You never know when you’re going to find a song that you fall in love with. Sometimes it’s when you’re watching television, sometimes it’s over the radio and there even have been times when I’ve been in the mall and heard a song being used as Muzak that caught my attention.
I was thrilled when I first saw the trailer for the documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown. The film is a documentary about the Funk Brothers who were the house band for Motown records during the late 1950s and 1960s. The tag line in the trailer is, “The Funk Brothers were the biggest hit machine in the history of music with more #1 hits than the Beatles, the Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones and Elvis Presley . . . combined.” This remarkable group of musicians created the Motown sounds, catapulted great artists like the Temptations and Stevie Wonder while creating timeless music that is some of the most influential music in American history.
Looking forward to the watching the film, I expected to hear some interesting stories from these musicians, get some musical insights and see some interesting performance footage from their reunion concert. I remember not really thinking too much of the reunion concert that was part of the film because it featured current singers performing old Motown songs instead of the singers who originally sang the songs in the 1960s.
I went to see this film with my dad who had grown up with this music. It wasn’t playing in a multiplex but rather a small art house theater. I remember sitting there as watching the film, loving every minute of it and seeing a scene where Joan Osborne is talking about how much Motown music meant to her.
Wait, Joan Osborne? The curly-haired, nose-ring girl from the 1990s who had that song "One Of Us."
What business did she have being in this film? Wait, she’s talking about “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?” That song is amazing and what is the “What if God was one of us”-girl going to do to this song? I remember thinking all of that and dreading her performance. My expectations were completely wrong and as I watched Joan Osborne sing “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?” I realized I was witnessing something truly remarkable.
Jimmy Ruffin originally recorded and released “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?” in 1966 (check out his awesome collar). The narrator of the song questions what happens to people who have had their heart broken. He is questioning this as much for other people as well as himself. This song combines sad lyrics with a lush and hopeful melody and instrumentation. The melody rises up through the verse arriving at a sense of understanding with the words “What becomes of broken hearted?” Through the pain there is determination, “I know I’ve got to find, some kind of peace of mind” and much as the narrator has experienced grief he is not giving up on his search for love. Their search is difficult, treacherous and opens up the possibility of being hurt again but it is a journey that must be taken.
Jimmy Ruffin is the older brother of David Ruffin, one of the lead singers of the Temptations who sang lead on “My Girl.” They both shared a similar rasp to the voice. David had a melodramatic extroverted passion in his voice while Jimmy’s performance on “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?” reflects an internal torment through a more subtle performance. Though Jimmy’s voice is what most people relate to this song, numerous artists including Rod Stewart, Joe Cocker and Vonda Shepard have covered it.
Joan Osborne’s voice has a slight raspy edge but that doesn’t stop her from flowing through the melody with a effortless elegance. It’s like this song was written just for her and you feel like she is singing it just for you. There is a dramatic flair to her voice but it always seems genuine. It’s not so much that she is singing the song but that she is re-experiencing the feelings behind the song.
The song follows the form of the original recording until the part where Jimmy Ruffin’s song fades out and Osborne takes it to a whole different level (2:50 into the song). The band drops, letting Osborn’s voice carry the line accenting “tell me” bringing forth the desire and desperation in the song. Like a master orator, she repeats herself building up to two more powerful explanations of “tell me.” Then she pulls it down and starts one final time building up to three impassioned repetitions of “tell me” arriving at a raw and soulful held not which soars over the band and back-up singers.
You believe at last section of the song that Joan Osborne is giving all that she has. Everything has seen, everything she has felt and everything that she hopes for comes out as she pushes her voice to its limit. There are few times in my life when I’ve heard a song and was left stunned and speechless. It’s a feeling of being emotionally drained. It’s going through something so powerful and transformative that it demands a moments of reflection. It’s witnessing something that makes you feel an indescribable mix of emotions that can only be experienced through that one unique way.
There are things parts of the human condition that only certain art forms can express. It’s not so much that music is better then other art forms but it can do things that a painting for example can’t and the reverse is true as well. Leaving that theater after watching Standing in the Shadows of Motown, I knew that this was something special. This song has stayed with me over the years as reminder of how wrong are my expectations can be, how amazing it feels to experience something magical for the first time and how amazing music can make us feel.
Look closely at Joan Osborne in the introduction of "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?" You see her just grooving to the music with a look of pure bliss and utter contentment as she experiences all of the magic that is going on behind her?
That's exactly how this song makes me feel and that's why I love this song.
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