If the Shoe Don't Fit

"If the Shoe Don't Fit" is the first full-length song on the new Jackson 5 cd, Come and Get It: The Rare Pearls. Like many of the songs on the album, it was written and produced by The Corporation, and, like most songs by this team, it's got a catchy tune and clever lyrics that were especially tailored to the Jackson 5's youthfulness. According the to the liner notes, it was recorded 1970-71. It features Michael on the up-tempo lead vocals that are reminiscent of "My Little Baby," another Corporation song that was recorded around the same time and was first released on the Maybe Tomorrow LP in April 1971.

"When at first I took you in

We had a nice association

Your love was sweet as honey then

Even bees will vouch for that.

But now you've found I'm not your type

In a different situation

The love you give is cold as ice

Even snowmen feel the draft."

After Michael sings the first line in the next bit, Jermaine comes in with the counter-lead, as we've come to expect in songs from this era. Unfortunately, it sounds like his vocals were recorded down the hall -- there's an odd echo to them.

Michael: Baby, why should we carry it on?

Jermaine: If you really think you must, girl,

I'm telling you that you're wrong.

And here's where it gets really interesting. Instead of going back to Michael, or to Jackie, Tito sings the second counter-lead in his bass voice.

  

Tito: If my love don't fit your heart

Then I don't belong.

It's a pleasant surprise to hear Tito sing lead vocals here -- and he has another line before the second chorus as well.

Speaking of the chorus, we return to Michael for the lead vocals in what is without a doubt the best part of the song -- and the part that will stick in your head for days:

"Oh, darling, don't do me no favors

Don't feel obligated

Don't you do it now, baby

If the shoe don't fit, baby, don't force it on yourself

Oh, if the shoe don't fit, honey, don't force it on yourself."

While there are some nice harmonies in the song, and the chorus is definitely memorable, the verses in this song feel a bit unfinished, and it's easy to see why the song wasn't completed and released when the J5 had recorded similar songs in late 1970 / early 1971 that were so much stronger, like the afore-mentioned "My Little Baby" and the brilliant "It's Great to Be Here."  Still, Corporation-produced J5 failures are more interesting today than most album fillers that got released by other groups forty years ago. The shoe might not have quite fit back then but it feels just fine now.

Oldies Week: Sixteen Candles

Michael wasn't the first to sing an old hit from 1958 when he recorded "Rockin' Robin." The Jackson 5 themselves did it first with "Sixteen Candles," a song that was released in April 1971 on the group's fifth LP, Maybe Tomorrow.

The song was originally released in 1958 by The Crests:

So why why did the Jackson 5 ever record such a hokey, dated song? Well, we may have a couple of clues in the song itself. Jermaine sings the lead vocals, and he changes the lyrics in a significant way. Instead of singing what The Crests did:

Sixteen candles make a lovely light
But not as bright as your eyes tonight

Jermaine sings:

Sixteen candles make a lovely sight
But not as bright as your hazel eyes

Is it mere coincidence that Berry Gordy's daughter Hazel has just turned 16 a few months before the song first appeared on a Jackson 5 LP? Or that since Hazel was 15, Berry had known his daughter had such a huge crush on Jermaine that she wrote him over-the-top fan letters? Could it be that Berry had arranged to have Jermaine sing the song as a birthday surprise for Hazel when she turned 16 on August 24, 1970, and then liked it so much he decided to put it on the J5's next LP?

It's all speculation, of course, but the pieces do all fit together.

In Holland and Sweden, where "How Funky Is Your Chicken" was released as a single, "Sixteen Candles" was used as the B-side.


Whether is was an album cut or a single, it was never a popular song among fans, except for those young female fans about to turn 16. They all knew exactly who Jermaine was singing to.

Sepia Hits a Grand Slam Home Run

Most J5 fans and collectors are familiar with Sepia magazine because they know the October 1971 issue when the Jackson 5 appeared on the cover. Sepia was similar to Ebony, in that it covered African-American news and entertainers, and was heavily illustrated with black-and-white photos.

Six months earlier, however, the April 1971 issue of Sepia had carried an eight-page feature on the group's return to Gary, called "The Jackson 5 'Go Home'" but you'd never know it from the magazine's cover. I only found it by looking through bound back issues of Sepia in my local Historical Society. So imagine my surprise when I came across this treasure trove of rare photos and first-hand reporting. It makes an excellent argument for why collectors shouldn't limit themselves to collecting magazines with J5 covers. Given a choice between a posed color cover photo and eight pages of rare black-and-white photos and an informative article, I'd choose the latter.

