"Back in My Arms Again" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by the Supremes | ||||
from the album More Hits by The Supremes | ||||
B-side | "Whisper You Love Me Boy" | |||
Released | April 15, 1965 | |||
Recorded | February 24, 1965 | |||
Studio | Hitsville U.S.A., Detroit | |||
Genre | Pop, rhythm and blues | |||
Length | 2:52 | |||
Label | Motown | |||
Songwriter(s) | Holland–Dozier–Holland | |||
Producer(s) | ||||
The Supremes singles chronology | ||||
|
"Back in My Arms Again" is a 1965 song recorded by the Supremes for the Motown label.
Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, "Back in My Arms Again" was the fifth consecutive and overall number-one song for the group on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart in the United States from June 6, 1965, through June 12, 1965, [1] also topping the soul chart for a week.
Eddie Holland of the Holland–Dozier–Holland wrote the basis sketch for "Back in My Arms Again." [2]
"Back in My Arms Again" was the last of five Supremes songs in a row to go number one (the others are "Where Did Our Love Go", "Baby Love", "Come See About Me", and "Stop! In the Name of Love"). The song's middle eight is almost identical to a later Holland-Dozier-Holland hit, The Isley Brothers "This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)".
On the album in which this single appeared, More Hits by the Supremes , and on the official single, each member is pictured separately on the front cover, with her signature above it.
The Supremes performed the song on The Mike Douglas Show , a syndicated daytime program, on May 5, 1965, and again on November 3. [3] They performed the song nationally on the NBC variety program Hullabaloo! [4] on Tuesday, May 11, 1965, peaking on the music charts in the following weeks.
Billboard said that "Back in My Arms Again" has "a strong teen lyric and a powerful vocal performance pitted against a hard rock backing in full support." [5] Cash Box described it as "a rollicking, pop-r&b romancer about a lucky lass who gets back with her boyfriend after quite a hiatus." [6] Record World chose it as one of their "Single Picks of the Week," stating that the Supremes are "unbeatable." [7] Allmusic critic Ed Hogan called the rhythm section provided by the Funk Brothers "tight," the saxophone played by Mike Terry "rollicking" and the vibraphone played by James Gitten "dreamy." [2]
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United States | — | 1,000,000 [22] [23] |
"Back in My Arms Again" returned to the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978 with a remake by Genya Ravan on a single (taken from the singer's album Urban Desire) which was Ravan's only Hot 100 entry, peaking at #92. [24] [25]
The song almost made the Hot 100 in 1983 via a remake on Motown's Gordy label by female vocal group High Inergy, whose 1977 debut album Turnin' On had yielded a Top 20 hit in ("You Can't Turn Me Off") and elicited numerous comparisons with the Supremes. [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] High Inergy remained a one hit wonder despite the release of seven more albums and 27 more singles. In 1983, the group released what would be their last album, Groove Patrol , from which a near note-for-note remake of "Back in My Arms Again" was released as a single [31] (the group's last) and reached #105 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart (without ranking on the magazine's R&B chart). [32]
"Back in My Arms Again" has also been remade by the Michael Stanley Band (on Greatest Hints, 1979), [33] Nicolette Larson (as "Back in My Arms" on In the Nick of Time in 1980), by Michael Bolton (on his eponymous 1983 album), by The Forester Sisters (on Perfume, Ribbons & Pearls in 1986), and by Colin James (on the American Boyfriends soundtrack album in 1989). [34]
The song was recorded by the all-female American rock group Fanny in early 1973 but their version, produced by Todd Rundgren, remained unreleased until 2002, when it appeared on Rhino Handmade's limited-edition Fanny anthology First Time In A Long Time: The Reprise Recordings. [35] The outtake was later included on the 2016 reissue of 1973's Mothers Pride . The song was also covered by The Jam live at the 100 Club on 11 September 1977, a version released on the six-CD set Fire and Skill – The Jam Live in 2015.
"Stop! In the Name of Love" is a 1965 song recorded by the Supremes for the Motown label.
"Reflections" is a 1967 song recorded by American soul music group The Supremes for the Motown label. The single release was the first Supremes record credited to "Diana Ross and the Supremes", and the song was one of the last Motown hits to be written and produced by Holland–Dozier–Holland before they left the label.
