"Forever Came Today" is a 1967 song written and produced by the Motown collective of Holland-Dozier-Holland, and was first made into a hit as a single for Diana Ross & the Supremes in early 1968. A disco version of the song was released as a single seven years later by Motown group The Jackson 5.
Video Forever Came Today
Overview
The Supremes version
The release of "Forever Came Today" was the result of a work slowdown by Holland-Dozier-Holland in late 1967. The song was originally cut in April 1967 with vocals added in December, 1967 and January, 1968. HDH, and particularly lyricist Eddie Holland, had become dissatisfied with both their pay and the working atmosphere at Motown, and resultantly created very little music during the latter half of the year.
With no other Supremes singles ready for release, Motown had "Forever Came Today" prepared for release as a single. Mary Wilson, in her autobiography Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme, reported that "Forever Came Today" was the first of a series of Supremes singles she did not sing on. In the book All That Glittered: My Life With the Supremes, Supremes roadie Tony Turner reported that Florence Ballard insisted that she sang on this record. According to Ballard, even though Wilson denied they were on the record, Ballard was on some of those songs "because Mary's voice didn't fit in". However, Motown's recording studio logs for "Forever Came Today" note vocal sessions as having been done in December 1967 and January 1968, after Ballard's July 1967 firing from the act. This version of events is also recorded in Mark Ribowskys book called The Supremes published in 2009,however he claims that the session logs were lost and the dates December 1967 and January 1968 were listed on a box set that was issued in 2000 which coincided with HDHs go slow and that Ballard did record some of the backing vocals in earlier recording sessions .
The single stalled for two weeks at number twenty-eight on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart in spring 1968. It was their first American single not to reach the top 10 since "Nothing but Heartaches." The song's lyrics feature a woman who is amazed by her boyfriend's love that she has waited 'forever' for, hence the saying "my forever came today." In spite of its showings on the pop charts, Holland-Dozier-Holland uphold "Forever Came Today" as one of the best Motown songs they ever wrote.
By the time of the single's release in early 1968, Holland-Dozier-Holland had staged a work slowdown and eventually no longer came to Motown's Hitsville U.S.A. studio. Motown sued for breach of contract in August 1968; HDH countersued. The trio went on to eventually start their own labels, Invictus Records and Hot Wax Records. Meanwhile, Berry Gordy was forced to find a new songwriting team for the Supremes, since Holland-Dozier-Holland had written all of the group's hit singles since 1963.
Track listing
- 7" single (29 February 1968) (North America/United Kingdom/Germany)
- "Forever Came Today" - 2:59
- "Time Changes Things" - 2:22
Chart positions
Maps Forever Came Today
The Jackson 5 version
The single was revived eight years later in a disco version by another Motown group, The Jackson 5. The Jacksons had replaced the Supremes as the label's top-selling act during the early 1970s and by 1975 were going through problems with Motown and making plans to leave the company. In the US, The Jackson 5's version peaked at number six on the soul chart and at number sixty on the pop chart. On the Billboard dance chart, it was the first of two releases, by The Jacksons, to hit number one. The single's B-side, "All I Do Is Think of You", was later extensively covered and sampled by contemporary R&B and hip hop artists.
Chart positions
Jackson 5 version
- Lead vocals by Michael Jackson and Jermaine Jackson
- Background vocals by The Jackson 5
- Instrumentation by assorted Los Angeles musicians
- Clarence McDonald - keyboards
- Wilton Felder - bass
- Earl Palmer - drums
- David T. Walker - guitar
- Louis Shelton - guitar
- Bobbye Hall - percussion
- String arrangements by Gene Page
- Produced by Brian Holland
References
External links
- Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
Source of article : Wikipedia
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