March 22, 2024 —– Chart #238
Hello Music Friends,
Hey folks, welcome to another edition of Chart of the Week. Let’s go to Motown today. Yep, Motown in the mid-60’s. “You Can’t Hurry Love” is a 1966 song originally recorded by the Supremes on the Motown label. It was released on July 25 of 1966 as the second single from their studio album The Supremes A’ Go-Go (1966).
Written and produced by Motown production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song topped the US Billboard Hot 100, made the top five in the UK, and top 10 in Australia. It was released and peaked in late summer and early autumn in 1966. Sixteen years later, it would become a number-one hit in the UK when Phil Collins re-recorded the song. It reached number one on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks beginning in January 1983 and reached number 10 on the US Billboard Hot 100 a month later.
Billboard named the song number 19 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time. The BBC ranked “You Can’t Hurry Love” at number 16 on The Top 100 Digital Motown Chart, which is based solely on all time UK downloads and streams of Motown releases.
Of course, the instrumentation on this award-winning recording is done by the infamous Funk Brothers, the Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972.
The song, a memory of a mother’s words of encouragement (“My mama said ‘you can’t hurry love/No you just have to wait’ “) telling her daughter that with patience she will find that special someone one day, is an example of the strong influence of gospel music present in much of R&B and soul music. “You Can’t Hurry Love” was inspired by and partially based upon “(You Can’t Hurry God) He’s Right on Time” (“You can’t hurry God/you just have to wait/Trust and give him time/no matter how long it takes”), a 1950s gospel song written by Dorothy Love Coates of the Original Gospel Harmonettes.
The recorded version of “You Can’t Hurry Love” showcases the developing sound of the Supremes, who were progressing from their earlier teen-pop into more mature themes and musical arrangements. This song and “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” were finished together; when it came time to choose which single would be issued first, Motown’s Quality Control department chose “You Can’t Hurry Love.”
Written and produced by Motown’s main production team, Holland–Dozier–Holland, “You Can’t Hurry Love” is one of the signature Supremes songs, and also one of Motown’s signature releases. Billboard described the single as “the group’s most exciting side to date” with “top vocal” and “exceptional instrumental backing.”
The single became the Supremes’ seventh number-one hit, topping the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for two weeks, from September 4 to September 17, 1966, and reaching number one on the soul chart for two weeks. The group performed the song on the CBS variety program The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday, September 25, 1966.
Probably not a song you planned to play around the campfire, but hey, if you want to surprise people pull this one out and get in touch with your Motown girl group self. It’s a fun song.
Keep Rockin’,
Stan Bradshaw