any time we like. 🙂

    Paul

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