Take This Heart of Mine

"Take This Heart of Mine" is a song written by The Miracles members Warren "Pete" Moore, William "Smokey" Robinson and Marv Tarplin, produced by Robinson and released as a single by American soul singer Marvin Gaye, on Motown Records 'Tamla label in 1966.

"Take This Heart of Mine"
Single by Marvin Gaye
from the album Moods of Marvin Gaye
ReleasedMay 5, 1966
RecordedJanuary 4; February 9 and March 24 1966, Hitsville USA
GenrePop, soul
Length2:47
LabelTamla
Songwriter(s)Warren "Pete" Moore
William "Smokey" Robinson
Marv Tarplin
Producer(s)Smokey Robinson
Marvin Gaye singles chronology
"One More Heartache"
(1966)
"Take This Heart of Mine"
(1966)
"Little Darling (I Need You)"
(1966)

Background

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Released in succession of three consecutive singles by Gaye helmed by the Miracles team from his Moods of Marvin Gaye album, the song took on a slightly different musical mix than the previous three. A little upbeat from the previous two singles, this song has the narrator describing how his love "is better than the tale of Jack and Jill" and how its prescription fills up better than a doctor's among other things. Billboard said of the song that it was an "exceptional dance beat tune with solid Detroit sound and well-written lyric [and] has more excitement than [Gaye's] previous hit, 'One More Heartache.'"[1] Cash Box described the song as a "rollicking, rhythmic, chorus-backed pop-r&b romantic handclapper."[2]

Personnel

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Chart performance

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Unlike Marvin Gaye's previous three releases , "Take This Heart of Mine", fell short of reaching the pop top forty peaking at number 44 on the Billboard Hot 100 but reached number ten on the R&B singles chart making it the fourth consecutive top ten hit on Moods...[3][4]

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In 1966, Marvin sang this song on his only appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

References

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  1. ^ "Spotlight Singles" (PDF). Billboard. May 14, 1966. p. 18. Retrieved 2021-03-04.
  2. ^ "CashBox Record Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. May 21, 1966. p. 18. Retrieved 2022-01-12.
  3. ^ The Complete Motown Singles Vol. 6: 1966 [CD liner notes]. New York: Hip-O Select/Motown/Universal Records
  4. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 225.