"Love on a Two-Way Street" | ||||
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Single by The Moments | ||||
from the album Not on the Outside, But on the Inside, Strong! | ||||
B-side | "I Won't Do Anything" | |||
Released | March 1970 | |||
Genre | R&B, soul | |||
Length | 3:05 (single edit) 3:46 (album version) | |||
Label | Stang Records All Platinum | |||
Songwriter(s) | Sylvia Robinson, Bert Keyes | |||
Producer(s) | Sylvia Robinson | |||
The Moments singles chronology | ||||
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"Love on a Two-Way Street" is a soul ballad written by Sylvia Robinson, Lezli Valentine and Bert Keyes in 1968. The song was originally recorded by Lezli Valentine, an artist signed to All Platinum, the record label that Sylvia Robinson co-owned with her husband, Joe. The song was then recorded by The Moments, an R&B vocal group signed to All Platinum subsidiary Stang Records, as filler for their 1968 album Not on the Outside, But on the Inside, Strong!. Sylvia and Joe decided to release the song as a single in March 1970 and it went on to become one of the biggest R&B hits of that year, spending five weeks at number one on Billboard's Soul Singles chart and reaching number three on the Hot 100 chart. [1] Billboard ranked the record as the No. 25 song of 1970. [2] It was also certified gold by the RIAA for sales of one million copies.
Willie and The Mighty Magnificents provided most of the musical backing on the song and Bert Keyes created the string arrangement that was overdubbed onto the track while also playing piano on the recording session.
According to the song's original vocalist, Lezli Valentine, she was a third contributor to the song, writing most of the song's lyrics:
Sylvia came into the office on the morning Two Way Street was created and said that she had a dream but that the only thing she remembered was "Love on a Two-way Street, Lost on a lonely Highway."--We went into Bert's office . . . Sylvia asked Bert to play what he felt (that became the melody) . . . I, Lezli Valentine, began to write the story line . . . "True love will never die, so I've been told but now I must cry, it is finally goodbye, I know . . . With music softly playing his lips were gently saying honey I love you". . .Sylvia wrote "he held me in desperation, I thought it was a revelation and then he walked out". . . I, Lezli Valentine wrote . . ."how could I be so blind to give of love the very first time, to be fooled is a hurting thing". . . Sylvia wrote "to be loved and fooled is a crying shame". . .Lezli Valentine wrote "while I bear the blame, as he laughs my name", the rest was completed, I recorded it; the lead sheets were hand delivered by one of the original Moments, John, who lived in DC. The original application was altered without my knowledge (omitting Lezli Valentine's name as a lyric writer . . . there are three writers on I Found Love On A Two-Way Street) Joseph Robinson, Sr. definitely knew this, (Joseph R.Robinson, Sr. said he would rectify this, evidently he never did. Each time I telephoned him on this he said he would take care of it) as did Ebert Mahon . . . AKA Bert Keyes and several recording artists in the Soul Sound Studios at the time! This was nerve-racking and resulted in hospitalizations.[ citation needed ]
"Love on a Two-Way Street" | ||||
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Single by Stacy Lattisaw | ||||
from the album With You | ||||
B-side | "Baby I Love You" | |||
Released | June 1981 | |||
Recorded | 1981 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 4:11 | |||
Label | Cotillion | |||
Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) | Narada Michael Walden | |||
Stacy Lattisaw singles chronology | ||||
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In 1981, 14-year-old artist Stacy Lattisaw covered "Love on a Two-Way Street." It was the lead single from her With You LP. The song peaked at number two R&B, and number 26 on the Hot 100. [9] As well as number 19 on the US Adult Contemporary chart. This version also peaked at number 23 on the Cash Box Top 100 during August of that year. The song was her second U.S. Top 40 hit.
Chart (1981) | Peak position |
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Canada RPM Top Singles [10] | 39 |
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [11] | 26 |
U.S. Billboard R&B | 2 |
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary [12] | 19 |
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 [13] | 23 |
The Moments' version of the song has been sampled by The AB's formally known as Asamov in 2005 for the song "Supa Dynamite", by Caribou in the track "Subotnick" from 2005's The Milk of Human Kindness, and by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' single "Empire State of Mind" in 2009.
"I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" is a 1965 hit song recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label.
All Platinum Records was a record company started in 1967 by singer/writer/producer Sylvia Robinson and her husband, businessman Joe Robinson, who had previously worked in the recording industry.
"Ooo Baby Baby" is a song written by Smokey Robinson and Pete Moore. It is a classic 1965 hit single by The Miracles for the Tamla (Motown) label. The song has inspired numerous other cover versions by other artists over the years, including covers by Ella Fitzgerald, Todd Rundgren, The Escorts, The Five Stairsteps, Linda Ronstadt, and many others. The Miracles' original version of "Ooo Baby Baby" is listed as number 266 on Rolling Stone Magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
"Pillow Talk" is a 1973 song by American singer and songwriter Sylvia, written by Sylvia along with Michael Burton.
