Title : Nothing But A HeartacheArtist : The Flirtations (Shirley and Ernestine Pearce from South Carolina, Viola Billups from Alabama)Label : Deram DM 216Year : 1969Recorded : LondonProducers and Writers Wayne Bickerton and Tony Waddington (ex Pete Best Combo, later The Rubettes)
Stop. Collect yourself. Play it again. So where's the flaw - it can't BE this good. Nothing can be this good. This record is every drug you've ever taken, every girl you've ever loved, like the dream you've tried to will into reality every single night of your stupid fucking life. No, better than that.
GET THIS RECORD. DOWNLOAD IT IF YOU CAN. BUY THE DERAM CD 'THE NORTHERN SOUL SCENE' AS I DID. NOW!
I first heard it at around 3.00 pm yesterday on the headphones in Borders. I first heard it all the way through at 4.15, and I've played it continuously ever since.
One more time. A staccato brass and piano intro is pushed aside by the deepest, steadiest bass and drum groove imaginable. Something like those 'dragging chain' Martha And The Vandellas rhythm grooves, but a million times more thunderous. Vocals come quickly, with proto-philly strings - "Nothin' but a heartache every day/nothin' but a teardrop all of the way" - the lead vocal strident, angry, wronged, then straining, vulnerable on "He's got me/oh why can't I get him". What happens next is, MUST BE, the greatest moment I've heard on record. The beat doubles, then marches on the spot, the brass looming overhead. Shirley, Ernestine and Viola's anger wells up, BOILS up -"Heartaches/ Teardrops/ All of the way!" and releases with a semi-screamed "Nothin' but a heartache EV-ERY DAY!" . And round again for another relentlessly intense verse (same as the first) and more heartache, teardrops...
On the outro - Shirley or Ernestine or Viola breaks free for a few seconds to testify to"tears pouring all down my face". You should know they're pouring down mine too.
― Dr. C (Dr. C), Monday, 3 March 2003 17:46 (twenty-two years ago)
― jess (dubplatestyle), Monday, 3 March 2003 17:49 (twenty-two years ago)
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 3 March 2003 17:50 (twenty-two years ago)
― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 3 March 2003 18:17 (twenty-two years ago)
― dan (dan), Monday, 3 March 2003 18:30 (twenty-two years ago)
― dave k, Monday, 3 March 2003 20:39 (twenty-two years ago)
― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Monday, 3 March 2003 20:51 (twenty-two years ago)
― Chris Barrus (xibalba), Monday, 3 March 2003 21:04 (twenty-two years ago)
― michael (michael), Tuesday, 4 March 2003 09:57 (twenty-two years ago)
― j0e (j0e), Tuesday, 4 March 2003 10:59 (twenty-two years ago)
― Dr. C (Dr. C), Tuesday, 4 March 2003 14:50 (twenty-two years ago)
― michael (michael), Tuesday, 4 March 2003 14:58 (twenty-two years ago)
― piscesboy, Tuesday, 29 July 2003 16:15 (twenty-one years ago)
― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Tuesday, 29 July 2003 16:29 (twenty-one years ago)
― mark p (Mark P), Thursday, 15 January 2004 18:53 (twenty-one years ago)
― Jim Robinson (Original Miscreant), Thursday, 15 January 2004 20:48 (twenty-one years ago)
― america's first municipal lunatic asylum (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 15 January 2004 20:54 (twenty-one years ago)
― pete b. (pete b.), Friday, 19 March 2004 10:17 (twenty-one years ago)
This video has been posted on another thread, but it NEEDS to be on this one.
― Griff Sheridan (Griff Sheridan), Monday, 9 October 2006 19:44 (eighteen years ago)
― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Monday, 9 October 2006 20:11 (eighteen years ago)
― Konal Doddz (blueski), Monday, 9 October 2006 22:33 (eighteen years ago)
― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 00:38 (eighteen years ago)
― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 00:49 (eighteen years ago)
― ram jam holder (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 02:28 (eighteen years ago)
― tremendoid (tremendoid), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 03:06 (eighteen years ago)
― Harpal (harpal), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 04:15 (eighteen years ago)
― ram jam holder (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 04:44 (eighteen years ago)
― joseph (joseph), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 04:51 (eighteen years ago)
― corey c (shock of daylight), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 05:22 (eighteen years ago)
― ram jam holder (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 05:30 (eighteen years ago)
There's something fucked up about that song's structure. There is a verse where the chorus should be and a chorus where the verse should be.
And no it isn't very melodic. But it definitely has a very danceable groove. It's easy for me to imagine it being used in a commercial, especially since it gets old after the first 30 seconds. Just the same damn thing over and over, it felt like.
― Rat Nasty (ratnasty), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 05:57 (eighteen years ago)
― timmy tannin (pompous), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 07:17 (eighteen years ago)
― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 08:03 (eighteen years ago)
― wogan lenin (dog latin), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 11:00 (eighteen years ago)
― Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 11:12 (eighteen years ago)
― i am not a nugget (stevie), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 15:12 (eighteen years ago)
I'VE GOT A LOT OF THOSE HEARTACHES I'VE GOT A LOT OF THOSE TEARDROPS
― G00blar, Saturday, 3 November 2007 17:52 (seventeen years ago)
I love how this thread randomly revives.
― Elvis Telecom, Saturday, 3 November 2007 18:02 (seventeen years ago)
Yep.
― Cunga, Sunday, 3 February 2008 20:36 (seventeen years ago)
Yes.
― Bimble, Saturday, 9 February 2008 09:46 (seventeen years ago)
heard this on a LA oldies station today which was a nice surprise, but also weird, this was a pretty minor hit stateside, oldies stations usually stick to top 10, occasionally dipping a little lower.
― gershy, Saturday, 17 May 2008 06:01 (seventeen years ago)
― Love, Wilco (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 8 September 2015 03:55 (nine years ago)
word
― the late great, Tuesday, 8 September 2015 06:08 (nine years ago)
my uncle's uncle Wayne Bickerton who co-wrote this, passed away this weekend poor chap. he and his friend from childhood Tony Waddington also wrote and produced nine Top 50 hits for The Rubettes and won an Ivor Novello Award as Songwriters of the Year.
― piscesx, Monday, 30 November 2015 15:06 (nine years ago)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_KHCI_UgqQ
― "...And the Gods Socially Distanced" (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 10 June 2020 22:04 (five years ago)
This song is basically all chorus... makes you wonder why songwriters don't use that trick more often.
― enochroot, Thursday, 11 June 2020 00:49 (five years ago)
This thread rules. I know this from "One Kiss Can Lead To Another" - pulling out the ol hat box next chance I get. (That whole first disc......dear god)
― maf you one two (maffew12), Thursday, 11 June 2020 01:26 (five years ago)