Overview According to
Brian Holland, "Where Did Our Love Go" was written with
the Supremes in mind. Though Supremes member
Mary Wilson later wrote that the song had been originally given to
the Marvelettes, Holland denied that claim, as did the Marvelettes themselves. Marvelettes member
Katherine Anderson-Schnaffer later said that the song did not fit her group's repertoire because it was produced with a slower beat, whereas their music was more uptempo. Another objection from the group was that it sounded too "kiddie-ish." Initially, the producers argued over who should sing the song, because it had been cut in the same key as
Mary Wilson's voice. The lead vocal was ultimately assigned to
Diana Ross because, according to
Allmusic's Ed Hogan, "she had a unique, sensuous sound." She sang it in her usual high register in the recording studio on April 8. As a result, Ross was told to sing the song in a lower register and begrudgingly complied with Holland/Dozier/Holland's "to the letter" formula. Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard's vocal contribution was significant in bringing a fresh yet smooth tone to the overall sound of the song, while remaining true to the backup arrangements that Lamont Dozier had set down. After hearing the song's playback, an excited Ross rushed to Gordy's office and told him to come to the studio to listen. At the end of the playback, a satisfied Gordy nodded, telling the producers and the group that the song had the potential to be a top ten hit.
Release and reaction "Where Did Our Love Go" was released as a single in 1964, and entered the Hot 100 at number 77. Six weeks later, while the Supremes were on tour as part of
Dick Clark's "
American Bandstand Caravan of Stars", the song made it to number one for two weeks, spending a total of nine weeks in the
Billboard Top Ten. The girls began the tour at the bottom of the bill; by the conclusion of the tour, they were at the top. They performed the song on the
NBC variety program,
Hullabaloo! on Tuesday, January 26, 1965. The song became the focal point and title track of the group's second album,
Where Did Our Love Go, released later that year. A
German language version of it titled "Baby, Baby, wo ist unsere Liebe" was recorded by the Supremes for German-speaking markets overseas and released as the b-side to their German recording of "Moonlight and Kisses" in April 1965. The song struck a chord in the United States, with a group which would become the most successful chart-topping American popular music group of the 1960s.
Billboard described the song as having an "unbeatable beat" and a "true rockin'-blues groove."
Cash Box described it as "an infectious handclapping stomp'er...that the femmes and their instrumental support put over with telling teen effect." The first of their American chart toppers, the song peaked just weeks after the passage of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964, critically remarked as capturing the spirit of an America reeling from the
assassination of John F. Kennedy, racial tension, and a harbinger of the end of the early optimism of the 1960s. The song was transmitted to astronauts orbiting Earth in August 1965 during the
Gemini 5 mission. ==Personnel==