Love Me For A Reason by The Osmonds

Love Me For A Reason

1974

The Osmonds

Every guy's had a girl that just strung him along. Every. One. Of. Us., and this tune about a guy telling his girl to stop doing just that could have well been an anthem for every guy who's ever managed to survive the living hell that's that kind of relationship (Again...all of us). It would also end up being the Osmonds' very last Top 10 hit.

 The Osmonds dropped their Rock persona, going with a softer sound, and let someone else do the writing, specifically legendary Motown songwriter Johnny Bristol, who'd left Motown and, after a short stint at CBS, became one of their label mates when he joined MGM as a solo artist only the year before. OH...it wasn't actually written for them...Johnny actually released 'Love Me For A Reason' as a track on his own 1974 album 'Hang In There, Baby' but it was never released as a single so it just kinda sat there and moldered not getting the attention that it deserved. Record label suits really really hate it when songs with potential (Add profits behind the word 'Potential) just sit and molder..

Sooooo, Mike Curb listened to it, said 'Hmmmmm' and 'What if', had a meeting of the minds with various suits at MGM at which he likely said something like 'I know who 'Love Me For A Reason' would be absolutely perfect for', and met with nods of agreement. Then they called the Osmonds, and the label's staff song-writers, had all of them take a listen, and all of them nodded and said 'YEAH!!!!.

They took Johnny Bristol's soulful, very distinctively Motown-like sound, smoothed it out a bit, changed a couple of lyrics ('Hun' to 'Girl' in the chorus and Johnny's slightly racier lyrics before 'I'll have to pass girl...' to 'So if love everlasting...Isn't what you're asking' in the second verse being the most noticeable) and told The Osmonds to have at it. The group went with their original vocal set-up...with Merrill singing lead...with this one, leading it off with a distinctive instrumental intro, and released to to the world.

It debuted at # 83 on The Billboard Hot 100 on the last day of August, 1974, and took it's time chart-climbing, not popping the Top 20, at #17, until October 12^th, then sneaking into the Top 10, at #10, a week later on October 19^th.  It'd hang on to #10 for a pair of weeks before making a quick drop off the chart, disappearing form the charts a couple of days before Thanksgiving, 1974. It did even better on both the Adult Contemporary(What was then called Easy Listening) and the U.K Singles charts, snagging #2 on the former and spending three weeks at #1 on the latter.

The Osmonds final Top 10 song was, in many peoples opinion, one of their best efforts...They didn't stray that far from the original basic melody, and tempo, simply changing the key to fit their voices, and changing several movements with-in the song, so the sound was just a scosh too mature to be considered bubblegum. It was a very pretty, soulful tune, and to be absolutely honest, was my favorite 'Osmonds' song by a long-shot. And while, as with all of both The Osmonds' and Donny's bigger hits, the young female population was the driving force behind most of the sales, the tune was originally written about the romantic perils us guys face...and I think a lot of guys identified with it, whether they would admit it or not.

It was all over the radio for several weeks as the 1974 Holiday Season approached, and was one of those songs that you really couldn't help but like (OK, my opinion there, but I'm sticking with it!) and I know of several people who weren't big 'The Osmond's' fans (And definitely not Donny Osmond fans) who liked this song, though they would never ever actually admit to liking it...or lip syncing to it while they were driving down the road. And lets be honest here...lots of adults liked this one. They didn't score that #2 on the Easy Listening charts with trading stamps (Remember trading stamps?? ;) )

The Osmonds aren't the only group to make a hit out of it, either, BTW...Boyzone covered it two decades after The Osmonds released it, taking it to #2 on the UK Singles Chart in December 1994, as well as making it the 20^th best selling 90s song in the UK...that's for the entire decade, BTW. The drums are more pronounced in their version, and, like all artists, they tweaked it a bit to match their own vocal style, but Boyzone stayed pretty faithful to the Osmonds version, and did an awesome job with it (And a couple of time, in the chorus, kinda actually sounded a little bit like them) but lets be honest here...The Osmonds still own this one, bigtime.

'Love Me For A Reason'  also helped show just how versatile the group actually was...they had proven that they could sing just about any genre of music and sound good doing it. The tune's had some serious staying power, too. It's on Oldies Station playlists even now, and though those stations' DJs don't spin it anywhere near as often as they used to, if you're lucky enough to be listening at the right time, you'll hear that flowing instrumental intro, and when The Osmonds swing into 'Girl, when you hold me...How you control me' ...you'll probably sing along with it. Admit it...ya know ya will!

So Enjoy!  The Osmond's very last Top 10 hit.  Love Me For A Reason... 



A trio of bonuses for this one...first up, The Osmonds perform 'Love Me For A Reason' live at an unknown venue in 1974. They own this song...no other way to put it!

Second up...Johnny Bristol's original, very Motown-leaning version. I still can't figure out why this one didn't chart any higher than it did...it's that good.

And finally...Boyzone's very well executed 1994 cover of the tune, which became the best selling British single of the Nineties.