I'll Pick a Rose for my Rose - Marv Johnson
- unclestylus
- May 1, 2019
- 1 min read
However in 1965, when Marv's contract with United Artists expired, to be fair to Berry Gordy, he took him back into the Motown fold for old times' sake, and although he wasn't paired with any of the major producer / songwriting teams he was matched up with Williams Weatherspoon and James Dean, who wrote "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" for Jimmy Ruffin. On his return spell with Motown, he had a couple of UK hits, and toured as support to bigger Motown acts before winding up on their books as a staffing songwriter prior to being left behind in Detroit when the company moved to LA.
This is the best of the two, largely due to the great piano from Earl Van Dyke, the terrific and jaunty, never-repeating base line from Jamie Jamerson, and Marv's easy vocal. I love these ordinary lesser mid-sixties Motown tracks: what you hear is a bunch of guys "in the office", doing their jobs well and enjoying it. It's a slight song but the overall musical production is so strong and layered you can't help but love it:
"I'm coming Rose, I'm coming Rose...."
I bought this first time round and am still playing it.
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