"The End of Our Road" | ||||
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Single by Gladys Knight & the Pips | ||||
from the album Feelin' Bluesy | ||||
B-side | "Don't Let Her Take Your Love From Me" | |||
Released | 1968 | |||
Recorded | 1967, Hitsville USA, Detroit | |||
Genre | R&B, soul | |||
Length | 2:19 | |||
Label | Soul | |||
Songwriter(s) | Roger Penzabene Norman Whitfield Barrett Strong | |||
Producer(s) | Norman Whitfield | |||
Gladys Knight & the Pips singles chronology | ||||
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"The End of Our Road" is a single written by Roger Penzabene, Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong in 1967. Originally recorded by Gladys Knight & the Pips and issued as a single in 1968, the Pips' version of the song, became another top forty hit for the family group as it peaked at number fifteen on the pop singles chart and number five on the R&B singles chart.
As with the last two songs in Penzabene's trilogy for The Temptations, "I Wish It Would Rain" and "I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)", "The End of Our Road" talked about the demise of a couple's relationship. The sentiment behind the song's words, as lyricist Penzabene wrote his songs as personal statements to his wife, was about publicizing his pain of his own marriage falling apart. Unable to handle the extreme pain and hurt caused by this, he wrote the songs, drawing from his real-life heart break. After all three songs were completed and recorded, Penzabene committed suicide.
Chart (1968) | Peak position |
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U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 15 |
U.S. Billboard R&B Singles [1] | 5 |
Much like the minor controversy with "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", Whitfield produced a different version of the song with Marvin Gaye, who issued the song in early 1970. The song peaked at number forty on the pop charts. It was the first song counted down on the first show of the syndicated radio countdown program American Top 40 on the weekend of July 4, 1970. [2]
Record World called it "a great vehicle for Marvin Gaye." [3] Cash Box said "The results once more are astounding. The vocal is inflated by production work that is strictly Motown monopoly." [4]
Chart (1970) | Peak position |
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U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 40 |
U.S. Billboard R&B Singles [5] | 7 |
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is a song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for Motown Records in 1966. The first recording of the song to be released was produced by Whitfield for Gladys Knight & the Pips and released as a single in September 1967. It went to number one on the Billboard R&B Singles chart and number two on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and shortly became the biggest selling Motown single up to that time.
"Ain't That Peculiar" is a 1965 song recorded by American soul musician Marvin Gaye for the Tamla (Motown) label.
"Too Busy Thinking About My Baby" is a Motown song written by Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong, and Janie Bradford. The song was first recorded by The Temptations as a track on their 1966 album Gettin' Ready. Eddie Kendricks sings lead on the recording, which was produced by Whitfield. Jimmy Ruffin also recorded a version with The Temptations providing background vocals in 1966. It remained unreleased until 1997.
"That's the Way Love Is" is a 1967 Tamla (Motown) single recorded by The Isley Brothers and produced by Norman Whitfield.
"I Wish It Would Rain" is a 1967 song recorded by the Temptations for the Motown label and produced by Norman Whitfield. The lyrics of this mournful song about a heartbroken man whose woman had just left him were penned by Motown staff writer Roger Penzabene. The lyricist had just learned that his wife was cheating on him and in his sorrow and pain, Penzabene penned both this and its follow-up "I Could Never Love Another ." Tragically the distraught Penzabene committed suicide barely a week after the single's release.
In the Groove is the eighth studio album by soul musician Marvin Gaye, released on August 26, 1968 on the Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. It was the first solo studio album Gaye released in two years, in which during that interim, the singer had emerged as a successful duet partner with female R&B singers such as Kim Weston and Tammi Terrell. In the Groove was reissued and retitled as I Heard It Through the Grapevine after the unexpected success of Gaye's recording of the same name, which had been released as a single from the original album.
"My Mistake (Was to Love You)" is a song recorded as a duet by Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye which was the second single released off the singers' duet album Diana & Marvin in February 1974. One of the original songs featured on that album, "My Mistake (Was to Love You)" was written by Gloria Jones and Pam Sawyer, the team responsible for the Gladys Knight & the Pips' classic "If I Were Your Woman". Pam Sawyer was also the co-writer (with Michael Masser) of the Diana Ross hit "Last Time I Saw Him" which dropped out of the Top 40 just prior to the Top 40 debut of "My Mistake (Was to Love You)" in March 1974: Sawyer would subsequently co-write (with Marilyn Mcleod) Diana Ross' 1976 #1 hit "Love Hangover". "My Mistake" peaked at #15 on the Billboard R&B singles chart and #19 on the Billboard Pop singles chart. It reached #16 in Canada.
