Seven Unexpected Recordings and the Stories Behind Them
Halloween isn’t usually a big occasion here at Chasing Motown. But seeing how popular it’s become over the years got me wondering: what would we find if we went looking for Motown’s spooky side?
One record led to another. Before long, I was chasing ghosts, witches, magicians and a few familiar voices in very unfamiliar surroundings.
Now it’s the morning after, and I’ve emerged with a playlist of over 20 recordings.
Being drawn to the obscure, peculiar and bizarre has taken my Motown chase down plenty of unexpected paths. This one brought me to a young Smokey Robinson singing about a visitor from outer space, the Originals supplying music for a zombie film, and a dancing witch with more than one Motown recording to her name.
Whether your Halloween weekend is still going or the decorations are already packed away, these records deserve a hearing. Here are seven stops along the way.
1. “It” — Ron and Bill
Before we meet our strange visitor, let’s identify the gentlemen making the introduction.
“Ron” is Ronnie White of the Miracles—the man who would help bring Stevie Wonder to audition at Motown. Another undercelebrated figure in the Motown story.
And “Bill”? William “Smokey” Robinson.
Released on Tamla in 1959, “It” finds the pair in the world of science-fiction novelty records. An encounter with a strange little visitor from outer space is quite a departure from the romantic songwriting most listeners associate with Smokey.
It also reminds us how much experimentation was taking place in Motown’s earliest days. The company’s identity was still taking shape, and a record like this could share space in the developing catalog with the beginnings of something far more familiar.
The title might bring a certain sinister clown to mind today. This “It,” however, comes from an earlier age of flying-saucer fascination—and gives us a wonderfully peculiar detour into Smokey and Ronnie’s recording history.
2. “Supernatural Voodoo Woman” — The Originals
The Originals’ name immediately brings “Baby, I’m for Real” and “The Bells” to my mind. “Supernatural Voodoo Woman” takes us somewhere else entirely.
Released in two parts on Motown’s Soul label in 1974, the recording has a direct connection to the horror screen: it serves as the opening theme for Sugar Hill, the film in which a woman enlists supernatural help—and an army of zombies—to avenge her boyfriend’s murder.
That makes this more than a song with a convenient seasonal title. There’s an actual horror film waiting behind it.
It’s also an opportunity to hear the Originals outside the tender ballads that understandably dominate conversations about the group. The title alone invited me in. The film connection made it an essential stop on this particular chase.
3. “Mobile Lil the Dancing Witch” — Shorty Long
Of all the characters I encountered while assembling this collection, Mobile Lil may have the most memorable name.
Some Chasers will already know her through Martha & the Vandellas. Their recording appeared on the 1965 Dance Party album, putting a dancing witch in the company of the group’s more familiar dance-floor attractions.
Shorty Long’s recording later surfaced through the A Cellarful of Motown series, giving us another interpretation to explore.
That’s part of the pleasure of digging through Motown: a song you know from one artist can reappear in another voice, sometimes after spending decades out of public reach.
Shorty’s association with “Here Comes the Judge” makes him a fitting host for a character as colorful as Lil. And having both versions available gives Chasers something to compare.
Who brings your favorite dancing witch to life—Martha & the Vandellas or Shorty Long?
4. “Souly Ghost” — The Spinners
“Souly Ghost” gives us a reason to spend a moment with names that don’t receive nearly as much conversation as Motown’s best-known writing and production teams: George Gordy, Allen Story and Lawrence Brown.
George, Berry Gordy’s brother, frequently collaborated with Story, with Brown also joining them on writing assignments. Story’s Detroit recording roots stretched back to releases under his own name, Allen “Bo” Story, on Anna and Check-Mate.
These collaborators have long been a curiosity to me. Their names turn up in the credits, inviting questions about their working relationships and their place within Motown’s much larger creative operation.
All three share the writing credit on “Souly Ghost,” with George Gordy and Lawrence Brown producing. The recording was completed at Hitsville on January 20, 1970, and appeared on 2nd Time Around, the Spinners’ final original Motown studio album.
With G.C. Cameron in the lineup and Stevie Wonder’s production of “It’s a Shame” opening the album, there’s an obvious attraction on side one. Turn the record over, however, and “Souly Ghost” opens side two.
Its title earned it a place in this collection. The credits give us another reason to linger.
Chasers, which George Gordy, Allen Story or Lawrence Brown recordings have caught your attention?
5. “Satan’s Blues” — Junior Walker & the All Stars
Junior Walker contributes an instrumental to the proceedings—and a title that needs very little assistance from a Halloween decoration.
“Satan’s Blues” was his opening release on Motown’s Soul label. That gives the record a place in the story beyond its ominous name: it takes us to the beginning of Junior Walker & the All Stars’ Soul catalog.
The absence of a lyric leaves the saxophone to make its own introduction. There’s no narrated monster encounter or spell to follow here. The title supplies the suggestion, and Junior supplies the music.
For this collection, that’s a welcome change of approach. Motown’s spooky side has room for an instrumental, too.
6. “The Boogie Man” — Jackson 5
Before “Thriller,” there was “The Boogie Man.”
The Jackson 5 recording appeared on their 1973 album Skywriter, a decade before Michael’s “Thriller” short film became one of popular music’s defining supernatural spectacles.
Hearing the earlier recording in that context makes it a particularly enjoyable inclusion. We now associate Michael so strongly with Halloween that finding this title in the Jackson 5 catalog feels like discovering an earlier stop along the route.
Of course, “The Boogie Man” belongs to its own moment in the group’s story. It’s a Skywriter album track worth pulling out and hearing on those terms, even as the later connection adds another layer of interest.
It also happens to be the opening selection on our playlist.
7. “Witchcraft” — Marvin Gaye
For our final selection, we return to the beginning of Marvin Gaye’s Motown album career.
“Witchcraft” appeared on his 1961 debut, The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye. The album documents the young singer’s interest in standards and the kind of vocalist he initially hoped to become.
That makes the recording an intriguing companion to the other selections here. Its magic belongs to the language of romantic attraction, bringing a different kind of spell to the collection.
It also offers a reminder of how much there is to hear before—and around—the landmark recordings that tend to define an artist’s story.
For a chase that began with Halloween, ending with an early Marvin recording seems entirely appropriate.
Keep Exploring
These seven recordings are only part of what turned up.
Our “Monster Mash: A Motown Halloween” playlist brings together over 20 selections, with the Temptations, the Marvelettes, R. Dean Taylor, Carolyn Crawford and others joining the artists featured here.
Some connections are supernatural. Others come through a title, a character, a film or a suggestion of something unsettling. Together, they make an entertaining route through corners of the catalog that deserve another visit.
Halloween supplied the excuse. The discoveries are worth keeping.
Listen to the full playlist below, and tell us: which recording surprised you most—and what should we add?
— The Motown Specialist
Explore Motown’s spooky side with over 20 recordings featuring ghosts, witches, spells and unexpected discoveries from the Jackson 5, the Spinners, Marvin Gaye, the Originals and more.
