Songs with Earlier Histories Than the Hit Version

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Tagged: The Moments

1970s, Pop

Don’t Cry Out Loud

First recorded (as “We Don’t Cry Out Loud”) by The Moments (R&B #79 1976).
Also recorded by Peter Allen (1977).
Hit versions by Elkie Brooks (UK #12 1978), Melissa Manchester (US #10 1978), Rita Coolidge (JPN 1979).

From the wiki: “‘Don’t Cry Out Loud’ is a song written in 1976 by Peter Allen (‘I’d Rather Leave While I’m in Love‘) with lyricist Carole Bayer Sager (‘Arthur’s Theme’, ‘That’s What Friends Are For‘). Bernadette Peters, who toured with Allen in 1989, has stated that Allen told her that ‘his mother taught him to always put your best face on’ in response to Allen’s father committing suicide when Allen was 14 years old. The references to ‘baby’ in the song refer to Allen’s younger sister.

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1960s, Soul

Love on a Two Way Street

First recorded by Lezli Valentine (1968).
Hit versions by The Moments (1968 |US #3/R&B #1 1970), Stacy Lattisaw (US #13/R&B #2 1981).

From the wiki: “Written by Sylvia Robinson and Bert Keyes in 1968. ‘Love on a Two-Way Street’ was first recorded by Lezli Valentine, an artist signed to All Platinum, the record label that Robinson co-owned with her husband, Joe. Released as a single, it had no apparent chart impact.

“The song was then recorded by The Moments (‘Don’t Cry Out Loud‘) – with Billy Brown re-recording the lead vocal over the Valentine’s original instrumental track – as filler for their 1968 album Not on the Outside, But on the Inside, Strong!, released on Stang Records, a subsidiary label of All Platinum also created by Robinson. (The Moments would later evolve into the vocal trio Ray, Goodman & Brown.)

“Two years later, in March 1970, the Robinsons decided to belatedly release the Moments’ track as a single. It would go on to become one of the biggest R&B hits of that year and the highest-charting single of the The Moments’ career, peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the R&B chart.

“In 1981, Stacy Lattisaw covered ‘Love on a Two-Way Street’, peaking in the Hot 100 Top-15 and at #2 on the R&B chart.”

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