Friday 45 – The Originals – God Bless Whoever Sent You

As I mentioned last Friday, I recently purchased almost 300 45s at a 50 cent warehouse sale that took place at one of my favorite local Nashville record stores.

I’m always drawn to white label promo 45s and the above label jumped out quickly while digging through boxes of 45s. I think the bold capitalized SOUL is what grabbed my attention at first.

I wasn’t familiar with The Originals and wasn’t sure if the song title would be a love song or maybe more gospel soul related. For 50 cents I easily added it to my large stack of purchases to bring home.

The Originals formed in Detroit during the late 1960s. The R&B group were signed to Motown’s sublabel conveniently titled, Soul. They found success originally as backing vocalists for Jimmy Ruffin, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye.

Marvin Gaye co-wrote and produced two of the group’s biggest hits, Baby, I’m For Real and The Bells.

The song on this 45, God Bless Whoever Sent You was released in 1970 and begins with the sound of bells, followed by a slow cymbal roll and eventually the group’s sweet, soft vocals.

A slow R&B/soul jam, the song starts to build with light instrumentation but avoids the layered strings that were common with Motown releases.

The song is about love but shares many gospel attributes such as hallelujahs sung throughout the bridge and a line such as, “You could take a sinner and turn him into a saint”.

I’m glad I stumbled on this 45 to add to my collection!

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