Every Tuesday, the Analog Kid blog goes back in time and features some of the best groovy R&B/soul songs from the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. Sometimes you’ll hear songs from individual artists or from a specific year, and other times you’ll get an entire full-length classic LP ripped directly from the Analog Kid’s vast vinyl vault. Warning: by R&B/soul, I also mean disco. I could go all Anita Ward on your ass at any given moment, so just be ready!
Certain songs take you right back to where you were when you first heard them, and that happens to me every time I hear “You Don’t Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show).” I played my 45 until it crumbled in 1976 and 1977, and I still feel like a nine-year-old whenever I listen to this soul classic. It reminds me of a time when all I cared about was shooting baskets, my baseball cards, and (of course) my records– and this record will always be one of my favorites.
Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis, Jr. were married in 1969, when both were members of The Fifth Dimension. They left the band in 1975, and I Hope We Get To Love In Time was their first release as a duo. The title track was a minor hit when it was released as the album’s first single, but it was the second single from Marilyn and Billy that would immediately take over radio stations across the country. “You Don’t Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show)” went straight to the top of both the Billboard Hot 100 and Soul charts upon its release, and would go on to win a Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.
The duo would go onto record two more albums, and of course Marilyn became known to a new generation as the host of Solid Gold in the ’80s. Marilyn and Billy still occasionally perform together, and their show is still going strong after 44 years of marriage.
I Hope We Get To Love In Time was briefly issued on CD in the mid-’90s, but it has been long out of print. I had to unseal my mint vinyl copy to rip the songs featured below, but my sacrifice was totally worth it. I Hope We Get To Love In Time is a great record all the way through, and the Analog Kid hopes you enjoy this copy of a true pop classic!
Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr: I Hope We Get To Love In Time
ABC Records, 1976
Vinyl rip courtesy of the Analog Kid
1. “You Don’t Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show)” (Dean/Glover)
You Don’t Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show)
2. “Your Love” (Barnum/Johnson)
3. “I Still Will Be With You” (Toney)
4. “Never Gonna Let You Go” (Schotz)
5. “Nothing Can Stop Me” (Hester)
6. “You Can’t Change My Heart” (Cate/Cate)
7. “I Hope We Get To Love In Time” (Toney)
8. “My Love For You (Will Always Be The Same)” (Beal/MacKechine)
My Love For You (Will Always Be The Same)
9. “Easy Way Out” (Cate/Cate)
10. “We’ve Got To Get It On Again” (Addrisi/Addrisi)
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Bonus Tracks!
The first rule of The Analog Kid blog is that if you write about a song on the Analog Kid blog, you share the song on the Analog Kid blog.
The 5th Dimension: “Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In” (Rado/Ragni/MacDermot)
From the album The Age Of Aquarius
Soul City Records, 1969
Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)
The 5th Dimension: “(Last Night) I Didn’t Get To Sleep At All” (Macaulay)
From the album Individually & Collectively
Bell Records, 1972
The Analog Kid 