Since this is the best article I've found to date on the subject, with some of the best candid J5 photos ever, I've scanned the entire thing. My personal favorite is the photo of Jackie, Jermaine, Michael, Marlon, and Johnny in their matching brown leather jackets, sitting on the couch in their old family living room at 2300 Jackson Street. Sorry about the tight margins on the scans. Sepia was an oversized magazine, and the only copy I've seen of the April 1971 issue was part of a tightly bound volume. (And, as usual, click on the individual pages to enlarge them.)

The J5 Make National News in Gary

The Jackson 5's return to Gary in January 1971 wasn't just reported as local news. It was widely covered on a national level.

It was reported with a photo spread in the March 22, 1971, issue of Soul. Check out the security guard looking directly at the camera on the far right side of the first photo, and again in the last photo on the far left side. It looks like he wasn't thrilled with the photographers.


Spec teen magazine reported on the return in their July 1971 issue, claiming it was "the happiest day of their lives!" All of the photos suggest otherwise. In fact, the J5 look about as happy as their security guard.



The best coverage of the J5's return to Gary, however, appeared in Sepia magazine. It was so extensive that it merits its own post, so tune in tomorrow for another installment of national press coverage.

Who Were the Keepers of the Dream?

This photo of a "Welcome Home Jackson 5" sign posted in front of 2300 Jackson Street in January 1971 has been widely seen by fans over the years. It's led many people to believe -- understandably -- that the Jackson 5 had been dubbed "Keepers of the Dream" by their hometown.

A clipping from the Gary Crusader dated January 30, 1971, however, tells us that "The Keepers of the Dream" were high school students in Gary who had formed an organization "dedicated to the realization of the goals of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr."


Some former group member probably has that sign in his garage somewhere in Gary. I wonder what happened to their J5 plaque that you see in the foreground.

Concert at West Side High

The day before the Jackson 5 arrived in their hometown, The Gary Crusader, the city's local Black newspaper, ran a full-page ad promoting their concert.

Amazingly, the superstar group was scheduled to perform two concerts the next day -- in a local high school gymnasium. We can only imagine what the sound quality must have been like, not to mention the challenges security must have faced with getting the capacity crowd of 8,000 excited teens in and out of a space not designed for such events. And not just any teens. These were teens who all felt like they had some sort of personal connection -- real or imagined -- to the Jackson family.

With all the press coverage given to the Jackson 5's return to Gary, I have found very little about the actual concert, which was, after all, the purpose of their visit. I have learned from press reports that the Jackson 5 performed for 50 minutes at each concert, and that they were preceded by their usual opening acts, Yvonne Fair and the Commodores.

There are, however, photos from the concert that come from various sources. here's one that was published in Jet magazine. The spotlight is on Michael, but look at Marlon in the background, singing his heart out.


I wish I had a better copy of this grainy photo I found in the Gary Crusader. I like it not only because it shows the whole group on stage but because you can see the scoreboard behind them, listing the players' names. These are the kids who would have played as Jackie's rivals if things had been different and he had had a normal life as a high school basketball star. You can also see the sign painted on the wall that says "West Side High School."



The oddest source for concert photos, though, was a strange compilation album that came out from Musico Records in 1971 called Getting Together with the Jackson 5. It includes only two songs from the Jackson 5, "We Don't Have to Be over 21 to Fall in Love" and "Some Girls Want Me for Their Lover." It also includes songs from artists such as Jerry Butler, Frankie Lymon, and the Platters -- but you'd never know it from the pictures on the cover, which are all Jackson 5. There are eight photos in all and they were all taken at the concert at West Side High School in Gary. They're grainy and they appear to have been taken by an amateur photographer. I've blown them up and am posting them here for your viewing pleasure.

The J5 Have Landed!

They came via helicopter and landed in the football field at West Side High School, where their concerts were to be held. They looked none too happy about the cold weather in the only press photo I have in my collection.


The Chicago Defender documented the event by devoting an entire page to photos of their arrival. Look for our friend, reporter Bill Passmore, in the crowd. You knew he wouldn't miss it.

From Jackson Street to Jackson 5 Blvd

Almost two weeks before the Jackson 5 returned to Gary, Mayor Richard G. Hatcher issued an official proclamation that honored them changing the name of the street they had once lived on from Jackson Street to Jackson 5 Boulevard. The proclamation was printed in its entirety in several Back newspapers, including the Chicago Defender.

