I Hear a Symphony

Single infobox |
Name = I Hear a Symphony


Artist = The Supremes
from Album = I Hear a Symphony
Released = October 6, 1965
Format = 7" single
Recorded = Hitsville USA (Studio A); September 22, September 28, September 29, and September 30, 1965
Genre = Soul/pop
Length = 2:40
Label = Motown
M 1083
Writer = Holland-Dozier-Holland
Producer = Brian Holland
Lamont Dozier
Chart position =
*#1 (US Pop Singles)
*#39 (UK Singles Chart)
Reviews =
Last single = "Nothing But Heartaches"
(1965)
This single = "I Hear a Symphony"
(1965)
Next single = "My World Is Empty Without You"
(1965)

"I Hear a Symphony" is a 1965 hit song recorded by The Supremes for the Motown label. Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland-Dozier-Holland, "I Hear a Symphony" was the number one song on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for two weeks, from November 14, 1965 to November 27, 1965, and reached number two on the soul chart. In the United Kingdom, "I Hear a Symphony" made it to number fifty, and then dropped off the charts for two weeks before re-entering at number thirty-nine.

History

The Supremes enjoyed a successful run of hits in 1964 - 1965, and their producers Holland-Dozier-Holland did their best to keep turning the hits out. In mid-1965, the producers came to realize they had fallen into a rut when the Supremes' "Nothing But Heartaches" failed to make it to the Top Ten, missing it by just one position and breaking the string of number-one Supremes hits initiated with "Where Did Our Love Go." Motown chief Berry Gordy was displeased with the performance of "Nothing But Heartaches," and circulated a memo around the Motown offices that read as follows:

:"We will release nothing less than Top Ten product on any artist; and because the Supremes' world-wide acceptance is greater than the other artists, on them we will only release number-one records."

Holland-Dozier-Holland therefore set about breaking their formula and trying something new. The result was "I Hear a Symphony," a song with a more complex musical structure than previous Supremes releases. "Symphony" was released as a single in place of another Holland-Dozier-Holland Supremes song, "Mother Dear", which had been recorded in the same style as their earlier hits.

"I Hear a Symphony", later issued on an album of the same name, became the Supremes' sixth number-one hit in the United States. After the number-five hit "My World Is Empty Without You" and the number-nine hit "Love is Like an Itching in My Heart," the Supremes began a run of four more number-one hits: "You Can't Hurry Love," "You Keep Me Hangin' On," "Love Is Here and Now You're Gone," and "The Happening."

Credits

* Lead vocals by Diana Ross
* Background vocals by Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson
* Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers

ample

ee also

*Hot 100 No. 1 Hits of 1965 (USA)