"The Onion Song" was a hit for soul singers Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell in 1969. It reached the top ten overseas, where it became Gaye & Terrell's biggest hit in the United Kingdom, entering the singles chart on 15 November 1969 and peaking at No.9 on 9 December. "The Onion Song" was a more modest hit in the U.S. where it peaked at No. 18 on the soul singles chart and No. 50 on the Billboard Hot 100
"I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)" is a single recorded by the Temptations and released on Motown Records' Gordy label during the spring of 1968. The song is the last with lyrics by Rodger Penzabene, and as the final Temptations single to feature David Ruffin as lead singer.
"You" is a 1967 single released by American singer Marvin Gaye on the Tamla label.
"What's the Matter with You Baby" is a 1964 single written by William "Mickey" Stevenson, Clarence Paul, and Barney Ales and produced by Stevenson. It was recorded and released by Marvin Gaye and Mary Wells on the Motown label. Released as a double A-side single alongside "Once Upon a Time", the song gave Gaye and Wells another charted smash.
"Your Unchanging Love" is a 1967 single released by American soul singer Marvin Gaye on the Tamla label.
"Keep On Lovin' Me Honey" is a 1968 hit written and produced by Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson, and issued as a single on Motown Records' Tamla label by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. It was the third release from the duo's You're All I Need album. Billboard described the single as a "potent, driving rocker" that "will put [Gaye and Terrell] rapidly at the top." Cash Box said that it "blazes its way with terrific rhythmic impact and super-powered vocal splendor."
"California Soul" is a funk-soul tune written by Ashford & Simpson, issued originally as the B-side of the Messengers' single "Window Shopping" in 1967 under the Motown group of labels.
"What You Gave Me" is a hit duet written and produced by Ashford & Simpson and issued as a single originally by the vocal duo of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell in 1969 on the Tamla label.
"Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)" is a song recorded by Gladys Knight & the Pips. Released on December 26, 1972 on Motown's Soul Records imprint as S 35098, it became one of their biggest hit singles to date, and was also the last single the group released prior to them leaving Motown for Buddah Records in February 1973.
The song "You're My Everything" is a 1967 single recorded by The Temptations for Berry Gordy's Motown record label. It is the first of three singles, and four songs to be co-written for the group by Motown songwriter Rodger Penzabene. It reached number three on the U.S. R&B chart and number six on the U.S. Pop chart. It is the third single from the group's 1967 album The Temptations with a Lot o' Soul.
"Gonna Give Her All the Love I've Got" is a 1967 Soul song, originally recorded and made a hit by Jimmy Ruffin on Motown's Soul Label imprint. Ruffin's 1967 original version, from his album Jimmy Ruffin Sings Top Ten, reached the Pop Top 30, peaking at #29, and was a Top 20 R&B Hit as well, peaking at #14. It was also a hit in Britain, reaching #26 on the UK Singles Chart. The song has a social context: it depicts a man anticipating his release from prison on the morrow, when he'll return home on a train to "the girl that I left behind," promising himself that he will reward her steadfast love for him by "giv[ing] her all the love [he's] got." The song was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong and produced by Whitfield.
"How Can I Forget" was originally recorded as a love ballad by Motown group The Temptations in 1968 and was re-recorded in a psychedelic soul/funk styling by fellow Motown artist, Marvin Gaye in 1969. His version, released on Motown's first subsidiary, Tamla, became a modest hit that almost reached the Top 40 of the pop charts while peaking at number-eighteen on the Hot Selling Soul Singles chart in 1970. Marvin's recording was featured on his That's the Way Love Is album. The song is also notable for being one of the shortest recordings for both The Tempts and for Gaye; recorded when most songs are over three minutes, its length is just under two.
"Don't You Miss Me a Little Bit Baby" is a 1967 soul song originally recorded by Motown singer Jimmy Ruffin and released on the company's Soul subsidiary label.