"Your Heart Belongs to Me" is a 1962 song written and composed by The Miracles' William "Smokey" Robinson and released as a single by

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

singing group The Supremes during their early years with the label. The song is about a woman whose lover is in the armed forces and has "Gone to a far-away land"; its narration has her tell him to always remember their love for each other if he ever gets lonely. Recorded at a time when Mary Wells and The Marvelettes were the dominant female recording acts of the label, the Supremes had struggled to release singles with Supremes members Florence Ballard,

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 ...

and Mary Wilson switching lead vocal spots. After the failure of their first single, " I Want a Guy" with Ross in the lead, their second single, the Ballard-led "

Buttered Popcorn "Buttered Popcorn" is a 1961 song written by Motown president Berry Gordy and songwriter Barney Ales, produced by Gordy, and released as a Motown, Tamla label single by Motown singing group The Supremes. It was the group's second single after sign ...

", also failed to chart. Wilson's leads, meanwhile, had not been released on any Motown singles. For this record, Smokey Robinson decided to use Ross for lead vocals for the song. It would prove to be a modest success as the song became the Supremes' first ''nationally'' charted hit at number 95 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 but failed to chart on the Hot R&B Sides chart. This became the last single that The Supremes made as a quartet. After this record, fourth member Barbara Martin left the group to start a family leaving Ross, Ballard and Wilson as a trio from then on. Martin is not pictured on the cover both due to her pending departure and because she was noticeably pregnant at the time of the photo shoot. Inspired by its modest charting, Berry Gordy would eventually make Ross the sole lead vocalist for the group. It would not be until 1976 with the release of " I'm Gonna Let My Heart Do the Walking" that a Supremes single would feature four Supremes.

Style

For this song,

Smokey Robinson William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive director. He was the founder and front man of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief ...

, who was the main songwriter and producer for Mary Wells during her Motown tenure, used exactly the same music style that he used with Mary Wells in a few of the several hits he wrote for her, including, "

The One Who Really Loves You ''The One Who Really Loves You'' is the second album recorded by R&B singer and Motown recording artist Mary Wells, released in 1962 on the Motown label. The album featured the hits, "The One Who Really Loves You" and "You Beat Me to the Punch" a ...

", "

You Beat Me to the Punch "You Beat Me to the Punch" is a soul single by Motown singer Mary Wells, released on the Motown label in 1962. It was co-written by Smokey Robinson of the Miracles, who was responsible for the majority of hits released by Wells - and another Mir ...

", " Two Lovers" and " Laughing Boy". After this single,

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

recorded an answer song titled "

Soldier's Plea "Soldier's Plea" is a 1962 single released by singer Marvin Gaye as Tamla 54063, and was the last non-charted early single Marvin released prior to releasing his first hit single, "Stubborn Kind of Fellow", later that year.The Complete Motown Si ...

", which was his third single to be released.

Personnel

*Lead vocals by

*Background vocals by Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson and Barbara Martin *Produced and written by

*Instrumentation by The Funk Brothers

Chart history

References

{{The Supremes 1962 songs 1962 singles The Supremes songs Songs written by Smokey Robinson Song recordings produced by Smokey Robinson Motown singles