Bill, When Are You Coming Back

Annotation — Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs

Bill, When Are You Coming Back Motown Every morning waiting for the mailman to come. But again he shook his head and said maybe tomorrow there'll be one. He said, better than a letter, some guys just arrived. I felt so much better that I ran to catch the 3:45. I got to the station, oh, just a little bit late, When I spotted a soldier turning through an exit gate. Oh, I pushed through the crowd until I reached his side And got the strangest look from a strangers eyes. I cried, Bill, Bill, Bill when are you coming back. I cried in a stranger's arms standing there by the railroad tracks. Oh, yes I did. The day you left me remains in my mind so clear. You were saying you loved me, but the train made it hard to hear. So, we moved by the Coke machine, oh, so we could say goodbye. The people were staring, but I couldn't keep the tears from my eyes. As the train departed your loving mother held me close. We cried together, yeah, trying to keep each other host. Oh, wherever you are you know you need it too, â??Cause no one in this world needs you like I do. I cried, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bill when are you coming back. I cried in a stranger's arms standing there by the railroad tracks. Oh, yes…

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Notes

Track B5. Album producers (Wikipedia): Frank Wilson, Clay MacMurray, Ivy Jo Hunter. Sleeve: 'Album designed at London Studio'; art direction Curtis McNair; photography Frank Dandridge; special tear-away 'poster' gatefold sleeve with 12x24 poster. Label printed MS705 / MS-705. Also UK Tamla Motown STML 11157.

About the artist

Motown vocal group formed in Detroit in 1959 as the Primettes; after Diana Ross left in 1970 the line-up was Jean Terrell, Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong, and Right On was their first album with Terrell. [Source: Wikipedia]

Themes

Home Front Perspective · Soldier Boy · Mail Call · Coming Home

In collections

US Domestic Perspective Songs [War Years] · Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs