Sunday, September 26, 2021

Four Tops: It's the Same Old Song

I wasn't sure which song to choose for today's music video, but when I walked home past the Conservative Club last night I heard someone making a brave stab at this. Sorted.

There are those who say The Same Old Song is a reworking of Where Did Our Love Go or I Can’t Help Myself, but Motown Classics is having none of it:

The title is an intentional joke, occasioned by the increasing perception that all Holland-Dozier-Holland’s songs sounded the same, together with the ludicrously unrealistic time frame imposed on this. 

It’s a cheeky wink, something that HDH might have done among themselves for a bet (in the face of an accusation that all their songs sounded the same, I can absolutely see them challenging each other to write a coherent and internally-consistent song around such a phrase), but it’s certainly not – as I’ve seen argued – compelling evidence Motown were laughing in their fans’ faces while selling them six copies of the same (old) song with three notes changed.

It's the Same Old Song reached number 5 in the US singles chart, but Britannia was so cool in 1965 that it stalled at number 34 here.

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