"Leaving Here" is a song written in 1963 by

Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

songwriters

Holland–Dozier–Holland Holland–Dozier–Holland, often abbreviated as H-D-H, was a songwriting and production team consisting of Lamont Dozier and brothers Brian and Eddie Holland. The trio wrote, arranged and produced many songs that helped define the ...

. Written at the beginning of the partnership, it is notable in several recordings. It was originally released as a single in December 1963 by H-D-H lyricist

Eddie Holland Edward James Holland Jr. (born October 30, 1939) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is brother to Brian Holland. Holland was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Although he was an early Motown artist who recorde ...

and peaked at number 76 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and at number 27 on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart. The original recording has subsequently been released on compilation albums such as ''Heaven Must Have Sent You: Holland/Dozier/Holland Story'', released in 2005, and ''The Complete Motown Singles Vol.3 (1963)'', released in 2006. As of 2016, the only CD to find the track in stereo is "A Collection of 16 Big Hits, Vol. 2" on Motown MOTD-5449.

Motörhead version

English

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band

Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1975 by bassist and lead vocalist Lemmy Kilmister, guitarist Larry Wallis and drummer Lucas Fox. Kilmister was the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band a ...

released their version of "Leaving Here" as their debut single in 1977. Despite it being their first single, only the band's founder

Lemmy Ian Fraser Kilmister (24 December 1945 – 28 December 2015), better known as Lemmy Kilmister or simply Lemmy, was a British musician. He was the founder, lead vocalist, bassist and primary songwriter of the metal band Motörhead, of which he ...

remained from the band's original line-up. The recording was inspired by The Birds' 1965 cover version of Eddie Holland's "Leaving Here". Lemmy was a great fan of the band. On April 28, 1979, Lemmy was interviewed by John Tobler on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

's ''Rock on Saturday'' show, and " Motorhead", "Leaving Here", and "Limb from Limb" were played.

Releases

Motörhead had originally recorded a version of this song for their debut album '' On Parole'', but unsure of its commercial viability their record company

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

, to whom they were still under contract, refused to issue it. Jake Riviera of

Stiff Records Stiff Records is a British independent record label formed in London by Dave Robinson (music executive), Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera. Originally active from 1976 to 1986, the label was reactivated in 2007. Established at the outset of the p ...

, a casual acquaintance of Lemmy's, offered to release a new single from the band. No official deals were made, and the band paid for the studio time whilst Riviera paid all other expenses. The single was scheduled for release with catalogue number BUY9 when United Artists intervened, forcing Stiff to shelve its distribution. The single was issued in France (on Skydog Records, MH001, black on white sleeve) and Sweden (on Blitz Records, MH001, purple on white sleeve) with some copies being imported into the UK. The tracks were included on two 1977 Stiff compilation albums: '' A Bunch of Stiff Records'' (SEEZ2,1/April/1977) contained "White Line Fever", and '' Hits Greatest Stiffs'' (FIST1,16/September/1977) contained "Leavin' Here". The single did eventually see release as part of a box set of Stiff's first ten singles, limited to 5,000 copies, in 1979. Both tracks are currently available on the '' Stone Deaf Forever!'' CD box set. A live version of "Leaving Here" was issued in 1980 as the lead track on '' The Golden Years'' EP, reaching No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart. "White Line Fever" was re-recorded for their 1977 debut album release ''

''.

Track listing

# "Leaving Here" ( Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland) – 3:20 # "White Line Fever"

tiff Tag Image File Format or Tagged Image File Format, commonly known by the abbreviations TIFF or TIF, is an image file format for storing raster graphics images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry, and photographers. TIFF is w ...

( Eddie Clarke, Ian Kilmister, Phil Taylor) – 3:00

Other cover versions

Motown

blue-eyed soul Blue-eyed soul (also called white soul) is rhythm and blues (R&B) and soul music performed by white artists. The term was coined in the mid-1960s, to describe white artists whose sound was similar to that of the predominantly black Motown and St ...

singer Tommy Good released a version of the song as the B-side to his 1964 single "Baby I Miss You". The Messengers, a white group signed to Motown's Rare Earth label, recorded the track for their 1969 album ''The Messengers''.

The Isley Brothers The Isley Brothers ( ) are an American soul group originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, that began as a vocal trio consisting of the brothers O'Kelly Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley in the 1950s. With a career spanning over seven decades, ...

also cut a version of the song while they were at Motown; it was only released, however, after they had left the label.

The Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

recorded the song in the studio twice in 1965, and once for

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

, but none of these recordings were released officially for decades; the 1985 compilation '' Who's Missing'' and the 1998 remaster of the ''

Odds & Sods ''Odds & Sods'' is an album of studio outtakes by British rock band the Who. It was released by Track Records in the UK on September 28, 1974, and by Track/ MCA in the US on October 12, 1974. Ten of the recordings on the original eleven-song ...

'' compilation album both included the song, though the latter states it is a previously unreleased version. An alternate take also appeared on the ''

My Generation "My Generation" is a song by the English rock band The Who, written by guitarist and primary songwriter Pete Townshend. One of the band's most recognizable songs, it was placed number 11 by ''Rolling Stone'' on its list of the " 500 Greatest S ...

'' Deluxe Edition. The song is featured on ''The Who BBC Sessions'' CD. Additionally, it is available as

downloadable content content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can be added for no extra cost or as a form of video game monetization, enabling the publisher to gain ad ...

for the

music video game A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs. Music video games may take a ...

series ''

Rock Band ''Rock Band'' is a series of rhythm games first released in 2007 and developed by Harmonix. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series, the main ''Rock Band'' games have players use game controllers mod ...

