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‘Love Child’: the uncomfortable truth of Motown’s most controversial hit
« on: August 27, 2025, 07:05:18 pm »
‘Love Child’: the uncomfortable truth of Motown’s most controversial hit. Of course today no one bats an eyelid!

I remember at work in the early '70's a 16 year old girl announced that she was pregnant - shock, horror, probe! Her boss was a woman who had been in a similar position back in the '50's - gasp and a clutching of pearls! She was very supportive. The story goes that when asked what the father did her boss's response to her answer was 'oh so you like them black just like your coffee'! The boss had misheard, the girl had actually said rigger!  I lived in Aberdeen and North Sea Oil had just been discovered. Funny the things that I can remember from over 50 years ago but I have no idea what I did yesterday!

The uncomfortable truth of Motown's most controversial song
Exploring the controversial content of The Supremes' 1968 Motown number-one 'Love Child', a track which tackled the topic of teenage pregnancy in pop form.
Far Out Magazine · faroutmagazine.co.uk
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Re: ‘Love Child’: the uncomfortable truth of Motown’s most controversial hit
« Reply #1 on: August 28, 2025, 10:19:39 am »
Was "Love Child" really Motown's most controversial hit?  It was released around the same time that The Temptations gave us "Cloud Nine", a song that seems to suggest that we should be high on drugs all the time (though Motown have always denied and tried to play down that interpretation of "Cloud Nine").

I've always been intrigued by the term "Love Child" and I'm not sure whether I'd ever heard it used prior to the release of the DRATS 1968 comeback hit.  Somehow I can't imagine the song being released if its title was the term I was more familiar with at the time, though the thought of Ms Ross singing the "alternative" lyric is very amusing!!   ;D

Roger
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