Country Soul: Where We Meets the Heartland

Country Soul: Where We Meets the Heartland Your home for country music’s finest. Celebrating the legends, the lyrics, and the love of the genre 🎶

The Rolling Stones were introduced to this song mid-tour, and by the time they finished with it, they'd turned a Motown ...
09/23/2026

The Rolling Stones were introduced to this song mid-tour, and by the time they finished with it, they'd turned a Motown dance number into a stadium anthem. 🎸
When the Rolling Stones rolled into Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky on November 3, 1981, they added "Going to a Go-Go" to their live set for the first time, sixteen years after Smokey Robinson and the Miracles' original recording. The version that eventually got released came from a show at the Capital Center in Largo, Maryland on December 8, 1981, with Ian McLagan guesting on piano and Ernie Watts on saxophone.
Released as the first single from their live album Still Life on June 1, 1982, backed by "Beast of Burden," the Stones' cover reached number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 26 on the UK chart. The full album, recorded across their American tour and mixed by Bob Clearmountain, also included covers of "Time Is on My Side" and the Temptations' "Just My Imagination," alongside their own hits. It went to number 4 in the UK and number 5 in the US, earning a Platinum certification.
Smokey Robinson and The Miracles - Going To A Go-Go 🎶 The song is in the comment! 👇

"ABC" lost the Grammy that year to a song that also topped the very same chart it did. 🏆Nominated for Best Contemporary ...
09/23/2026

"ABC" lost the Grammy that year to a song that also topped the very same chart it did. 🏆
Nominated for Best Contemporary Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus at the 1971 Grammys, "ABC" lost to the Carpenters' "Close to You," which had spent four weeks at number one that summer against the Jackson 5's own two weeks in April. Decades later, the Jackson 5 never won a competitive Grammy in their career as a group, even though three of their songs, "I Want You Back," "ABC" and "I'll Be There," were eventually inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame as a kind of second chance at recognition. "ABC" earned that honor in 2016.
The single, written and produced by The Corporation (Berry Gordy, Freddie Perren, Alphonzo Mizell and Deke Richards), sold 2 million copies in its first week in the US alone and more than 4 million worldwide, going Platinum in the UK and Gold in Japan and Denmark. It topped Billboard's Hot 100 for two weeks and the Best Selling Soul Singles chart for four. Rapper 50 Cent has said it was the first song he remembers hearing as a kid.
Jackson 5 - ABC 🎶 The song is in the comment! 👇

A song recorded in 1967 sat on a shelf for two years, then became a hit only after Motown ran out of other options. 🎤Jam...
09/22/2026

A song recorded in 1967 sat on a shelf for two years, then became a hit only after Motown ran out of other options. 🎤
James Dean, William Weatherspoon and Jack Alan Goga wrote "Farewell Is a Lonely Sound," and Jimmy Ruffin recorded it in March 1967 at Hitsville U.S.A. But it didn't come out until 1969, first tucked away on his album Ruff'n Ready. Two earlier singles from that same record, "I'll Say Forever My Love" and "Don't Let Him Take Your Love from Me," had both failed to make much noise on the charts, so Motown released "Farewell Is a Lonely Sound" as a single in the US that October, as a last attempt to pull a hit from the album, then in the UK the following February.
That gamble paid off, especially overseas. The song reached number 8 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming one of three Ruffin singles to crack the UK Top Ten that year, alongside "I'll Say Forever My Love" and "It's Wonderful (To Be Loved by You)." British fans even voted him the world's top singer in one poll that year. It was reissued again in October 1974, riding the wave after "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted" became a UK Top Ten hit for a second time.
Jimmy Ruffin - Farewell Is a Lonely Sound 🎶 The song is in the comment! 👇

More than three decades later, this song still gets sampled by artists who weren't even born when it came out. 🎶Gerald L...
09/22/2026

More than three decades later, this song still gets sampled by artists who weren't even born when it came out. 🎶
Gerald Levert sampled "Your Precious Love" for his song "Your Smile" on his 2002 album The G Spot, proof of just how far the melody Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson wrote traveled. Ashford remembered writing the song as effortless, calling it another one that just popped out. Marvin Gaye, he said, had a special way of creating romance in his voice, and Tammi Terrell was the icing on the cake, their vocal blend so good you could feel both of them on the record.
Billboard heard it early and was just as convinced, calling the A-side a lock for a hit while praising the flip side, "Hold Me Oh My Darling," as a soulful blues ballad with equal potential. Harvey Fuqua and Johnny Bristol produced the record, and joined Marvin and Tammi on backing vocals under the nickname "the Riff Brothers Plus One."
Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell - Your Precious Love 🎶 The song is in the comment! 👇

The robot dance caught the world's attention, but the first time a TV camera cut away from it. 🤖Michael Jackson first pe...
09/21/2026