This was actually not the first time the Jackson 5 had returned to Gary since they had followed Motown to Los Angeles. They had come to Gary in August of 1969, where they performed on August 30 at Gilroy Stadium with a host of other Motown artists, including Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers, and Yvonne Fair. At that time, the Jackson 5 were photographed with Mayor Hatcher, giving the Black Power salute.


So just who was Mayor Richard Hatcher, and what was the relationship between him and the Jackson 5? Certainly part of it was pure local pride, since the Jackson family had lived in Gary, Indiana, and Hatcher was the city's mayor at the time they rose to national fame. But the Jackson 5 were frequently honored with ceremonies and were given keys to cities they had never lived in, and had only traveled to for a concert appearance.

With Mayor Hatcher, however, it went deeper than that. He was the first Black mayor of Gary, elected in 1967 after a hard-won battle against a white Republican candidate. And even though Hatcher ran on a Democratic ticket, he had all but been disowned by the Democratic party who feared that he would subvert the status quo with his radical politics.

Since Hatcher the candidate got no money from the Democratic party, many African-Americans from around the nation offered their support. To them, Hatcher had become a symbol of change, freedom, and self-determination, so much so that he garnered support from Black celebrities with as disparate political points of view as Dick Gregory (a militant anti-war activist) and Sammy Davis Jr. (a conservative Republican). At a 1968 Hatcher fundraiser, for instance, Harry Belafonte and Bill Cosby joined Dick Gregory and Sammy Davis, Jr. on stage.

One of Hatcher's biggest supporters was Berry Gordy, Jr. On September 28, 1968, Gordy offered some of his biggest stars to honor Mayor Hatcher as "the mayor of the century." Stevie Wonder, Shorty Long, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers, and Abdullah performed for an audience of 8,000 Gary teens. Proceeds from "Motown Soul Day" went to "disadvantaged youths" and the ticket price was just $1.50 to make it affordable to those who didn't have a lot of money. Reports of the event from the Chicago Defender do not indicate whether any local groups performed. If so, the Jackson 5 would have been likely candidates (and isn't it interesting that two of the Motown groups who did perform are the two most frequently credited with discovering the J5?).

Whether the Jackson 5 were there or not, this is likely the event that was later re-imagined and re-shaped into the infamous Diana Ross discovery story. (I can't find evidence of Diana Ross ever appearing at an event for the mayor of Gary.) Even Mayor Hatcher played along with the Motown publicity scheme, mentioning it in a telegram allegedly sent to Ross by Hatcher, congratulating her for discovering the Jackson 5. The telegram was included in the Jackson 5's first press kit. He specifically mentions that he looks forward to the Jackson 5 returning for the second annual Motown Soul Day (later called Festival Gary '69).

So back to Jackson Street. Mayor Hatcher's proclamation, which you can read in its entirety in the press clipping at the top of this post, states that Jackson Street will temporarily be named Jackson 5 Boulevard from January 25-31, 1971. When the Jacksons landed in on January 31, they were presented with the new street signs in front of their old house at 2300 Jackson Street.


It would take a first-person account from someone who was in Gary that week for us to know if the street signs were ever erected and, if so, how long they remained in place before some lucky fan got a nice souvenir. We do, however, know exactly what happened to the signs the Jacksons were given.


I wonder if they are still there.

They're Comin' Back to Indiana!

The first one to break the news that the Jackson 5 were returning to Gary was Bill Passmore, in his Defender column, "East Chicago On the Go." He predicted (rightly) that the Jackson 5 would have to schedule two shows to accommodate all who wanted to attend.

He followed up two weeks later with the news that tickets had gone on sale and were selling briskly, but there was still time to show your support for Mayor Hatcher. OK?


There were apparently still tickets available a week before the concert, so he noted the appearance again. This time, he made it personal.


If you lived in East Chicago in 1971 and you missed the Jackson 5 concert in Gary, don't blame Bill Passmore.

Song of the Week: Mama's Pearl

by Corey Sheppard

“Mama’s Pearl” was the fifth single released by the Jackson 5 and the first release by the boys for 1971. 1970 proved to be the year of success for the Jackson 5. With four back-to-back number one hits, three top pop albums, numerous TV appearances, and a successful tour, what more could the boys ask for? 1971 would bring a lot of change for the group and this record was the start of that.

By the time this record was recorded in mid-1970, there were signs that Michael’s voice was changing -- not so much in his range, but in his maturity as a vocalist. When he hits his high notes at the end of the second verse, he vacillates between shouting and soul singing and I appreciate his variety of style. Also on the chorus, he sings most of the lines without backup from his brothers, and he handles it well.


