The Motown Top 250 Countdown (#220-216) & This Week's Statistics

Hello, my friends, old and new! The weekend is here, which means it's time for our countdown and our statistics: I have something special for you in the latter. More in a minute...

At #220 we find All of My Life by Diana Ross, a top 10 hit single in the UK, included in the album Touch Me in the Morning, which was released in 1973 and was a top 5 hit in the US (#1 R&B). Here it is:

The song was written by Michael Randall. Another song of his that was included in this album was Leave A Little Room. It's a nice song, so I thought I'd play it. I chose to play the version by the 5th Dimension, one of Record Man's favorite groups:

At #219 is another classic by Marvin Gaye. This time it's Too Busy Thinking About My Baby, which he released as a single in 1969, Marvin' second biggest hit of the 1960s after I Heard It Through the Grapevine. Too Busy Thinking About My Baby peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, and remained at the number one position on Billboard's Black Singles Chart for six consecutive weeks, from the weeks of, June 7 until July 12, 1969 with sales totaling 1.5 million copies The single was the top-selling R&B single of the year. It was also a top 5 hit in the UK.

The song was written by Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong, and Janie Bradford. It was first recorded by The Temptations as a track on their 1966 album Gettin' Ready. Eddie Kendricks sings lead on the recording, which was produced by Whitfield. Whitfield produced Gaye's version as well. These are The Temptations with the original version:

At #218 is a song called Who's Lovin' You. This song made the rounds at Motown, with The Miracles, The Supremes, and The Temptations all recording their own versions of it. Being written by Smokey Robinson, it was only natural that the original version was by his group, the Miracles, in 1960. It was the B-side to the Miracles' absolute classic, Shop Around. This is what I call value-for-money! Here it is:

Surprisingly, it was young Michael Jackson who absolutely nailed it, delivering a beyond-his-years lovelorn performance on the track with the Jackson 5. This is it:

At #217 we find The Temptations and their 1973 opus, Masterpiece. The song, almost 14-minutes-long, was one of the 15 US R&B #1 singles that The Temptations had in their illustrious career. It was also a #7 hit on the Hot 100. The song's architect, Norman Whitfield, titled the song Masterpiece because he felt it was a perfect blending of strings, horns, rhythm players, voices, studio tricks, and sweetening elements. However, the word 'masterpiece' does not appear in the song's lyrics, which do not point to anything obvious from which to draw a title. As with their Whitfield-produced hit from the previous year, Papa Was a Rollin' Stone, the Temptations do not make their first appearance until after a long instrumental section. This added to already building tension between the group and Whitfield and led some music writers to start referring to the Temps as "the Norman Whitfield Choral Singers". It would be their last Top Ten pop hit with Motown Records, and, not counting their collaboration with Rod Stewart in 1991, their last Top Ten pop hit at all.

Finally for today, at #216, is a song from 1970 called Mama's Pearl, by The Jackson 5. The song came after 4 consecutive #1 singles, starting from the first single they ever released. Mama's Pearl peaked at #2 and so did their next single, which means that their first six singles made the top 2 in the US. Not bad at all...

The song was also a #2 R&B hit, as well as peaking at #25 in the UK. It was written, produced, and arranged by The Corporation (Berry Gordy, Alphonzo Mizell, Freddie Perren and Deke Richards) who were responsible for many of Motown's biggest hits. The song, while sung mostly by Michael featured cameo spots from brothers Jermaine and Jackie. According to a Jackson biographer, Mama's Pearl was originally called Guess Who's Making Whoopie (With Your Girlfriend). Producer Deke Richards reportedly had the lyrics and title changed to preserve Michael Jackson's youthful, innocent image.

This is the original version:

Here is a live version, in a medley with The Love You Save:

Now, let's continue with last week's statistics; I will give you the usual weekly and all-time lists, but, instead of commenting on them, I'll try something new. This blog has been alive for 28 months now and since August 1, 2016, I also have data concerning the visiting cities. So, that's almost 2 years' worth of data. I want to honor these cities, so I decided on a small countdown, the top 20 cities with the most visits in the last two years, presenting five each week and dedicating a song to each one. If you don't see your own city in the top 20, feel free to ask about its placing in the comments' section, I'll be happy to give you the exact position of your city. Let's begin with positions #20-#16.

