![]() The song’s second milestone – after its climb to the top of the Billboard charts – was when John, Paul, George and Ringo chose it for their second U.K. Postman” has worked its way into the 21st century with a still-relevant lyric and a couple of catchy hooks. The five youngsters from Inkster became the first Motown act to reach Number One on the pop charts, going on to enjoy a career through most of the 1960s, with further hits like “ Playboy,” “Beechwood 4-5789,” “As Long As I Know He’s Mine,” “Too Many Fish In The Sea,” “When You’re Young And In Love” and “My Baby Must Be A Magician.” And so it was, entering the Billboard Hot 100 in September and eventually climbing all the way to the top by year-end. ![]() Postman” was on the Tamla imprint, but no one at the company cared about the mistake: what mattered was that the Marvelettes’ record appeared to be breaking nationwide. “It’s on the Tamale label.” Actually, “Please Mr. “I’d like to get some of that record,” said Texas distributor Pappy Dailey, calling Motown in Detroit. The track was recorded and released in August 1961, and swiftly earned airplay in and round Detroit, then elsewhere as Motown’s promotion team got to work across the country. Additional input came from Freddie Gorman, a would-be singer whose day job was as…a postman. Bateman and colleague Brian Holland liked what they heard, reshaping it to suit the quintet’s lead vocalist, Gladys Horton. The Marvelettes had already gained a Motown audition with Robert Bateman, a fledgling producer (and sound engineer) for the young company now, they had a song to offer. I just hummed it over and over and changed it to the way it should be. “I was waiting for the postman to bring me a letter from this guy who was in the Navy,” she told Marc Taylor, author of The Original Marvelettes: Motown’s Mystery Girl Group. Dobbins elected to write music for those words. He was an acquaintance of Georgia Dobbins, one of the high school girls from Inkster, Michigan, who coalesced into the Marvelettes at the dawn of the 1960s. The original was created out of words put on paper by pianist William Garrett. Postman’ as a placeholder,” said the alt-rock band’s singer/songwriter John Gourley, “and it just stuck.” Postman” then have grandchildren who hear the song even today, whether through the soundtrack of the animated Netflix series Beat Bugs, or as the musical foundation of “Feel It Still,” the 2017 global smash by Portugal. “Deliver de letter, the sooner de better,” harmonised the Marvelettes on the seven-inch vinyl which, in the summer of 1961, marked their debut disc for Motown Records. PRODUCERS: Brian Holland, Robert Bateman.īACKSTORY: In a world of electronic mail and digital communication, a catchy song about a postman continues to hold universal appeal. SONGWRITERS: Georgia Dobbins, William Garrett, Brian Holland, Robert Bateman, Freddie Gorman. DAY & DATE: Debuts on the Billboard Hot 100 in the issue dated Monday, September 4, 1961.
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