Love Bug Leave My Heart Alone

Infobox Single
Name = "Love Bug Leave My Heart Alone"
Artist = Martha and the Vandellas
Album = Riding High
B-side = One Way Out
Released = 1967
Format = 7" single
Recorded = Hitsville USA; 1967
Genre = R&B
Label = Gordy
Writer = Richard Morris
Sylvia Moy
Producer = Richard Morris
Last single = "Jimmy Mack"
(1967)
This single = "Love Bug Leave My Heart Alone"
(1967)
Next single = "Honey Chile"
(1967)

"Love Bug Leave My Heart Alone" is a 1967 single released by Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas. The song's production was a departure from the Vandellas' repertoire as their label, Motown, was having a harder time staying with the times in the music industry and having a much harder time finding a hit for its acts after several departures including Vandellas collaborators William "Mickey" Stevenson and Holland-Dozier-Holland, who produced the b-side to this single, "One Way Out", one of the trio's final recordings with the Vandellas. Produced by Richard Morris, the song displayed of the narrator wanting "the love bug" (i.e., her former lover) to leave her alone so she won't "fall in love". The narrator, lead singer Martha Reeves, was left heart-broken the last time she allowed the man to come back to her but after suffering heartbreak, she expresses her disgust at the man's attempts with her fellow members Rosalind Ashford and Betty Kelley chanting "get outta there, love bug, leave my heart alone". The song was their second consecutive Top 40 single of 1967 peaking at number twenty-five on the "Billboard" pop singles chart and number fourteen on the Billboard Hot R&B singles chart. The record was the first track ever played on UK Radio One by DJ John Peel.

Credits

*Lead vocals by Martha Reeves
*Background vocals by Rosalind Ashford and Betty Kelly
*Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers
*Written by Richard Morris and Sylvia Moy
*Produced by Richard Morris