"Baby Love" is a song by the American music group the Supremes from their second studio album, Where Did Our Love Go. It was written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland and was released on September 17, 1964.
"Come See About Me" is a 1964 song recorded by the Supremes for the Motown label. The track opens with a fade-in, marking one of the first times the technique had been used on a studio recording.
"I Hear a Symphony" is a 1965 song recorded by the Supremes for the Motown label.
"You Can't Hurry Love" is a 1966 song originally recorded by the Supremes on the Motown label. It was released on July 25, 1966 as the second single from their studio album The Supremes A' Go-Go (1966).
"I Can't Help Myself" is a 1965 song recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label.
"Love Is Here and Now You're Gone" is a 1967 song recorded by the Supremes for the Motown label.
More Hits by The Supremes is the sixth studio album by Motown singing group the Supremes, released in 1965. The album includes two number-one hits: "Stop! In the Name of Love" and "Back in My Arms Again", as well as the Top 20 single "Nothing but Heartaches".
Diana Ross & the Supremes: Greatest Hits is a two-LP collection of singles and b-sides recorded by The Supremes, released by Motown in August 1967. The collection was the first LP to credit the group under the new billing Diana Ross & the Supremes. Although founding member Florence Ballard is pictured on all album artwork and sings on all the tracks, by the time the set was released, she had been fired from the group and replaced by Cindy Birdsong.
"My World Is Empty Without You" is a 1965 song recorded and released as a single by the Supremes for the Motown label.
"Love Is Like an Itching in My Heart" is a 1966 song recorded by the Supremes for the Motown label.
"The Happening" is a 1967 song recorded by Motown artists The Supremes. It served as the theme song of the 1967 Columbia Pictures film The Happening, and was released as a single by Motown at the time of the film's release that spring. While the movie flopped, the song peaked at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart in May, becoming The Supremes' tenth number 1 single in the United States, peaking in the top 10 on the UK Singles Chart at number 6, and in the top 5 in the Australian Pop Chart and in the Dutch Pop Chart.
"Forever Came Today" is a 1968 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.
"When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes" is a song written by Holland–Dozier–Holland and recorded in 1963 by the Motown singing group the Supremes. It is notable as the Supremes' first Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 recording, following seven previous singles between January 1961 and September 1963 which failed to enter the Top 40. The single is also notable as the first Supremes single written and produced by Holland–Dozier–Holland, who had previously created hits for Martha and the Vandellas and Mary Wells.
"Run, Run, Run" is a 1964 song written by Holland–Dozier–Holland and released as a single by Motown singing group The Supremes. After a couple of years of unsuccessful singles, the Supremes had finally broken through with a Top 40 single (23) in December 1963 with "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes". On the heels of its release, Motown rush-released a second HDH single titled "Run, Run, Run". Inspired by the sounds of Phil Spector and his Wall of Sound, it was an attempt to give the Supremes a poppier sound compared to their earlier heavy R&B recordings. Billboard described the song as a "strong follow up" to "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes," stating that it "has tough beat in a middle up groove that's great for dancing." Cash Box described it as "a pulsating, big sounding rocker with some torrid triplet keyboard work backing up."
"Nothing but Heartaches" is a 1965 song recorded by the Supremes for the Motown label.
"I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do the Walking" is a disco-styled soul single composed by the Holland brothers Eddie and Brian, members of the former Holland–Dozier–Holland team and was released as a single by Motown vocal group The Supremes in 1976 on the Motown label. It was the first single since "Your Heart Belongs to Me" in 1962 to feature four Supremes. It is also notable for being the last top forty single the group would score before they disbanded in 1977.
"Some Things You Never Get Used To" is a song released in 1968 by Diana Ross & the Supremes on the Motown label. The single stalled for three weeks at number 30 on the U.S. Billboard pop chart in July 1968. It became the lowest-charting Supremes single since 1963 and became the catalyst for Berry Gordy to revamp songwriting for The Supremes since the loss of Motown's premier production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, which Gordy had assigned as the group's sole producers after the success of "When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes."
"Where Did Our Love Go" is a 1964 song recorded by American music group the Supremes for the Motown label.