I'm Leaving It All Up To You by Donny and Marie

Leaving it All up to You

1974

Donny and Marie

Donny Osmond wouldn't see another solo hit for a decade and a half, and the Osmonds' days as a major force in Pop (And some would argue, if very briefly, Rock) had pretty much ended, but MGM decided there was still some mileage (And most importantly profit) left in them.

See, there was yet another musical Osmond, and this one was every bit as talented and way prettier than the rest of The Osmonds...and her name was Marie. She hadn't just been hanging around gossiping with her girlfriends, shopping, and obsessing over male singers not her brothers over the last few years, either...Marie had gone the Country route with her own music, and had already made a name for herself in that genre while she was at it. In 1973, at 14 years old, she took her cover of the Anita Bryant's 1960 Pop-Country cross-over ballad 'Paper Roses' to #1 on the Country charts, and # 5 on the Hot 100...

So the suits at MGM, Mike Curb among them, looked at Donny and Marie, wondered if the two of them would work as a Duo (Wonder if they even really had to think about that one????) and wondered if there was a song out there that was just freakin' made to be covered by a boy/girl duo. Guess what gang...there were two of 'em. The first one, in fact, topped the Billboard Hot 100 as a girl-guy duet back in 1963

That was the year that the newly-minted Pop duo of Dale and Grace (Dale Houston and Grace Broussard) covered a tune called 'I'm leavin' It Up To You' that had been written, recorded and released (But apparently didn't chart,) by Don Harris and Dewey Terry. Dale and Grace saw their cover of the song climb to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed for two weeks, in November of 1963. Their version of the song was a classic Sixties pop tune, and it's passed the test of time with flying colors.

Then Linda Ronstadt covered it on her 1970 album 'Silk Purse', and, with the addition of some steel guitar, took it in a more country direction. It was never released as a single, but still got a good bit of airplay on both Country and Top Forty stations as I recall.

Then four years later, in mid-1974, Mike Curb and the rest of the suits at MGM were looking for a song for Donnie and Marie to cover as a duet...and someone brought this tune to their attention. They buttonholed Donny and his pretty and uber-talented little sis, let them take a listen, and from what I've heard Marie really fell in love with it (I've also read, in a comment or two on a couple of YouTube vids, that she was the one who actually suggested it).

They stayed absolutely true to the melody with only a couple of tweaks here and there, and the only change they made to the lyrics was the addition of 'all' in the lead off line (And title) of the song. They done good, as the old fella says...I'm leaving It (All) Up To You' would be their top-charting single as a duo. Donnie and Marie recorded it in June of 1974, and it debuted on The Billboard Hot 100, at #90, on July 6^th, '74. It grabbed a following fairly quickly, cracking the Top 20, at #19, on Week 6, and the Top 10, at #9, a week later on August 17^th, 1974. It'd spend the next four weeks climbing through the Top 10, peaking at # 4 on September 14^th, and staying there for a single week. It'd drop off of the charts fairly quickly, dropping out entirely on October 12^th. And, somehow, I get the feeling that this kind of became The Osmonds'/Donny Osmond's/Donny and Marie's sort-of forgotten hit.

This one got lots of air-play on both WLEE and Richmond's upstart FM Top-40 station, WRVQ as my Senior year in high school started, and I remember hearing it, but there was so much truly awesome music...much of it destined to be classic music...around back then that it kind of got overshadowed. Think about it...when you think 'Top 10 Hits in 1974'. how far down the list is 'I'm Leaving it All Up To You' by Donny and Marie Osmond?? Is it even on your list? Thought not. Full disclosure here...it's not even in the first 20 songs I'd think of.

Both the original and Donny and Marie's cover of the tune can be heard very occasionally on Oldies stations , though not as often as they should be heard...both are great little tunes, that'll have you head swaying and at least humming along with 'em before the first few bars are finished. Interestingly enough, you're almost as likely to hear Linda Ronstadt's very Country-leaning version of the tune as either the original Dale and Grace version or Donny and Marie's cover...even though her version was never released as a single.  It's been quite awhile, though, since I've heard any of them on an Oldies station. 

Thing is, that's not fair to either the song or the singers, because it really is a great little tune and Donny and Marie's cover of the song really is that good...their voices blend into near perfect harmony, and both of 'em really can sing (And I use the present tense because, well, they can still sing.). Of course, when a legitimately good song like this sort of gets pushed back into the shadows of time a bit that says something about the quality of music during the era during which it was released...I keep telling you guys, Seventies Music really was the most awesome music ever.

So Enjoy! I'm Leaving It All Up To You' by Donny and Marie Osmond.


A pair of bonuses with this one...First up, the original, from 1963, by Dale and Grace.



Next up...Linda Ronstadt's cover from her 1970 album Silk Purse. You don't even have to listen all that hard to hear her cover's obvious Country leanings.

An interesting little factoid about the Dale and Grace version...In one of the all time dark coincidences of all time, the song was #1 during the Week of November, 1963 that Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated President John F Kennedy in Houston, Texas, and Dale and Grace were scheduled to perform that same night...they had actually waved to the President only minutes before he was assassinated.