Too Many Fish in the Sea
| "Too Many Fish in the Sea" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by The Marvelettes | ||||
| from the album The Marvelettes Greatest Hits | ||||
| B-side | "A Need For Love" | |||
| Released | October 14, 1964 | |||
| Format | 7" single | |||
| Recorded | September 22, 1964 | |||
| Genre | Soul | |||
| Label |
Tamla T 54105 | |||
| Writer(s) |
Norman Whitfield Eddie Holland | |||
| Producer(s) | Norman Whitfield | |||
| The Marvelettes singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Too Many Fish in the Sea" is a 1964 hit song recorded by Motown singing group The Marvelettes. It was the group's first top 40 pop hit in almost a year reaching number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100.[1] The song was one of the first hit singles written by Norman Whitfield and was also written by Eddie Holland. "Too Many Fish..." was also Whitfield's first produced single.
This single is the only one where group members Georgeanna Tillman and Katherine Anderson had a lead on the A-side. This is also the final A-side appearance for Tillman, who would leave the group in very early 1965, before they recorded their next single, "I'll Keep Holding On", due to her illnesses. This would also be the last single in which Gladys Horton would lead on the A-side, as Wanda Young Rogers (who also led on this and the two previous singles) would be the group's sole lead on the A-side, relegating Horton to B-side leads. Norman Whitfield would later use similar vocal techniques with The Temptations on hit songs such as "I Can't Get Next To You" and "Cloud Nine"
Original Version
- Wanda: Because there's...
- Group: Too many fish in the sea,
- Gladys: (Uh-huh...)
- Group: Too many fish in the sea...
- Gladys: I said, there's...
- Wanda: Short ones...
- Georgeanna: Tall ones,...
- Katherine: Fine ones,...
- Wanda: Kind ones,...
- Group: Too many fish in the sea
- Doo do-doo doo do-doo
Version without Georgeanna Tillman
- Wanda: Because there's...
- Group: Too many fish in the sea,
- Gladys: (Uh-huh...)
- Group: Too many fish in the sea...
- Gladys: I said there's...
- Wanda: Short ones,...
- Katherine: Tall ones,...
- Katherine: Fine ones,...
- Wanda: Kind ones,...
- Group: Too many fish in the sea
- Doo do-doo doo do-doo
Credits
- Lead and background vocals by Gladys Horton (verses and choruses), Wanda Young (choruses), Georgeanna Tillman (choruses) and Katherine Anderson (choruses)
- Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers
Covers
- Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels also charted "Too Many Fish" as a medley with "Three Little Fishes". It reached #24 in 1967.
- The Rascals recorded the song for their 1967 Collections album.
- Gwen Guthrie recorded a cover version in 1990 for her Lifeline album.
- Phil Collins recorded a cover during the sessions of his 2010 album Going Back which is available as a free download at his official website.
- The song was covered in the 1991 film The Commitments, as sung by Angeline Ball's character Imelda Quirke.
- It was interpolated into Karmin's song "Too Many Fish" from their album, Hello.
- Bette Midler covered the song for her 2014 album It's the Girls!.
References
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