"Last Time I Saw Him" is a 1973 song by

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...

, being a composition by

Michael Masser Michael William Masser (March 24, 1941 – July 9, 2015) was an American songwriter, composer and producer of popular music. Early life Born to a Jewish family in Chicago to Ester Huff and William Masser, he attended the University of Illinois ...

and lyricist

Pam Sawyer Pamela Joan Sawyer (born 1938) is a British songwriter/lyricist, who started writing songs in the mid-1960s and whose credits as a co-writer at Motown included " Love Child", " If I Were Your Woman", "My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left ...

. The track was produced by Masser and released as the first single on December 6, 1973, from her album of the same name.

Original version

Michael Masser had also composed and produced the precedent solo Diana Ross single "

Touch Me in the Morning "Touch Me in the Morning" is a song recorded by Diana Ross on the Motown label. It was written by Ron Miller and Michael Masser, and produced by the latter and Tom Baird. It was released on May 3, 1973 as the first single from her album of t ...

", a dreamy ballad which had hit #1, but "Last Time I Saw Him" took a drastically different musical direction: AMG would note that on the "arguably campy" last-named track, arrangers

Michael Omartian Michael Omartian (born November 26, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, keyboardist, and music producer. He produced number-one records in three consecutive decades. He has earned 11 Grammy Awards nominations and won three. He sp ...

and

Gene Page Eugene Edgar Page Jr. (September 13, 1939 – August 24, 1998) was an American conductor, composer, arranger and record producer, most active from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s. His sound can be heard in the arrangements he did for Jeffer ...

"throw in everything but the proverbial kitchen sink with a score that is all over the musical map from Dixieland-band jazz to

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

-pickin' and even an orchestrated string section", while ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' would describe "Last Time I Saw Him" as "a light romp in the

Tony Orlando and Dawn Tony Orlando and Dawn is an American pop music group that was popular in the 1970s, composed of singer Tony Orlando and the backing vocal group Dawn (Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson). Their signature hits include " Candida", " Knock Thre ...

style." The song's narrator recalls how she saw her "honey" off on a

Greyhound bus Greyhound Lines, Inc. (commonly known as simply Greyhound) operates the largest intercity bus service in North America, including Greyhound Mexico. It also operates charter bus services, Amtrak Thruway services, commuter bus services, and p ...

having given the man a large amount of money to establish future living arrangements for the two of them; six months have since passed with no word and the narrator resultantly announces her intention to go in search of her errant swain in the naive belief he has been stranded by some ill-fortune from which she can retrieve him. Ross scored her seventh

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

hit with "Last Time I Saw Him", which peaked at number 14 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in February 1974, and a Top 20 R&B hit, where it peaked at 16. The track had its greatest impact in the

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

market, where it was number 1 for three weeks on the ''Billboard'' Easy Listening chart. "Last Time I Saw Him" was named the biggest Easy Listening Hit of 1974. Ross also charted with "Last Time I Saw Him" in Australia at number 18 and in the UK at 35.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Dottie West version

Dottie West Dorothy Marie Marsh West (October 11, 1932 – September 4, 1991) was an American country music singer and songwriter. Along with her friends and fellow recording artists Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, she is considered one of the genre's most in ...

expediently

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of co ...

"Last Time I Saw Him" for the C&W market in the January 1974 recording sessions at the RCA Victor Studio in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

which resulted in the ''House of Love'' album produced by Billy Taylor. West's "Last Time I Saw Him" reached #8 on the C&W chart in ''Billboard'' in February 1974 marking the first time West had scored back-to-back C&W Top Ten hits, her precedent single having been her career record " Country Sunshine"; this success was followed by a progressive drop in West's hitmaking power with her longtime label

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

eventually dropping her in 1976. Although West's subsequent signing with

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...

boosted her chart profile, her next C&W Top Ten hit following "Last Time I Saw Him" would not occur until 1980, when " A Lesson in Leavin'" afforded West her first #1 solo hit (four Dottie West/

Kenny Rogers Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted mo ...

duets had reached the Top Ten in 1978-79 including #1 hits " Every Time Two Fools Collide" and " All I Ever Need Is You").

Charts

Other versions

Michele Lee Michele Lee is an American actress, singer, dancer, producer, and director. She is known for her role as Karen Fairgate MacKenzie on the prime-time soap opera ''Knots Landing'' (1979–1993), for which she was nominated for a 1982 Emmy Awar ...

recorded "Last Time I Saw Him" for the soundtrack album of the 1995 TV-biopic '' Big Dreams and Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story'' in which Lee portrayed West. The song has also been recorded by Elke Best ( de) (as "Du bist der Größte"),

Lea Laven Lea Laven (née Luukinen; after that Marjanen, Forssell and Tulonen; born 19 June 1948, Haukipudas) is a Finland, Finnish pop singer. Laven grew up in meager circumstances in the small town of Haukipudas: she began singing in shows while in sch ...

(as "Jää Vielä Aamuun") and

Lill-Babs Barbro Margareta Svensson (9 March 1938 – 3 April 2018), known by her stage name Lill-Babs, was a Swedish singer, actress and television host. From the early 1950s until her death in 2018, she was one of Sweden's best-known and popular singers. ...

(as "Du alter Gauner").

References

{{authority control 1974 singles 1973 singles Diana Ross songs Dottie West songs Songs written by Michael Masser Songs written by Pam Sawyer RCA Records Nashville singles 1973 songs Motown singles Songs about buses