The Four Tops took a turn for the topical on their 1969 Motown LP, Soul Spin, an album that included this very tuneful track – “Barbara’s Boy” – about the psychological impact of uncertainty over paternity issues in the wake of a failed romantic entanglement:
“Barbara’s Boy“
The Four Tops (1969)
I wonder why “Barbara’s Boy” was only issued as a single in Europe — did Motown perceived the song’s subject matter as being too delicate for North American ears? Cash Box‘s ‘Holland’ columnist quoted Bovema‘s Pete Felleman in the May 16, 1970 edition:
”When I flew in The Tops for the annual Grand Gala Du Disque last February, I swore we’d get a hit [i.e., “Barbara’s Boy“] out of the event – and it worked.” Since then, Belgium, France, the German bloc and the Scandinavian zone have all released “Barbara’s Boy,” which, curiously enough is not available on single in either the U.S. or the U.K.
45 picture sleeve
“Barbara’s Boy” was a hit in both Benelux (Cash Box‘s March 28, 1970 edition) and Belgium (so says Cash Box‘s May 2, 1970 edition), as well as the Netherlands (per Cash Box‘s May 16, 1970 issue).
45 picture sleeve
There’s an interesting moment around the 2:24 mark where the song changes key twice in quick succession — by the sound of it I can’t help but wonder if the tape engineer might have manually sped up the master tape to achieve that effect. Am I just hearing things?
“Barbara’s Boy” – produced by Frank Wilson – was written by Joe Hinton and Pam Sawyer, and included on 1969 LP, Spin Again, an album arranged by Gene Page, Henry Cosby, Jerry Long, Paul Riser, Tom Baird, and Wade Marcus.
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