Ain't No Mountain High Enough

This was written by the Motown husband and wife songwriting duo Ashford & Simpson. Nick Ashford was inspired by an experience when he first moved to New York. He was walking down a Manhattan thoroughfare, determined that New York City would not get the best of him; the words "Ain't no mountain high enough" popped into his head.

The Supremes sang this on the 1968 duets album Diana Ross & The Supremes Join the Temptations. Ross paired with Dennis Edwards on the track, who had just replaced David Ruffin as the Temps' lead singer. Two years later, Ross garnered her first US #1 solo hit with an innovative cover of the song. Ashford & Simpson were invited to co-produce Ross' debut album, and they had lofty ideas for their mountainous tune. Artists like Issac Hayes had been releasing songs that went well beyond the typical 3-minute format, inspiring the duo to retool the song as a symphonic epic that stretched over six minutes. Simpson, who played piano on the track, explained: "Nick suggested we have Diana narrate an extended verse. He thought she had a great speaking voice, so he wrote new lyrics. Once his monologue for Diana was completed, I worked on a new structure for the song. I created an introduction that began as an instrumental and led into a choir that set up Diana's spoken voice. We delayed the song's familiar chorus - 'Ain't no mountain high enough, ain't no valley low enough' - until about 4 minutes into the song and treated it as the climax. We held the chorus back because listeners already knew it and expected it would come eventually." Berry Gordy wasn't sold on the idea for such a lengthy single, especially with the late chorus. Ashford & Simpson were forced to cut it down to 3:32, but many DJs opted to play the album version instead.

Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell recorded the original version, which peaked at #19 US in 1967. Uriel Jones of The Funk Brothers, who played the drums on Gaye and Terrell's original version, recalled in Mojo magazine February 2009: "Ashford and Simpson had written the song and they always came to the studio with charts. This time was no exception; they came with the song fully written out. The lyrics were written out too. They were one of the few producers and writers who had full charts and made us work from them. They knew 95 percent what they wanted to hear. Johnny Bristol and Harvey Fuqua were the actual producers in charge of the recording. We did the rhythm track first, then they put the horns on second. Then they recorded Tammi Terrell's vocal, then they did Marvin Gaye's next. Each vocal was done separately, the singer in the studio with the producer on their own, and they put it all together at the end. You know, I never heard the finished song until I switched on the radio and it was playing."