Ultimate Singles Jukebox [Slot 116]

Twenty-Five Miles

b/w "Way Over There"
Edwin Starr

Written by Johnny Bristol, Henry Fuqua & Edwin Starr

Produced by Norman Whitfield (?)

Gordy/Motown Records

Released 1969

Rock critic Dave Marsh called Edwin Starr a "Motown minor leaguer." Did he mean this as a put-down or a simple statement of fact? After all, when Barry Gordy bought out the small Detroit label Ric Tic in the late 1960s, The Sound of Young America, though starting to wane, was still flush with a galaxy of stars: Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson Five, The Temptations and Diana Ross.

Born in Cleveland, Starr (real name Charles Hatcher) had made his musical bones with a couple of hits that flirted with the Top 20: "Agent Double-O Soul" (1965) and "Stop Her On Sight (S.O.S.)." After toiling away for a year at Motown with only a mediocre album and no hits to show for it, Starr cut "Twenty-Five Miles," a song that brought his powerhouse soul voice to national attention.

Ironically, Starr's vocal style was more akin to the Stax gut-bucket rhythm and blues than the sweet, clean sound that Gordy had made famous resulting in hit after hit (after hit). "Twenty-Five Miles" could have been under the influence of hot new Motown producer Norman Whitfield, who had recently given the The Temps a harder-edged pop to their records. More likely it was the writers' nod to Wilson Pickett's "32 Miles From Waycross (Mojo Mama)," recorded in 1967.

Either way, good move. Starr's strong baritone more than fits the bill, accompanied by the muscular drumming of the legendary Motown session man Benny Benjamin and a horn chart that is familiar to anyone who has heard a marching band at half-time of a football game.

The lyrics are just as much of a hook for the listener. We never find out what happens when Starr reaches his destination, but the energetic vocal definitely proves that getting there is half the fun.

"Twenty-Five Miles" made it all the way to #6 on the Hot 100 Pop Chart. Yet for some reason it seldom appears in the Motown canon of classics. Despite its stomping beat, the only notable group to cover the song regularly over the ensuing years was Charles Wright and The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band. (Maybe we'll drop a line to Galactic or Kings Go Forth with the suggestion.)

Edwin Starr, of course, would follow Whitfield into the studio again a year later and be handed a song that was deemed too socially controversial for The Temptations to release as a single: "War." It went to #1.

After a few minor hits in the disco era of the 1980s, Edwin Starr moved permanently to England and became an icon of the Northern Soul movement. He died in 2003.

The Dictionary of Soul: James Jamerson

James Jamerson, pictured above, using "the hook" on his 1962 Fender electric bass, which he famously nicknamed "The Funk Machine."


He has been called the most influential electric bass player in the history of rock and roll by his peers. The most noted comments came in a 1995 interview, when Paul McCartney recalled his training on the instrument, saying "I started listening to other bass players, mainly Motown. As time went on, James Jamerson became my hero . . . because he was so good and melodic." Motown founder Barry Gordy described him as "a genius on the bass . . . an incredible improviser in the studio and somebody I always wanted on my sessions."

James "Igor" Jamerson was the undisputed anchor of the Motown house band known as "The Funk Brothers." With the drummers Benny Benjamin and Uriel Jones, the famously unknown rhythm section played on more number one hits than the Beatles. The Sound of Young America pumped out successful 45s throughout the 1960s with nary a session credit mentioned anywhere on record sleeves or newspaper stories. It took he 1988 book by Alan Slutsky on Jamerson and the subsequent excellent documentary Standing In The Shadows of Motown to bring Jamerson and other Funk Brothers to the forefront. [The story of Jamerson's recording of the bass lines on Marvin Gaye's What's Goin' On is worth a view of the movie alone.]


Jamerson died tragically at the young age of 45 in 1983. He was posthumously elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. It would have been his birthday today, so let's celebrate his genius by spinning a few of his most endearing performances:


Taken from the rarely seen documentary Save The Children, Marvin Gaye sings 'What's Goin' On" and "What's Happening Brother" in concert from 1973. About 2:30 into the clip, watch for Jamerson and observe his unique index finger bass playing style (known as "the hook").

Now isolate the bass on your stereo and marvel at the bass line Jamerson delivers on Stevie Wonder's smash "I Was Made To Love Her."




And one of the crowning achievements of the Motown catalog: The Four Tops sing "Bernadette" in 1967. Written by Holland-Dozier-Holland. Levi Stubbs on lead vocal. Jamerson scales the heights of the bass matching the driving beat of Benny Benjamin.