I hope you’re in the mood for a bit of soul music tonight, ’cause I bookmarked this one a week or so ago to play, and never got around to it. Y’know … I’m amazed by how short my memory has become just in the past year, maybe less. I came up with a song I wanted to play, thought I had never played it, only to find that I played it about two weeks ago! Wouldn’t you think I could remember that far back? Sigh.
Released on December 26, 1972 on Motown’s Soul Records, it became one of the biggest hit singles to date for Gladys Knight and the Pips, and was also the last single the group released prior to them leaving Motown for Buddah Records in February 1973. They had been with Motown for six-and-a-half years, but according to Ms. Knight, she and the group were regarded as a second-string act and that “Diana (Ross) & The Supremes, The Temptations and Marvin Gaye were given all the hits, while we took the leftovers”.
On March 2, 1974, at the Grammy Awards ceremony, Gladys Knight & The Pips won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for Neither One of Us. Previously that same night, they had won their first Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for Midnight Train to Georgia. In 1996, the group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
I did not know that Gladys Knight made her singing debut at the age of 4, and three years later, she won a $2000 first prize singing Nat “King” Cole’s Too Young on Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour. Pretty impressive, eh?
Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye)
Gladys Knight
It’s sad to think
We’re not gonna make it
And it’s gotten to the point
Where we just can’t fake it
For some ungodly reason
Just won’t let it die
I guess neither one of us
Wants to be the first to say goodbye
I keep wondering
What I’m gonna do without you?
And I guess you must be
Wondering the same thing too
So we go on
Go on together living a lie
Because neither one of us
Wants to be the first to say goodbye
Every time I find the nerve
Every time I find the nerve to say, I’m leaving
Memories, those old memories
Get in my way
Lord knows it’s only me
Only know it’s only me that I’m deceiving
When it comes to saying goodbye
That a simple word that I just cannot say
There can be no way, there can be no way
This can have a happy ending, no, no
So we just go on hurting and pretending
And convincing ourselves to give it just one more try
Because neither one of us
Wants to be the first to say
Neither one of us
Wants to be the first to say
Neither one of us
Wants to be the first to say
Farewell my love
Goodbye
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: James D. Weatherly
Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye) lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
No wonder they call it soul music! ❤️
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Forget Diana Ross and the rest of the divas; Gladys has always been my number one soul singer. And this is a great song.
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I agree! And she only improved with age!
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This is on my frequently played list, even on Spotify! I love it.
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Awesome!!!
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Seriously good R&B, soul satisfying. GN was underated as a singer and performer, she was a true diva. ❤
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Just pure,erm something, Look, whatever it Is it”s pure.Classic Motown, Motown Classic.
Cwtch
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I’m guessing this means you liked it? I hope so, anyway.
Cwtch
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My kind of music, Jill. Thank you.
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My pleasure, John … it’s my kind of music, too! I could listen to Motown all day, I think.
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You do that and the next thing you’ll want to do is drag race on Woodward Ave. 😊
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Heh heh … just the other night, I was telling David about the first time I was ever put into the back of a police car. Drag racing my ’56 Chevy Bel-Aire … though not on Woodward Avenue! I was either 15 or 16. Ahhhh … the good ol’ days!
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Your Bel-Aire had an in-line six. You would be lucky to pull away from the light. I never had the pleasure of sitting in the back seat of a police car. I’ll bet it was a little scary.
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True, but I gave it my best shot! I was rather a hellion as a teen … my mother often said she hoped I someday had a child just like me. I did. Yes, it was VERY scary, but not nearly as scary as what I knew awaited me at home!
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Fantastic song. So well sung and produced. So poignant. And yet so sad…
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Yeah, the lyrics are definitely sad, but the music … oh, so smooth.
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