I was shocked today in church when they ended service with “I’ll Be There”.
It was such a paradigm shift as I stood there hearing this song that I remembered as a soul song written by Berry Gordy, Hal Davis, Bob West, and Willie Hutch. The song was recorded by The Jackson 5 and released by Motown Records on August 28, 1970 as the first single from their third album on the same date. Today, the song was also being presented as a “soul” song…but this was soooooooo… different. I could easily now hear this song being played on any gospel station. I looked at the lyrics in ways that I never had before and from this day forward, I will always remember this as a “soul” song as it really touched my soul today. Check out the lyrics as you listen to this classic and let me know what you think.