One-hit wonders

Recently an old pal of mine sparked a little chat in the comments about one-hit wonders. Among the names I nominated was Walter Johnson, whose southern soul powerhouse Not Now But Later would, I am quite certain, be described by southern soul aficionado Tim – for he was that old pal – as “deadly!” There is apparently no greater recommendation than that, so I can only concur that this song is indeed most deadly.




Tamala Lewis provides the northern soul one-hit wonder side of the coin, with You Won’t Say Nothing, a classy dancer full of punch co-written by – no kidding – George Clinton.
Clinton was a demo producer working for Jobete's New York office in the early 60s, alongside people such as George Kerr, JJ Jackson and Sidney Barnes. If the demo was rejected by Motown in Detroit, then the producer was allowed to release the song by their own New York artist on a different label.
You Won’t Say Nothing, then, was turned down by Motown…still, Berry Gordy did go on to swear that What’s Going On would flop, so his judgment wasn’t all that hot all of the time.