Florence Ballard of The Supremes, another girl group in need of a break, sagely advised them to relax at the sessions, a tip which Horton later admitted was “dead on – we were all tight, petrified.” The drummer on the session was another inexperienced performer, a skinny 22-year-old hopeful named Marvin Gaye. Postman” spent almost half a year on the US chart, hitting No.1 in December 1961 – an impressive result for a girl group from Inkster, Michigan, on its first visit to a recording studio. Lots of boyfriends were away lots of girlfriends longed for letters. The song found a natural audience: the US was escalating its involvement in the Vietnam War, and, domestically, there was still a considerable exodus from the south as African-Americans sought work and liberation in northern cities such as Chicago and Motown’s hometown, Detroit. It was craftily constructed to include lines where some of the instruments drop away so Horton’s pleas appear even more lonely and desperate, including a bizarre earworm where her hoarse voice, shrouded in reverb, appears to chant: “Deliver de letter, de sooner the better.” It delivered its message directly and you could feel longing in every word. Postman,” which had been amended by a trio starting to make waves at Motown as a writing team: Brian Holland, Robert Bateman, and Freddie Gorman (an actual mail carrier). On August 21 that year, the rebranded Marvelettes recorded “Please Mr. She left the group after the audition, and the group’s name was made what was perceived to be more “girlie” by Berry Gordy, Motown’s boss.

It was written by William Garrett, a friend of the group, and re-shaped by then-lead singer Georgia Dobbins. The Marvelettes were known as The Marvels when they performed their second audition for Motown’s Tamla label in the spring of 1961, singing a blues song about waiting for a letter.

Carpenters please mister postman