The robot dance caught the world's attention, but the first time a TV camera cut away from it. 🤖
Michael Jackson first performed the robot dance on television while singing "Dancing Machine" on a Bob Hope special that aired on September 26, 1973, but the cameraman cut away from him. A month later, on October 27, 1973, he did it again on Soul Train, and this time it was fully caught on camera. The dance itself had been devised by Charles Washington in the late 1960s, and Michael's performance helped popularize it.
The song was originally recorded for the 1973 album Get It Together and came out as a remixed single on February 19, 1974, at 2 minutes 43 seconds. It reached number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, held out of the top spot by Ray Stevens's "The Streak," and number 1 on the soul chart. It reportedly sold more than three million copies, and it was the group's first US top ten hit since "Sugar Daddy" in 1971. The album Dancing Machine climbed to number 5 on the Billboard 200 and number 1 on the R&B albums chart.
The Jackson 5 - Dancing Machine 🎶 The song is in the comment! 👇

"Maybe Tomorrow" was the title track of the group's 1971 album and their first Motown single to miss the pop Top 10, rig...
09/21/2026

"Maybe Tomorrow" was the title track of the group's 1971 album and their first Motown single to miss the pop Top 10, right after four straight number ones and a pair of number twos. It still reached the R&B Top Five, and it gave young Michael Jackson one of his most heartfelt ballad leads. The album version runs 4 minutes 47 seconds, the longest cut on the record, with Michael on lead and his brothers on backing vocals.

Maybe Tomorrow was recorded in 1970 at Motown's Los Angeles studio and produced by The Corporation with Hal Davis. It reached number 11 on the pop albums chart and included the original version of "Never Can Say Goodbye." It was also the last album made under The Corporation's primary direction.
The Jackson 5 - Maybe Tomorrow 🎶 The song is in the comment! 👇

Holland-Dozier-Holland and Sylvia Moy wrote "This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)" for The Supremes, but Motown gave...
09/21/2026

Holland-Dozier-Holland and Sylvia Moy wrote "This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)" for The Supremes, but Motown gave it to the Isley Brothers, who had just joined the label. Lamont Dozier said the idea came from a girl he could not give up. The more he tried, the deeper he fell, and he found himself making excuses for her. That is exactly the story Ronald Isley tells on lead vocals, with the Funk Brothers behind him.

Released on January 12, 1966 as the group's first Motown single, it went to number 12 on the Hot 100 and number 6 on the R&B chart. In the UK it first reached number 47 in April 1966, then charted again in late 1968 and climbed to number 3, the group's highest UK placing.

The song kept living. Rod Stewart took it to number 4 in the UK in 1975, and a duet with Ronald Isley reached number 10 in the US in 1989.
The Isley Brothers - This Old Heart of Mine 🎶 The song is in the comment! 👇

The radio version of "Do I Do" leaves out two of its best surprises. 🎺On the full 10 minute 30 second album cut, Stevie ...
09/20/2026

The radio version of "Do I Do" leaves out two of its best surprises. 🎺
On the full 10 minute 30 second album cut, Stevie Wonder brings in jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie for a trumpet solo, then raps near the end, which is rare for him. Bassists still talk about Nathan Watts's intricate bassline, and Stevie counts down out loud as the track fades. The single edit trims everything to 5:02 and drops both the trumpet and the rap.
It still worked. Released on February 19, 1982, "Do I Do" went to number 2 on the Billboard soul chart, number 13 on the Hot 100 and number 10 in the UK, and spent two weeks at number one on the dance chart. It earned three Grammy nominations, and years later it became the basis for Ja Rule's "Livin' It Up." It first appeared as one of four brand-new songs on Original Musiquarium I.
Stevie Wonder - Do I Do 🎶 The song is in the comment! 👇

One album, one hit for The Temptations, and another that went to someone else. 🎶The title track "Psychedelic Shack" reac...
09/20/2026

One album, one hit for The Temptations, and another that went to someone else. 🎶
The title track "Psychedelic Shack" reached number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 4 on Cash Box and number 2 on the R&B chart in 1970. It came from the group's twelfth studio album for the Gordy label, and every song on it was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, with Whitfield producing. The record almost completely left the classic "Motown Sound" behind and went all in on psychedelia, with the Funk Brothers backing Dennis Edwards, Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, Melvin Franklin and Otis Williams.

Then there is the twist. The same album included the Temptations' own original version of "War," which later in 1970 became a major hit for Edwin Starr.
The Temptations - Psychedelic Shack 🎶 The song is in the comment! 👇

Gladys Knight didn't even want to sign with Motown in the first place, reluctantly going along only after the rest of th...
09/19/2026

Gladys Knight didn't even want to sign with Motown in the first place, reluctantly going along only after the rest of the Pips voted to move to Hitsville. When Norman Whitfield brought her this song in 1967, it was already a "thrice-heated leftover," Smokey Robinson & the Miracles had recorded it in 1966 and been vetoed by Berry Gordy, and Marvin Gaye had also cut his own version that went unreleased. Knight's take became the first to actually reach the public.
She later described in her autobiography, "Between Each Line of Pain and Glory," just how much that success meant. "It wasn't just a record for us," she wrote. "It was a work permit, and work came flowing our way." The song hit No. 1 on the R&B chart that December, holding it for six weeks, and spent three weeks stuck at No. 2 on the pop chart, blocked first by the Monkees' "Daydream Believer" and then the Beatles' "Hello, Goodbye." Sixteen years later, in 1983, Knight and Marvin Gaye finally performed the song together live, blending their two competing versions into a single mashup on stage.
🎶Gladys Knight & The Pips - I Heard It Through the Grapevine 🎶 The song is in the comment! 👇

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