I’ve always had trouble finding out the true meaning of “Mama’s Pearl.” It’s always been slightly confusing to me, how the boys go from singing about a girl to pearls from a mother, I‘ll never understand. I’m sure it’s just me; it obviously makes sense to the millions of J5 fans around the world.

While “Mama’s Pearl” is a classic in my heart and in many Jackson 5 fanatics’ hearts, I do believe it fell a little short from their first three up-tempo Motown masterpieces. Don’t get me wrong -- while the song is a very excellent number by the boys, I feel something is missing from it to make it an A+ record for me. But despite this, I’m still bewildered by the fact that it was kept from being number one by the Osmonds “One Bad Apple.” That record can’t hold a candle to any of the Jacksons’ first releases. including the subject of this column.


I feel one thing that perhaps stopped this record from knocking out ”One Bad Apple” from the top spot is the fact that the boys weren’t on television much to promote it. The first television performance of the song wasn’t until the Diana! special in April 1971, four months after the record was released. For sure, another Ed Sullivan performance by the boys would have guaranteed a number one record for the brothers.

Also J5 Collector hit on a major epiphany that this single was released too long after Third Album was released. Unlike “The Love You Save,” the second single released off the ABC album that came out only a week after the album was released, “Mama’s Pearl” came out nearly four months after Third Album did. That’s a long time after the fact, especially for this period when the Jackson 5 were riding a high wave after “I’ll Be There.” It’s almost as if Motown released this single as an afterthought.


Another slight issue I have with “Mama’s Pearl” is the mix. It sounds as though not much attention was put into the actual mix of the record. First off, there is a lot of “air” in this track, more than most of the J5 tracks at the time, and it’s very evident from the intro of the song. Plus it seems as though a lot of the instruments used for the record are clouded in the mix.

I will say the alternative version of “Mama’s Pearl” found on the 2004 compilation The Jacksons Story is a far better mix, in my opinion. But I must say the energy and raw sound on the common version of “Mama’s Pearl” is something I don’t want to live without.

Wow, forty years since “Mama’s Pearl” was first released as a single! It’s amazing to me that it still packs a powerful blow for music listeners. After this release, the brothers’ singles were focused more on ballads. It wasn’t until the release of “Sugar Daddy” in late 1971 where the boys went back to their old ways. “Mama’s Pearl” gives you the opportunity to listen to the Jackson 5 at the height of their fame, and it was, is, and always will be an enjoyable audio experience.

- - - - - - -
Corey Sheppard, 21, has been a Jackson 5 fan since 1993. His favorite hobbies are listening to music, playing racquetball at the YMCA, and hanging out with friends. Corey’s life passion is centered on music. His latest project is an all-new production company shared with Robert White Jr. entitled "Ask About It Productions."

Live Performances of Mama's Pearl

The Jackson 5 performed "Mama's Pearl" to open a medley that also included "Walk On" and "The Love You Save" Diana! special that aired in April of 1971. The special had been filmed the previous December, which explains why they sang "Mama's Pearl" instead of "Never Can Say Goodbye."

It's a spirited performance of the song, and I only wish we had the full version of it that appears on the Diana! soundtrack album.

We are also lucky to have video footage of a live performance of the full song that was recorded when the brothers were on their European tour in November 1972. This version was recorded in Paris nearly two years after the first, and here they sing it at the end of a medley that opens with "I Want You Back and "ABC." You can hear Michael's voice beginning to drop so that he really has to strain to hit the high notes. They also sing it much faster than the original, making it sound like they couldn't wait to get through it. (Not surprising given the number of times they ahd to sing their medley of hits.) "Mama's Pearl" begins at the 3:05 mark.

The best live version of "Mama's Pearl," however, appears on the J5 Live at the Forum as a bonus track that was recorded in Indianapolis in the spring of 1971. There's no video of it available, but the audio alone is pure gold.

Lend an Ear, Frosty the Snowman

Most single releases of "Mama's Pearl" had "Darling Dear" as the B-side. But a few of them opted for something different.

Spain and Argentina both used "Goin' Back to Indiana," a strong cut from the Third Album that was issued as an A-side in many other European and South American countries.



Japan offered an interesting alternative with "Oh, How Happy," another great LP cut from the Third Album. This is in keeping with most other Jackson 5 B-sides that featured Jermaine's lead vocals on a slower tempo song.


The most unusual choice came from Turkey:


When you don't understand the lyrics, I guess it doesn't much matter what the song's about.