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Palo Alto Online

That ole' Motown magic

by Robyn Israel

Lamont Dozier became inspired to write the opening lines for "I Can't Help Myself" from his grandfather, an Alabama native who often used the expression when flirting with the fairer sex. "How ya doin' sugar pie honey bunch?" he would ask the neighborhood women, who came to get their hair done at his wife's beauty parlor. The lines were later immortalized by the Four Tops, who made the song a hit.

"A good songwriter has to watch what goes on around him," Dozier said. "You write about life -- it's your interpretation of what you see, hear and feel. You take in all this information and you respond to it."

That was the lesson Dozier tried to impart last weekend to attendees of the Northern California Songwriters Association's 21st annual conference. Held at Foothill College on Sept. 8 and 9, the conference presented a variety of seminars by songwriting and music-business professionals, including Steve Seskin (co-writer of Tim McGraw's recent hit "Grown Men Don't Cry") and Jason Blume (co-writer of "Dear Diary with Britney Spears).

Dozier is best known for his work at Motown, where -- teamed with brothers Brian and Eddie Holland -- he penned scores of hit '60s songs: "Baby Love," "Where Did Our Love Go?" "Baby I Need Your Loving," "You Can't Hurry Love," "Reach Out, I'll Be There," "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)," "Stop! In The Name of Love," "Heat Wave," "Nowhere To Run," "It's The Same Old Song" and many others.

"When we were writing, we tried to get inside people's heads and hearts to like these songs," Dozier said. "Everyone has key words that trigger emotions in people. Basically what we're selling is feelings."

Architects of the "classic Motown" period, Dozier and company worked with the Detroit record company's biggest stars, including the Supremes, the Four Tops, the Temptations, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, the Marvelettes and Marvin Gaye.

"Companies would give their left arm to have one of these artists, and there were 16, 17 of them," Dozier told interviewer John Braheny. (Co-founder of the Los Angeles Songwriters Showcase, a national non-profit songwriters' organization, Braheny interviewed Dozier at the conference).

Holland-Dozier-Holland was just one of many in-house songwriting/production teams at Motown, which also boasted an in-house studio and an in-house band. The result: the most successful production line in the history of pop music.

"It was like friendly competition, but it stimulated everyone to do their best. If you didn't come up with the best song, someone else would. It kept you on your toes," Dozier recalled.

His songwriting team helped launch the Supremes, who in 1964 were still looking to make their mark. "Where Did Our Love Go?" , a Holland-Dozier-Holland composition, was earmarked for the Marvelettes, but they hated the song and passed on the project. Seeking a substitute group, Dozier decided to have the "no-hit Supremes" record the song.

Although low on the Motown totem pole, the band still had an attitude, Dozier said. Lead singer Diana Ross, accustomed to singing in a higher key, objected to the low key she was asked to use.

"It was like pulling teeth," Dozier said of the recording. "She [Ross] started singing in a low key, but it gave the song a sexy, sultry, pissed-off attitude. It was just what the song needed. It came off great."

The song sold two million copies and was the first of 13 No. 1 songs for the Supremes.

"It seemed like they couldn't do no wrong after that," the Detroit native said. "It took the world by storm and made these girls instant stars."

The man behind Motown's star-making machine was founder Berry Gordy, a former Ford assembly-line employee, who modeled his company after the automaker. Everybody had to punch a time clock, and the finished songs were critiqued in "quality control" meetings.

"Your job was to come up with good stuff," Dozier said. "You'd have the responsibility of being there on time and recording. From 9 to 6 we'd be there in the studios."

Back then, Dozier would typically work at the piano, writing both the music and the lyrics, producing the songs and arranging background vocals for the artists; Brian would co-write melodies and co-produce, along with handling the engineering chores; Eddie would co-write the lyrics. The team could typically turn around a song in a matter of days and get it on the radio.

"That kind of thing doesn't happen anymore -- this incredible focus and team work."

But no one can predict a hit song, Dozier stressed to the crowd. Nearly 85 to 90 percent of a song is there right from the start, and then someone else adds an element that makes the song a Top-10 hit.

"It might be a minute thing, but it makes the song a smash."

Case in point: the pause that appears right after "Stop!" in the Supremes hit "Stop! In the Love of Love"

"We probably initially wrote it without the pause. But it was screaming out for it," Dozier recalled of the song.

Interestingly, that song was born from a spat with his girlfriend, who had caught him cheating. She started swinging at Dozier, who beseeched her, "Stop In The Name of Love!"

"We both started laughing. We realized a song had been born from this argument," Dozier recalled.

A dispute over royalties led Dozier and the Holland brothers to leave Motown in 1968. The trio subsequently formed their own record company, Invictus and Hot Wax Records. Freda Payne's "Band of Gold" and Chairmen of the Board's "Give Me Just A Little More Time" were only two of Holland-Dozier-Holland's 13 post-Motown Top 10 smashes.

Key ingredients for a great song?

"As much honesty and whatever the truth means to you," Dozier stressed. "If you don't believe it, no one else is going to believe it. If you want it to be ever-lasting, for the next 20 years, you have to really feel it first and approach it with a true heart. Is this is a good song or am I fooling myself?"

To that end, Dozier, still an active songwriter, will typically start composing a song on a Monday, cut a rough track, and then wait until the weekend or the following Monday to see which ones stick.

"It's all about heart, realism, believability and emotion," he said. "It's got to grab you and pull you emotionally."

Lamont severed business ties with the Hollands in 1972 and moved to California. Since then, he has tried to carve out a solo career and has continued to write for other artists, including Alison Moyet ( "Invisible,") and Phil Collins ("Two Hearts," a Grammy-winning and Oscar-nominated song featured in the film 'Buster").

Now an Encino resident, Dozier is currently recording his old hits for a new album, entitled "Reflections." Due in early 2002, it will take the songs that became jukebox and dance classics and re-arrange them as love-struck slow ballads -- the way he originally conceived them.

"But I'm still learning. I'm a practicing songwriter - I wouldn't have the nerve to say I know it all. Once you do you've blown it. Everyday there's something new to write about it."