The Falcons: This Heart Of Mine (1959)

This Heart Of Mine
written by Bob Hamilton & Sonny Woods
performed by The Falcons
issued as Chess 1743 in October 1959

It might be near impossible to truly express the importance of this group in the history of American music in the 20th Century. I can't think of too many other groups that bridged the old "street corner sound" with the new "gospel edged" style soon to be known as soul better than The Falcons. From Detroit, MI, they were Eddie Floyd (lead), Joe Stubbs (tenor), Mack Rice (baritone), Willie Schofield (bass), and Lance Finnie (guitar).

Listen to the lyrics of this beautiful song! This has been one of my personal theme songs for a long time. The scene I imagine is someone kneeling next to their bed praying or lying in bed dreaming of that special someone that remains unrequited. Maybe she knows he likes her or maybe she doesn't because he has not the words to say if he is interested or not. All he really wants is to know is she loves him in return. So, he imagines the best case scenario in his mind, just to ease the pain.

I am really not sure where this recording came from. One version was issued in May 1958 on Robert West's Kudo label. I am fairly sure this was leased to Chess from West but, it is not clear if this was an alternate take from the Kudo session or from a different date altogether. I know, the Kudo original and an alternate take, issued on The Chess Rhythm & Roll Box Set as the "issued take," have been released on compact disc. To my knowledge, this recording has not.