It was 56 years ago today (July 13th, 1965) that the Supremes recorded their third Number One hit, “Come See About Me.” The song, like its predecessors “Where Did Our Love Go” and “Baby Love,” was written by Motown's hit-making songwriting and production team Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland.
Motown founder Berry Gordy sprang into action after hearing that a rival record label was issuing their own version of the song by singer Nella Dodds. Motown rush-released the Supremes' version of “Come See About Me” on October 27th — even before “Baby Love” had reached the Top Ten.
Both versions of the song ultimately entered the Hot 100 the same week, but from the start it was clear that the Supremes had the hit. “Come See About Me” climbed into the Top Ten after four weeks, and two weeks later, on December 19th, 1964, “Come See About Me” hit Number One, staying there for two weeks.
Holland-Dozier-Holland went on to write seven more Number One hits for the Supremes, including “Stop! In The Name Of Love,” “You Can't Hurry Love,” and “You Keep Me Hangin' On.”
Not long before her death earlier this year at the age of 76, the Supremes' Mary Wilson told us that a major part of the group's success was due to the material Holland-Dozier-Holland hand-crafted for them: “First of all, we were very fortunate to have the writing team of Holland-Dozier-Holland. They wrote some great melodies. And those melodies are even still today still memorable, sing-able and they have lasted just like any great standard.”
Lamont Dozier says that he and the Holland brothers took great pains to make their compositions great records — as well as timeless songs: “If I'm there working on 'I Hear A Symphony' or Brian is working on 'Stop! In The Name Of Love' — whatever it is, we would get together and figure out where do we go from one point to the other, so that the song sounds different, that it's not trite musically, production-wise. And have something that would say something that would give a person a lift.”
