‘Diana Had A Really Sexy Talking Voice’…
As aforementioned, songs were extensively longer in the 70’s. According to Valerie Simpson, they felt Diana could “embellish” the song well.
“We knew that Diana had a really sexy talking voice, so Nick wrote some additional speaking lines in the front of the song, and we just extended it and did it completely different.”
“That seemed to fit and work well,” Simpson mentions. “You know, we were never afraid to change up an idea or try it another way.”
Valerie says they submitted the new version of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” to Motown. However, Berry Gordy was not feeling it.
She says he didn’t like that it took so long to get to the hook.
“He was very hook-orientated,” Simpson says as she laughs. “He told us that it took too long to get to the hook. But Nick told him it was like an orgasm…you don’t want it to happen right away…it’s a build…you gotta do it slowly (laughs).”
That STILL didn’t change Berry’s perspective, according to Valerie’s interview.
“So Berry didn’t want to put it out because we didn’t change it. But the DJs picked it because they liked it, so we won out in the end.”
That’s wild, right? If it weren’t for DJ spins, Diana Ross’ version would’ve never seen the light of day and become the classic it is today.
Below is the extended version Simpson mentions in the interview.
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