When I'm Gone (Motown song)

Infobox Single
Name = When I'm Gone
Artist = Mary Wells
from Album = Vintage Stock
Format = 7" single
B-side = Guarantee for a Lifetime
Released = 1964
Recorded = Hitsville USA; 1964
Genre = Soul/pop
Label = Motown
M 1061
Length = 2:16
Writer = Smokey Robinson
Producer = Smokey Robinson
Last single = "What's the Matter With You Baby" (with Marvin Gaye)
(1964)
This single = "When I'm Gone"
(1964)
Next single = "Whisper You Love Me Boy"
(1964)Infobox Single
Name = When I'm Gone
Artist = Brenda Holloway
from Album = Anthology
Format = Vinyl (7") single
B-side = I've Been Good to You
Released = March 6, 1965
Recorded = 1964, Hitsville USA, Detroit, Michigan
Genre = Soul
Label = Tamla
T 54111
Length = 2:11
Writer = Smokey Robinson
Producer = Smokey Robinson
Last single = "I'll Always Love You"
(1964)
This single = "When I'm Gone"
(1965)
Next single = "Operator"
(1965)

"When I'm Gone" is a song written by Smokey Robinson and a single he produced twice, one for early Motown star Mary Wells and the other for fellow Motown vocalist Brenda Holloway. Holloway's version became a hit while Wells' was aborted after the singer left the label in 1964.

Overview

ong information

"When I'm Gone" was produced under a beat similar to Mary Wells' big hit, "My Guy" though this song included hand claps, and was originally recorded by Wells. In the song, the narrator asks her cheating lover what would he do if she was to leave him explaining how everybody around them thinks they're happy in front of the public when inside the woman is suffering from the lover's behavior calling him a "real Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" character. She also complains that though he flirts with "every girl that he sees", he comes running back to her when they did him wrong. Throughout the song, the narrator threatens to leave him and in the end repeats the question she asks him in the beginning: "what are you gonna do when I'm gone?"

Mary Wells exit and Brenda Holloway's arrival

The song just so happened to be one of the last records Mary Wells recorded while at Motown. Fresh from the success of "My Guy" and with her Motown contract expiring the year of "My Guy" and its success, Wells decided to terminate her contract with Motown complaining of Gordy refusing to give Wells the royalties she earned during her successful tenure at the label. She argued that her Motown contract was invalid because she'd signed with the company at the age of seventeen. Due to the underage clause, Motown allowed Wells' contract to expire. (Had Wells not exited Motown, "When I'm Gone" would have been her next release, the follow-up to the million-selling "My Guy") . The singer then headed to 20th Century Fox Records after being offered a multi-million dollar contract that also required Wells to do movies. Meanwhile, Motown's latest new signed artist, Brenda Holloway, was releasing her first single, "Every Little Bit Hurts", which shot to number 13 on the pop charts. After Wells departed, Motown eventually convinced Holloway to record some of Wells' songs, partially due to the fact that Gordy felt Holloway was the next Mary though both singers' vocals differed from each other: Wells' deep alto vocal contrasted with Holloway's brash soprano. Holloway recorded "When I'm Gone" in Detroit.

Chart performance

Released as a single in 1965, Holloway's version reached number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and performed slightly better on the R&B chart reaching number 12. Holloway performed her version on the show "Shivaree". Wells' version was released to the Motown compilation album, "Vintage Stock".

Credits

Mary Wells version

*Lead vocal by Mary Wells
*Background vocals by The Andantes
*Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers

Brenda Holloway version

*Lead vocal by Brenda Holloway
*Background vocals by The Andantes
*Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers