An Emotion, Seconded
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF WRITER/PRODUCER AL CLEVELAND
It was approaching Christmas, and Smokey Robinson had plenty of choice at the jewelry counter of Hudson’s downtown Detroit department store when searching for a present for Claudette. There was, for example, a bracelet of exquisite fish with sparkling diamond eyes for $1,150, a bird brooch with glittering ruby and diamond eyes for a mere $200, or a gold and diamond brooch from Parisian designer Roger Stoffel for $1,550.
In the event, he bought his wife some pearls.
The occasion also produced a pearl of Robinson’s own, written with fellow songsmith Al Cleveland. It was, of course, “I Second That Emotion,” inspired by…well, there are two versions of that particular tale. In his autobiography, Robinson remembers Cleveland uttering the phrase as they were leaving Hudson’s, in response to his spoken hope that Claudette would approve of the gift.
Al Cleveland (centre) with Bobby Taylor (left) and Lawrence Payton of the Four Tops
For Cleveland’s part, he recalled that as he and Robinson were about to enter the store, an attractive young woman was departing. Each of the pair held open the double doors for her. “Merry Christmas,” added Robinson, flirtatiously. Then he said to his shopping mate, “Wow, that was one incredible woman.” (You know what Cleveland’s reply was.) “That sounds like a song title,” the two Motowners said to each other, simultaneously.
The resulting music and lyrics – both men agreed that they wrote “I Second That Emotion” that very afternoon – turned into one of Motown’s most enduring hits. For Cleveland, it certainly was among his most successful, although another of his co-writes can be said to be more of a milestone of popular music. Historic, even.
“What’s Going On” was authored by Cleveland with Obie Benson of the Four Tops and Marvin Gaye. His share of income (and that of his estate) from the song – to this day – is almost certain to dwarf that of all his other copyrights combined. It should, anyway, Jobete royalty rates allowing.
Yet for someone associated with such an extraordinary, revered piece of work, Cleveland is a relatively little-known figure. He did few interviews during his life, and is mentioned in just a handful of Motown books of substance. In Robinson’s own Inside My Life, there’s just one name-check for him. And that’s notwithstanding the fact that it was Robinson who brought Cleveland to the company.
A QUINTET OF R&B TOP TENS
But before any further biographical colour, here’s a reminder that besides “I Second That Emotion,” this Pittsburgh-born music maker co-wrote five R&B Top 10 hits for the Miracles with their leader (and with one or two others): “Yester Love,” “Special Occasion,” “Baby, Baby Don’t Cry,” “Doggone Right” and “Point It Out.” All were also Top 40 titles on the pop charts, as was “Here I Go Again.”
As for “What’s Going On,” the song has been recorded by more than 250 artists over the past half-century, while “I Second That Emotion” has been interpreted by more than 40. Gaye’s What’s Going On album – which contains two other Cleveland/Benson/Gaye compositions, “Save The Children” and “Wholy Holy” – has been inducted into America’s National Recording Registry, another measure of the work’s timeless stature.
An award moment with (from left) Al Cleveland, Robert Gordy, Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson and BMI’s Ed Cramer
Smokey Robinson and Al Cleveland reportedly first met when the latter was a member of the Halos. This quartet was assembled in New York by Arthur Crier, who wrote “Nag,” their modest 1961 hit. That year, the Halos were part of a package tour headlined by Jerry Butler; three of the roadshow’s other acts were the Temptations, Singin’ Sammy Ward and Gino Parks, all under contract to Motown at the time.
Cleveland’s professional start is sketched in Fame Without Fortune, the 2013 biography written by his son, Daryl, with Glenn Soucy and Ron Sheffey. The book is best taken with a pinch of proverbial salt – it claims that “Nag” was a Number One record, that Berry Gordy’s first hit as a producer was “Are You Lonesome Tonight,” and that soon after release, Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On album sold 20 million copies – but the text contains useful details of its subject’s early career. His songwriting skill predated Motown, including co-authorship of a minor Gene Pitney hit in 1964, “Yesterday’s Hero.”
Robinson brought Cleveland to Detroit circa 1966 if the above Christmas scenario for “I Second That Emotion” holds true; the track and vocals were recorded at Hitsville in September 1967, and released the following month. The pair’s collaboration continued with ’68 hits “Yester Love” and “Special Occasion,” while “Baby, Baby Don’t Cry” was Top 10 in 1969. (The third writer of that song was another Robinson recruit, Terry “Buzzy” Johnson, once a member of the Flamingos.)
The personal ties with Robinson were strengthened when he and wife Claudette became godparents to Cleveland’s two sons, but the business relationship with Motown was eventually strained over royalty payments. An I.R.S. raid on the songwriter’s house over non-payment of taxes provoked an intense argument with Berry Gordy. “The only one who is making money around here is you, Berry,” Cleveland told him, according to Fame Without Fortune. “The rest of us are left out in the cold to rot.”
LICENSE AND REGISTRATION, PLEASE
The book also offers some detail about the birth of “What’s Going On,” although Daryl Cleveland seems to place it soon after the Detroit riots of 1967. That timeline doesn’t square with other accounts, but Fame Without Fortune does colourfully put Al together with Obie Benson and Marvin Gaye in a zippy new Cadillac – complete with a bag of marijuana – when they were stopped by police. Cleveland managed to hide the weed, and the cops let them go. Gaye appeared grateful, and told Al then and there that he would record “What’s Going On.”
Another version of the song’s creation tale can be found in Ben Edmonds’ essential What’s Going On: Marvin Gaye And The Last Days Of The Motown Sound. Cleveland’s lyrical role is acknowledged in the book, as is the fact that he was renting the upstairs of Obie Benson’s duplex at the time.
Al Cleveland (centre) with Doorway’s California Girls and disc jockey Ron Bynum of KGFJ Los Angeles
Edmonds also notes that Benson, Cleveland and Gaye were working on other songs besides “What’s Going On,” “Save The Children” and “Wholy Holy,” but that these were sidelined when Benson and Gaye fell out over songwriting credits. Cleveland’s own inventory of copyrights includes three additional titles penned with Benson: “Tell Me You Love Me,” “We Gotta Have Peace” and “You Turned Me On.”
While under contract to Jobete, Cleveland also wrote a song for use by Hasbro Toys to market its “Love Doll” line via radio and TV commercials in 1971. The following year, he co-penned the title tune of a crime-comedy movie, Come Back Charleston Blue, with Donny Hathaway and Quincy Jones. As the decade unfolded, Cleveland and son Daryl became involved in several business ventures. One was Doorway, a Los Angeles record label; another, much later, was AM radio station WXVX (“Hittsburgh Radio”) in Monroeville, Pennsylvania.
A third project, detailed in Fame Without Fortune, was writing music for a Bill Cosby stand-up movie, Himself, including a parody of Bill Withers’ “Just The Two Of Us,” called “Just The Slew Of Us.” The soundtrack album was released by…Motown.
Daryl Cleveland’s book contains another irony. His father, at one stage essentially bankrupt and afflicted by health problems, turned for help from the man in whose company he had visited Hudson’s many years earlier. “We are broke and homeless,” Al told Smokey Robinson during a visit to his home, “with no one to turn to.”
By this account, Robinson was unsympathetic – but not the woman for whom he had been seeking a Christmas gift in that Detroit department store. Taking Daryl aside, Claudette Robinson asked, “Would you like a cookie? I just made them.” Her godson declined, but she insisted and reached into a cookie jar. “I really think you should have one,” she said, pressing something into his hand. It was, he realised, made of paper: four one-hundred dollar bills.
An emotion seconded, you might say.
Pre-Motown notes: Al Cleveland was 36 when he joined Hitsville U.S.A. – not exactly an elder statesman, but certainly older than many of Hitsville’s music makers (Smokey Robinson was 26 then). Still, he had prior industry experience in the Halos, as a studio backup singer and as a songwriter. That said, Cleveland’s day job during those early years was as a mailman – likely unmissable on his route at 6’ 3” – in New York, having moved from his Pittsburgh hometown in 1959. In later years, he suffered from poor health, and died of heart disease in Las Vegas at age 66.
Music notes: this WGB playlist features most of Al Cleveland’s best-known hits as a songwriter, as well as a couple of his early endeavours. In addition to the Miracles, his work was recorded at Motown by Bobby Taylor, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Chuck Jackson, David Ruffin, Frank Wilson and a solo Smokey, among others.