'' as part of ''The Best of The Who'' pack. In 1965, The Birds recorded a cover version of "Leaving Here" which inspired heavy metal band

to produce their debut single with a cover of the song twelve years later. Swedish rock band

Tages Tages was claimed as a founding prophet of Etruscan mythology, Etruscan religion who is known from reports by Latin authors of the late Roman Republic and Roman Empire. He revealed a cosmic view of divinity and correct methods of ascertaining ...

released a version as the B-side to their single "In My Dreams" in 1966, which reached number one in the Swedish charts. Both tracks appear on their second studio album ''

Tages 2 ''Tages 2'' (commonly referred to as ''LP 2'' or just ''2'') is the second studio album by the Swedish rock band Tages, released on 4 August 1966 by Platina Records. Often considered their artistic breakthrough, six out of twelve tracks are origin ...

''. The song appeared as "Leavin' Here" on singles released by the

Rationals In mathematics, a rational number is a number that can be expressed as the quotient or fraction of two integers, a numerator and a non-zero denominator . For example, is a rational number, as is every integer (for example, The set of all ra ...

in 1966 and 1967, as did a 1989 version by Tinsley Ellis on his debut album ''Fanning the Flames''. In 1972 American rock band Brownsville Station covered the song on their second LP, ''A Night On The Town''.

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. One of the key bands in the grunge, grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam has outsold and outlasted many of its contemporaries from the early 1990s, ...

recorded the song for the 1996 ''

Home Alive Home Alive is a Seattle-based anti-violence organization that offers self-defense classes on a sliding scale payment system. Home Alive once operated as a non-profit organization and now continues to operate as a volunteer collective. Home Aliv ...

'' compilation album which was released to fund women's self-defense classes. The song was later included on the band's 2003 ''

Lost Dogs Lost Dogs are an American musical supergroup formed in 1991, comprising vocalists, songwriters, and guitarists from multiple Christian alternative rock bands. Their current lineup includes Terry Scott Taylor ( Daniel Amos, The Swirling Eddi ...

'' double album of

B-sides The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

and rarities. Pearl Jam has also covered the song numerous times at their live shows, and has released live recordings of the song as part of their bootleg series. In 2001,

Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards Lars is a common male name in Scandinavian countries. Origin ''Lars'' means "from the city of Laurentum". Lars is derived from the Latin name Laurentius, which means "from Laurentum" or "crowned with laurel", and is therefore related to the name ...

recorded the song for their debut album ''

'', one of two cover songs used on the album, the other songs all being original. The version is very similar to the Motörhead cover version.

Ron Wood Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald. Ron or RON may also refer to: Arts and media * Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character * Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character *Ron Douglas, the protagonist in '' Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe ...

included a cover of the song on his 2001 album '' Not for Beginners''. This song often features in live sets by

the Sadies The Sadies are a Canadian rock and roll / country and western band from Toronto, Ontario. The band consists of Travis Good, Sean Dean and Mike Belitsky. Dallas Good, a founding member, died in 2022. Dallas and Travis are the sons of Margaret a ...

, and Meeting of Important People frequently play it at live shows. English psych/garage band the Bugs recorded a cover of the song on their debut EP single on the Hit Records label in 1987, produced by Dave Goodman. The Irish rock band

the Strypes The Strypes were a four-piece rock band from Cavan, Ireland, formed in 2010 consisting of Ross Farrelly (lead vocals/harmonica), Josh McClorey (lead guitar/vocals), Peter O'Hanlon (bass guitar/harmonica) and Evan Walsh (drums). The band played ...

recorded a cover of the song for their EP ''Young Gifted & Blue''. Indiana-based rock band Heavy Mother also covered the song on their 2022 album ''This Time Around''.

Personnel

Eddie Holland Original version

* Lead vocals:

* Backing vocals: the Love-Tones and

the Andantes The Andantes were an American female session group for the Motown record label during the 1960s. Composed of Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow, and Louvain Demps, the group sang background vocals on numerous Motown recordings, including songs by M ...

* Instrumentation by

the Funk Brothers The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972. Its members are considered among the most successful groups of stud ...

Motörhead version

* Lead vocals/Bass guitar:

Lemmy Kilmister Ian Fraser Kilmister (24 December 1945 – 28 December 2015), better known as Lemmy Kilmister or simply Lemmy, was a British musician. He was the founder, lead vocalist, bassist and primary songwriter of the metal band Motörhead, of which he ...

* Guitar/Backing vocals:

"Fast" Eddie Clarke Edward Allan Clarke (5 October 1950 – 10 January 2018), better known as "Fast" Eddie Clarke or simply "Fast" Eddie, was a British guitarist who was a member of heavy metal bands Fastway and Motörhead. Of Motörhead's classic lineup, which ...

* Drums:

Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor Philip John Taylor (21 September 1954 – 12 November 2015), better known as "Philthy Animal", was an English drummer. He was a member of the rock band Motörhead from 1975 to 1984 and 1987 to 1992, recording eleven studio albums and four live ...

References

External links

*http://www.soulfulkindamusic.net/hdh.htm HDH discography {{authority control 1963 songs 1964 singles 1977 debut singles Motörhead songs Eddie Holland songs Pearl Jam songs Songs written by Holland–Dozier–Holland Motown singles Stiff Records singles