‘A Bird in the Hand’: Motown’s most overlooked masterpiece
There is a common rule that seems to run consistently throughout all time travelling movies. While there are some points in history that can be changed, there are other fixed moments that were so influential that they need to happen to keep the fabric of reality intact. If these moments were to exist within music, then there would be a few different moments that needed to happen. Among these would be the invention of the electric guitar, John Lennon meeting Paul McCartney and, of course, the development of Motown.
The label was initially founded in 1959 by Berry Gordy, who wanted to write hits. He borrowed $800 from his family, which was enough to kick-start the label and have him start writing music that would eventually shape America. It took a while for the label to find its feet and cement itself as an American institution, but its influence became utterly undeniable in time.
The amount of stars who came out of Motown is truly astonishing. So many artists that we now consider cornerstones of musical endeavour were founded because of Motown. The likes of Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye all originally got their start at the label. Granted, there was some controversy later down the line, which led to many artists leaving the label, but without Motown, they may have never gotten their start in music.
How did Motown do it? Well, Gordy didn’t approach it like many other people who worked in music did. He was passionate about it, sure, but he put the consumer first a lot of the time, thinking less about what sounded good or groundbreaking and instead wrote and published what he believed people could move and dance to.
This meant that he signed many artists and released a lot of music as he was under the impression it would either sell or be a lesson he could take on board moving forward. He was a businessman; the music industry was his assembly line, and he made hit songs. It was that simple.
Throughout all of this work, a range of amazing songs were made; however, some of them flew under the radar as they were lost in the amount that the label was putting out. Realistically, there are too many underrated classics that Motown published to go through, and choosing just one song which stands out amongst them all is borderline impossible. You have the likes of ‘Bring Back the Love’ by The Monitors, ‘When I Had Your Love’ by Marvin Gaye and ‘My Weakness is You’ by Edwin Starr, but there is one song that stands above them all as a classic nobody heard.
Motown was a label that was quick to act, which meant that sometimes artists fell through the cracks if they weren’t immediate successes. We are left wondering, amongst the legends that the label produced, how many we could have potentially missed out on in the face of Berry Gordy’s relentless approach to music. One band that wasn’t given enough of a chance by Motown was The Velvelettes.
They formed in 1962 and comprised Betty Kelly, Carolyn Gil and Sandra Tilley. They signed to Motown and had mild success with their first few singles, ‘Needle in a Haystack’ and ‘He Was Really Saying Something’. It was their next single that flew under the radar, though, as ‘A Bird in the Hand (is Worth Two in the Bush)’ failed to pick up steam, leading to the label becoming slightly disinterested in the band.
The track itself is fantastic. There is no reason why it didn’t perform better except most likely timing and luck (two factors that enough superstars thank in acceptance speeches). The song has Motown magic pressed at its forefront, very much akin to a lot of other hits that came out of the label for The Supremes and Marvelettes. It has a narrative about not leaving your current partner for another empty promise and a completely undeniable doo-wop energy.
Unfortunately, the lack of success with the song meant that the girl group became backing singers for many other Motown acts. Their music has unfairly folded into obscurity and stands to reflect the downside to acting hastily as a record label.