At #20 we find Sandton, an affluent area situated in the Johannesburg Municipality, Gauteng, South Africa. The name comes from the combination of two of its suburbs, Sandown and Bryanston. In 1969 Sandton was promulgated as a municipality in its own right but lost its status as an independent town after the re-organization of South African local governments. Despite this, Sandton is still unofficially earmarked as a distinct region of the city and operates as a macro-suburb.

An important event took place in Sandton in the 1960s: The Rivonia Trial derives its name from the locality of Liliesleaf Farm within the Sandton suburb where many of the Black freedom fighters such as Nelson Mandela were captured by the South African state and subsequently tried for treason. Therefore, I've decided to dedicate to all our friends in Sandton the song Free Nelson Mandela by The Special A.K.A. (1984). Unlike most protest songs, the track is upbeat and celebratory, drawing on musical influences from South Africa. The song peaked at #9 on the UK Singles Chart and was immensely popular in Africa. Here it is:

At #19 is a city from the United States, the country that has the most cities in the twenty. Charlotte is the most populous city in the US state of North Carolina. Located in Piedmont, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. Between 2004 and 2014, Charlotte was ranked as the country's fastest-growing metro area, with 888,000 new residents. Wilbert Harrison was one of Charlotte's illustrious native sons. His biggest hit was the million-seller Kansas City, but, obviously, this is not the song that I chose. I dedicate to my friends in Charlotte, Harrison's other big hit, Let’s Work Together from 1970. Harrison's version was a top 40 US hit and the song was later a hit for Canned Heat and then for Bryan Ferry as Let's Stick Together. here it is:

For the city at #18, we travel to Australia. Sydney is the state capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Port Jackson and sprawls about 70 km (43.5 miles) on its periphery. The city includes the amazing Sydney Opera House, a tourist landmark of international importance.

Samuel Falson (born 8 November 1982), better known by his stage name Sam Sparro, was born in Sydney. He is also openly gay - and will be the subject of one of our future stories. His biggest hit was Black And Gold in 2009, a top 10 single and platinum record in the UK, as well as a gold record in Australia and Italy and a Grammy nominee. This is the song that I dedicate to our friends from Sydney:

We return to the US for #17, to one of the most musical cities in the United States. After all, it's the city of origin of our current Motown Countdown. Detroit is the most populous city in the US state of Michigan, the largest city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of Wayne County. It is best known as the center of the US automobile industry, and the "Big Three" auto manufacturers General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler are all headquartered in Metro Detroit.

Detroit's diverse culture has had both local and international influence, particularly in music, with the city giving rise to the genres of Motown and techno, and playing an important role in the development of jazz, hip-hop, rock, and punk music. I could dedicate to our friends in Detroit any of the songs of the Motown Countdown, but that would be lazy. So, my Detroit friends, I dedicate to you Panic In Detroit (1973) one of the great songs by one of my favorite artists of all-time, David Bowie. Here it is:

Finally, for today, the city at #16 is one of the most famous cities in Europe: Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany, as well as the second most populous city proper in the European Union behind London and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union. First documented in the 13th century, Berlin is a world city of culture, politics, media, and science. During the period between the two World Wars, Berlin was also the gay capital of the world. I fully advise you to read Christopher Isherwood's Christopher And His Kind, which fully chronicles the gay atmosphere of Berlin in the early 1930s.

The song that I chose to dedicate to our friends in Berlin is one that I love a lot, Drowning in Berlin, a top 10 hit single in the UK in 1981 by the Mobiles. This is it:

Here are this week's Top 10 countries:

1. the United States

2. Greece

3. the United Kingdom

4. Canada

5. Italy

6. France

7. Germany

8. Australia

9. Brazil

10. Vietnam

Here are the other countries that graced us with their presence since our last statistics (alphabetically): Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Austria, the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Bermuda, Bolivia, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Estonia, Finland, Ghana, Guyana, Hong Kong, Honduras, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Macau, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar (Burma), the Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Happy to have you all!

And here's the all-time Top 10:

1. the United States = 29.6%

2. France = 21.7%

3. the United Kingdom = 12.7%

4. Greece = 6.9%

5. Russia = 2.4%

6. Germany = 1.8%

7. Canada = 1.7%

8. Italy = 1.2%

9. Turkey = 0.91%

10. Cyprus = 0.84%

Before I leave you, let me congratulate my French friends for their amazing win at the World Cup Final, which I've been watching as I was writing this. I'm a multi-tasker.

That's all for today, folks. Till the next one!