"I Was Made to Love Her" is a soul music song recorded by American musician Stevie Wonder for Motown's Tamla label in 1967. The song was written by Wonder, his mother Lula Mae Hardaway, Sylvia Moy, and producer Henry Cosby and included on Wonder's 1967 album I Was Made to Love Her.
The Jaynetts were an American girl group based in the Bronx, New York, who became a one-hit wonder in 1963 with the song "Sally Go 'Round the Roses", which reached No. 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
Ray, Goodman & Brown is an American R&B vocal group. The group originated as The Moments, who formed in the mid-1960s and whose greatest successes came in the 1970s with hits including "Love on a Two-Way Street", "Sexy Mama", and "Look at Me ". In 1978, they changed their name to Ray, Goodman & Brown and had further hits, including "Special Lady".
"Love Ballad" is a song by R&B/Funk band L.T.D. Jeffrey Osborne is the lead singer.
"(There's) No Gettin' Over Me" is a song written by Walt Aldridge and Tom Brasfield, and recorded by American country music singer Ronnie Milsap. It was released in June 1981 as the first single from the album There's No Gettin' Over Me. Known by many fans by its less grammatically correct title "There Ain't No Gettin' Over Me" — the song's official title appears nowhere in the lyrics — the song became one of Milsap's biggest country and pop hits during his recording career.
"Cupid" is a song by American singer Sam Cooke, released on May 16, 1961. It charted at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 20 on the Hot R&B Sides chart; the track performed best in the United Kingdom, peaking at number seven on the UK Singles Chart. The song is featured on Cooke's greatest hits album, The Best of Sam Cooke (1962). Cooke's producers had asked him to write a song for a girl they had seen on a Perry Como TV show—but once they heard her sing, they kept "Cupid" for Cooke himself.
"The Love I Saw in You Was Just a Mirage" is a 1967 song recorded by the American R&B group The Miracles on Motown Records' Tamla label. Written by Miracles members Smokey Robinson and Marv Tarplin and produced by Robinson, it is noted for being the first single to bill the group as "Smokey Robinson" & the Miracles, a billing already present on the group's albums by this time. Miracles members Smokey Robinson and Pete Moore were the song's producers.
"Turn Back the Hands of Time" is a song recorded by American R&B singer Tyrone Davis. It was co-written by Jack Daniels and Bonnie Thompson and produced by Willie Henderson.
"(Sweet Sweet Baby) Since You've Been Gone" is a song by singer Aretha Franklin. Released from her Lady Soul album in 1968, the song was successful, debuting at number 31 and peaking at number 5 on the Hot 100 for five weeks, and spending three weeks at number 1 on the Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart. The B-side, "Ain't No Way", was also a hit, peaking at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 9 on the Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart.
"Here I Go Again" was a 1969 hit single by The Miracles. It was written by Miracles members Smokey Robinson and Pete Moore, along with Motown staff songwriters Al Cleveland and Terry "Buzzy" Johnson, a member of the legendary R&B group The Flamingos.
"Do It Baby" is a 1974 single recorded and released by the Motown R&B group The Miracles. The song was taken from the album of the same name, and written by Motown staff songwriters Freddie Perren and Christine Yarian and produced by Perren.
"Cry Baby" is a song originally recorded by Garnet Mimms and the Enchanters, in 1963, and later recorded by rock singer Janis Joplin in 1970. Bert Berns wrote the song with Jerry Ragovoy. Garnet Mimms and the Enchanters recorded it for the United Artists record label. It topped the R&B chart and went to #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1963, paving the way for soul hits by Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding later in the decade. The third verse was spoken by Mimms until the repeated refrain of the repeated song title.
With You is the third studio album by American singer Stacy Lattisaw. Released on June 22, 1981, by Cotillion Records, Lattisaw break-through single, a cover of the Moments's hit "Love on a Two-Way Street", peaked at number twenty-six on the U.S. pop chart and number two on the U.S. R&B chart in 1981.
"Making Love" is a 1982 song written by Burt Bacharach, Bruce Roberts, and Carole Bayer Sager to serve as the theme song for the film of the same name in which, as recorded by Roberta Flack with Bacharach/ Bayer Sager producing, it played under the closing credits: a Top 20 hit single for Flack, "Making Love" was included on the singer's 1982 album release I'm the One.
"How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)" is a song recorded by American soul singer Marvin Gaye from his fifth studio album of the same name (1965). It was written in 1964 by the Motown songwriting team of Holland–Dozier–Holland, and produced by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier. The song title was inspired by one of the actor and comedian Jackie Gleason's signature phrases, "How Sweet It Is!"
"Don't Throw It All Away" is a song written by British musician Gary Benson and first released by the Shadows on their 1975 album Specs Appeal. Benson released his version as a single later the same year, which reached number 20 on the UK Singles Chart in the fall of 1975.